Wikipedia's first sentence called it “reconstructed human skulls that were made in the ancient levant between 7000 and 6000 bc in the pre-pottery neo”. Today it says “human skulls covered in layers of plaster and typically found in the ancient levant”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
Plastered human skulls are human skulls covered in layers of plaster and typically found in the ancient Levant , most notably around the city of Jericho , between 8,000 and 6,000 BC (approximately 9000 years ago), in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period. They represent some of the oldest forms of art in the Middle East and demonstrate that the prehistoric population took great care in burying their ancestors below their homes. The skulls denote some of the earliest sculptural examples of portraiture in the history of art . The process typically included the removal of the jawbone. Signs of wear suggest they were handled over time. These skulls were often found interred alongside other human remains, and each cache displays a consistent style within. The skulls are generally with a backward tilt, and there appears to be no discernible pattern concerning the age or gender of the individuals when selecting the skulls for plastering. Gardner's Art through the Ages: Backpack Edition .
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1291480980.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Plastered human skulls are reconstructed human skulls that were made in the ancient Levant between 7000 and 6000 BC in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period. They represent some of the oldest forms of art in the Middle East and demonstrate that the prehistoric population took great care in burying their ancestors below their homes. The skulls denote some of the earliest sculptural examples of portraiture in the history of art .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 663318207.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Plastered human skulls are reconstructed human skulls that were made in the ancient Levant between 9,000 and 6,000 BC in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period. They represent some of the oldest forms of art in the Middle East and demonstrate that the prehistoric population took great care in burying their ancestors below their homes. The skulls denote some of the earliest sculptural examples of portraiture in the history of art . Gardner’s Art through the Ages: Backpack Edition .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 955454259.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Neolithic burial practice in the Levant Plastered human skulls are human skulls covered in layers of plaster , typically found in the ancient Levant , most notably around the modern Palestinian city of Jericho , between 8,000 and 6,000 BC (approximately 9000 years ago), in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period. They represent some of the oldest forms of art in the Middle East and demonstrate that the prehistoric population took great care in burying their ancestors below their homes. The skulls denote some of the earliest sculptural examples of portraiture in the history of art . Gardner's Art through the Ages: Backpack Edition .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1178903050.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “reconstructed human skulls that were made in the ancient levant between 7000 and 6000 bc in the pre-pottery neo”. Today it says “human skulls covered in layers of plaster and typically found in the ancient levant”. Read the current article and compare.
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2015, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
reconstructed human skulls that were made in the ancient levant between 7000 and 6000 bc in the pre-pottery neo
Now
human skulls covered in layers of plaster and typically found in the ancient levant
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
