The Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East

A note to the reader In the 25 years since the Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the ancient Near East was published, much additional data has become available and there have been many important discoveries and revised interpretations of previously accepted theories. Innovative methods of investigation and analysis have been devised and new topics have been investigated. A review of a recently published atlas of the ancient Near East starts: “For the past quarter-century, Michael Roaf's Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia (New York: Facts on File, 1990) has proved itself a stalwart of countless introductory classes” and ends: “A comprehensive replacement of Michael Roaf's Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia still remains unwritten” (http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2016/2016-09-24.html). Since the Atlas has retained a usefulness as an introductory textbook on Near Eastern Archaeology, even though this was not the principal purpose for writing the book, and since it has been out of print for many years, I have decided to make it available on Academia.edu. Nevertheless, there are numerous errors in the book, some of which have resulted from discoveries made in the last 20 years. I have not, however, attempted to update the Atlas, but in order to indicate to the reader some of its shortcomings, I have posted a file with corrections on my Academia page. I will be grateful for any emendations and additions to this list, which will be revised when I have been made aware of further corrections. The current version of these corrections is appended to the end of this pdf. Michael Roaf March 2017

Pro;cct i\\lt11111ger C,rah.1111 lbteman Pditor Mich:icl M:irch (:arwgrapl11c M111111ger Ohvc l'c.1rson (\",t1rtogr11p/11r F.d,tor Sorah Rhl>des Picture Editor/Art Rescmc/,er Lincl.1 Proud l11dex/l'roof Readi11g Ani;cl:i M.1Ckcith /)esi1111 Aclri:in I lodgkin< l'rotl11ctio11 Clive Sparlmg Advisory l'ditor Nichul.i, Posti;>tc Add111on:1\\ contrahmions by D01111niquc Collon (p:ii:cs 72- 73) .:tnd Ceorgin:1 I lcrrm;tnn (pages 156 - 157) AN ANDROMEDA !WOK 1l'l.tnncd and prodnccd hy Andromcd., Oxford Limited, 11- 15 The Yincy.u·d, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX 14 3PX, England. Copyright O 1996 by Andromeda Oxford l.imitccl Rcprnuccl 1996 A\\\\ rights reserved. No p.1rt of thi, book 111oy he rcproducccl or u1ih,ed m .Ill)' form or hr .my ll1C,lllS, clcctro111c or rncch.rn1c~tl, including photocopying. rccordin~, or hy an)' mfor111:1t10H ,Stor,l(;f :me.I r<.·1ricv.1l ,yMcm-,1 wi,huut the permission 1n wri1ini; from the publisher .11,cl copi•r1i;ht ho lder. For 1nform.111on com.1e1: F.1<1< On File, Inc.• 11 Pc1111 Pb1.1 , New York, NY 10001 Librori• of Congrc;< Carnloi;ini:· in• Publica1io11 Dnrn RoJf, Michael. Cultural .nl•s of Mcsopo1a111i.1 and the ancient Near 1,'.1<1/M1diael Ro.,f. p. CIII. l11dudcs l11hliogr.11>h1Cal references am\\ index. ISIIN 0-8160- 2218- 6 I. lraq -C1vil11.a11on- To 6.l4. 2. Middle Eas1 - Civ1h1ation- To 622. 1. litk, DS695.R63 1990 90- .3429 935-cl,20 CIP Facts On F,lc hooJ..~ .ire .iv.1il.1hle .11 spc'C1,1l cl,;co,nm whc11 purchased in bulk qu.rntitics for hu~incssc,, .1\\s0C1.,11ons, 111st11u11011~ or s.1le~ pro11101 ious. l'lc.11c coll our Spcci.,1 s.,lcs l)cpartlllCllt Ill New York ·\" 2 12/967-8800 or 800/322- 8755. Origiu.uion hy $c.1ntr.111\\, Sing.,porc Filmsc1 b)' I lourcls T)'pugr.1pl11ca, Stafford, Fni;L111d Priiucd in Sp,,in h)1 f-ournicr Aries Gr..Hi,.,~, S.A., VuonJ 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 ] 2 I J'ro11tisf,ica Dclc11,11io11, of ,.,hjcc1 peoples m Xerxes, Apad.uu sr:1.irc.1sc, Pcrscpolis.

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Cultural Atlas of MESOPOTAMIA and the Ancient Near East .. by Michael Roaf Facts On File, Inc. AN INFOBASE HO LDINGS CO MPA N Y

CONTENTS 8 Chronological Table 10 Preface Part One: Villages 18 Early Farmers (12,000-7000 BC) 42 Toward Civilization (7000- 4000 BC) Part Two: Cities 58 The Urban Explosion (4000- 3000 BC) 78 States in Conflict (3000-2350 BC) 6 Charismatic Kings (2350- 2000 BC) 108 Trade and Warfare (2000-1600 BC) Part Three: Empires 132 Allies and Enemies (1600-1000 BC) 158 Assyria and its Rivals (1000- 750 BC) 176 Assyria Triumphant (750-626 BC) 198 The Last Empires (626- 330 BC) 224 Bibliography 225 Glossary 228 List of Illu strations 230 Gazetteer 233 Index Special Features 14 Archeology of the Near East 28 The Neolithic Village 36 Animals · 38 Pottery 70 The Origins of Writing 72 Cylinder Seals 74 Religion and Ritual 76 Gods and Demons 90 Sumerian Statues 92 The Royal Cemetery of Ur 104 Ziggurats 122 Transportation 124 Science 126 Technology 128 Everyday Life 150 Writing 152 The Discovery of Mesopotamia 154 The Royal Art of Hunting 156 Ivory Carving 166 The Balawat Gates 170 Urartian Metalwork 194 Mesopotamian Warfare 220 The Oxus Treasure 222 Babylon in Western Art 6

Site Features List of Maps 32 Jericho 12 The Near East physical 44 Chatal Huyuk 18 The spread of agriculture in the Old World 54 Tell Madhhur 20 The advance of the sea after the last Ice Age 60 Uruk 22 The vegetation of tbe Near East 81 Nippur 22 Climate of the Near East 86 Ebia 24 Early settlements in the Near East 101 Ur 25 The spread of farming and animal husbandry 119 Mari 34 Obsidian trade in the Neolithic period 143 Al-Untash-Napirisha 35 The resources of the Near East 144 Hattusas 146 Ugarit 43 Early pottery-using cultures 148 Ashur 49 Halaf and other cultures 162 Kalhu 53 The extent of the Ubaid culture 183 Tepe Nush-i Jan 58 Early urban settlement patterns in southern Mesopotamia 184 Dur-Sharrukin 64 The influence of early urban cultures 186 Nineveh 73 The use of cylinder seals 192 Babylon 79 The trade in chlorite vessels of the Intercultural Style 204 Pasargadae 80 The distribution of pottery styles in the 3rd millennium BC 210 Susa 83 The cities in the Sumerian King List 218 Persepolis 97 The conquests of the kings of Agade 98 Trade with the Gulf and the Indus valley King Lists 102 The empire of the Third Dynasty of Ur 105 Ziggurats of Mesopotamia 90 Kings of Agade 109 The city states of the Isin- Larsa period 94 The Third Dynasty of Ur 113 Anatolia and the Old Assyrian trade 110 Kings of Mesopotamia and Elam 116 The world of the Mari letters 120 Hammurabi's kingdom c. 2000-1600 BC 134 The empire of Mitrani 132 Kings of the Egyptian 18th Dynasty 135 The Near East in the time of the Amarna letters 134 Kings of Mittani 138 Elam in the 2nd millennium 138 •Kings of Hatti 139 The Hittite empire 140 Kassite Kings 140 ,The Middle Assyrian empire 142 Kings of Elam 142 The kingdom of the Kassites 148 Middle Assyrian Kings 159 Israel and Judah 159 Late Assyrian Kings I 160 The Aramaean and Neo-Hittite kingdoms 172 Kings of Urartu 164 The revival of Assyria 178 Late Assyrian Kings 2 173 The kingdom of Urartu 199 Neo-Babylonian Kings 1 176 The world of the Phoenicians 201 Neo-Babylonian Kings 2 179 The Assyrian empire in the late 8th century BC 204 Achaemenid Kings l 185 Assyrian capitals and irrigation systems 206 Achaemedid Kings 2 191 The Assyrian empire in the 7th century BC 199 Babylonia 203 The conquests ofCyrus 208 The empire ofDarius and the subject peoples 212 The building of the palace at Susa 214 Persia and the Greeks 214 Alexander's conquests 7

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE all dates are approximate BC 12,000 7000 4000 3000 ARCHEOLOG ICAL EPIPALEOLITHIC NEOLITHIC EARLY BRONZE AGE PERIOD NORTHERN Aceramic Hassuna Ubaid Gawra Uruk Ninevite 5 M ESOPOTAMIA Neolithic Samarra Halaf SOUTHERN Ubaid Uruk Early Dynastic MESOPOTAM IA Royal Cemetery of Ur S1011e bird head Susa A bowl c. 1/000 11c S1011e statue from Nem,·ik C. 7500 8C from Khafajel c. 2500 8C LEVAN T/ P ALESTINE Natufian Halaf Nahal Mishmar Egyptian in0ucnce Ubaid hoard IRA N/THE GU LF Sea level rising Uruk colonies A N A TO i . i A CULTURAL AN D Mesopotamian Susa A Proto- Ela m i te T ECHNOLOGICAL influence Early Transcaucasian DEVELOPMENT Ubaid Uruk 8 pottery influence Cha tal 1-luyuk Hunting and Plow Donkey Camels (in Iran) gathering \"the Flood\" Irrigation Sledges Wheel Domestic dog Palaces Boats Baked brick Monumental Farming architecture Metal axes Temples City walls and daggers Mud-brick Pottery Lost-wax cast ing Tin bronze Weaving meta l vessels gold, silver, lead Developed Faience arsen ical copper cuneiform script City states Early copper Cast copper Cylinder seals Writing Small bands Villages Stamp seals Cities

2500 2000 1500 1000 750 600 300 IRON AGE M IDDLE BRONZE AGE LATE BRONZE AGE Akkadian Old Assyrian Mittani Late Assyrian Persian rule Shamshi-Adad Middle Assyrian Third Mari letters Dynasty of Ur Akkadian Isin Larsa Kassite Late Babylonian Assy rian dominat ion N c o- B a b y l o n i a n Old Babylonian Midd le Baby lo nian Persian rule Third Dynasty of Ur Oronze and silve,· Faimce mask from Tell Horse head 011 a relieff,·om Stele frnm Neimb 11em· Aleppo '\"°Head \"fblue paste fmm stag from al-Rimah c. I 350 /JC D11r-Sharmki11 c. 710 RC C. 600 UC Alaca Huyuk Pcrscpolis c. 450 C. 2300 8C \"'IJ4 Egyptia n inOucncc Egyptia n rule Isra e l Assyrian conquests lla bylonian and zA Ebia Amoritc Hy ksos Sea peoples Judah Persian ru lcs ><< invasions Ama rna letters Israelites Phoenician, Aramaean Exile and return ~ of the Jews .<... a nd Nco-J-lillilc states 0 Minani Z 8 ~ - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -~_li_u_i_te_c_o_n_q,_u_c_s_t_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _-1~ Old Elamitc Old Elamitc Middle Elamite Medes Medes Mcdcs :> ~ Godin Ill Godin 111 Ac hae me nid Dilrnun Oilmun Arrival of Irania n Urartian and Assyrian invasions Persians tribes Assyrian invasions Alaca Huyuk Old Assyrian t rad e H it t it e Urartians Ly dia ns Media n a nd tombs Old Hittite Phrygia ns Persian conqucsls Arrival of Cotton Horses Horse b its Phrygians Cavalry 9 Chariots Coins Ziggurats Spoked wheels Camels Jlrass lcehouses Chickens Aramaic Empires Early alphabet Class Glazed po ttery lron srnch.cd

PREFACE From the end of the last kc Age until the the art of hunting. The major archeological sites of Opposite The wedges of the emergence of the civilizations of Greece and Rome the ancient Near East are also described and cuneiform script carved over the the most advanced societies lived in the Near East. illustrated in individual features. It was here that the fundamental transition from relieC sculplure from a 9th hunting and gathering to farming first took place. The intention at all times has been to make the century BC palace at Kall111. Here also, were the first temples and cities, the material accessible to the nonspecialist reader, and first metalworking, the first writing, the first technical language has been avoided whenever kingdoms, the first empjres. The heartland of the possible. Furthermore authorities are not cited ancient Near East was Mesopotamia, the fertile even for the most controversial statements. The plains watered by the T igris and Euphrates rivers. short bibliography at the end of the book is At different periods the power of the various intended to act as a guide toward further reading Mesopotamian kingdoms extended far beyond the rather than as the source for any particular lowland plains, making contact with neighboring statement. The glossary of terms also includes regions, which also made important contributions further information about problems of to the civilization of the ancient Near East. The terminology and chronology. aim of this book is to describe the highlights of human achievement in Mesopotamia and the The study of the ancient Near East is still in its ancient Near East against the background of the infancy. It is only 150 years since the unearthing geography of the region. of the sculptures of the Assyrian palaces and the first decipherment of the Babylonian cuneiform The period covered lasted for more than 10,000 script. Every year brings new discoveries that years ending with the conquest of the Near East increase our knowledge and correct our by Alexander. During that time the local preconceptions. Much basic research work still populations experienced huge social changes. At remains to be done, and investigations currently the beginning of the period, small bands of people under way will undoubtedly change accepted supported themselves by hunting, fishing, views. scavenging and gathering plant food. By the end of it, there were empires ruling almost the whole The locations of many ancient places arc civilized world. To emphasize these crucial uncertain and the boundaries of kingdoms are historical developments the text follows a often conjectural. As it has not been possible to indicate all the various possible alternatives in the chronological framework. Almost all the present maps, the most probable locations have generally knowledge of the ancient Near East (except for the been chosen. In some cases, it has been possible to biased accounts in the Bible and by the Greeks indicate how reliable an identification may be, in who deal with the latest periods) has been others it bas not. Furthermore, basic elements of resurrected by archeologists over the last century the ancient geography, such as the courses of the and a half. The early chapters of the book cover rivers and the coastline of the Gulf, are still the the periods before the invention of writing, when subject of much debate. The reader should, the material remains left by the early inhabitants therefore, be aware that the views expressed in of the Near East provide the basic evidence. In this book offer an interpretation of present later periods, more abundant textual sources have knowledge. been recovered and the scope ofthe investigation [t is a pleasure to thank the Advisory Editor, extends to historical events and personalities. Nicholas Postgate, for his many suggestions and St. John Simpson for reading and improving the How much archeologists and ancient historians text and for assisting with the captions and the have been able to reconstruct is remarkable, given bibliography. I am also greatly indebted to Dominique Collon and Georgina Herrmann for the remoteness of the period and the fragmentary writing the special features on Cylinder Seals and nature of the evidence on which our Ancient Ivory, subjects on which they are the understanding of the past is based. There are, of leading experts, and to John Curtis, David course, many gaps in the story and many Hawkins, Jane and Robert Killick, Roger Moorey, questions still unanswered, but the outline is now Trevor Watkins and other Near Eastern clear and modern civilization's debt to the ancient archeologists who have helped with specific Near East is undeniable. Much that is taken for matters. The editorial team at Equinox (Oxford) granted in the modern world has its origins in the Ltd has contributed greatly to the quality of the ancient Near East: foodstuffs, building bricks, publication and lam extremely grateful to them for the skillful work they have done. Finally l owe wheeled vehicles and the use ofa written language an enormous amount to my family, Susan, all derive from developments described in these Christopher and Richard, for their unfailing love and support. pages. At intervals throughout the book, special topics Michael Roaf are featured, starting with modern methods of archeological excavation. Other features include subjects as diverse as the origins ofwritin? and 10



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Archeology of the Near East Most ofour knowledge of the ancient Near East has One of the archeologist's most pressing concerns Right Excavations in progress at been gained in the last 150 years through archeolo- is to date what has been found. By a careful Tell Mardikh. In the middle of gical field work. [n the 19th century the main examination of the different deposits, it is possi ble the picture is a mud-brick wall ~oncern of archeologists was the discovery of to work out the order in which they were laid on stone foundations. The works of art to display in the museums of Europe. down. The shape of the artifacts used in a right-hand end of this wall was Since then archeology has become a scientific disci- particular region evolved over time and by arrang- removed by a large pit, which is pline that requires years of professional and ing them in chronological sequence they can serve indical<!d by the thick black academic training. Carefully devised techniques of to date the context where they were discovered. In lines in the edge of the trench. excavation and recording ensure that the maxi- the Near East, decorated pottery vessels provide Ideally, a site should be mum amount of information is recovered. But the chronological framework for the study of past excavated by peeling off the imagination and luck can also play their part. cultures. In some cases, dates can be derived from latest layers first, before tackling historical sources that can be fixed with reference the earlier levels. However, this The excavation of an archeological site is a com- to astronomical events such as eclipses. Otherwise, is a slow. difficult and expensive plex operation, requiring the cooperation of scientific techniques such as tree-ring or radio- way of working. II ca n be more numerous specialists. As well as the director in carbon dating may give an estimate of t he age of an cost-effective 10 dig down overall control of the project there will be archeo- object. quickly and determine what has been dug through by examining logists who supervise and record the digging, One of the most characteristic features of the the section of the trench. surveyors who make plans of the buildings dis- archeology of Mesopotamia is the abundance of covered, photographers, draughtsmen, registrars texts written, for the most part, on unbaked clay who record the objects found, and conservators tablets. Half a million cuneiform tablets have been who are responsible for consolidating and repair- recovered from archeological sites in the Near East, ing fragile or broken objects. On a typical excava- many of which have not yet been published. Many tion, literally hundreds of thousands of p ieces of more tablets are still buried under the ground. broken pottery, fragments of flint, discarded animal bones and so on have to be examined and Archeological investigations are expensive and recorded. Increasingly, soil scientists, metal- there are few projects that have had sufficient lurgists, chemists, geologists, computer programers funds to achieve the highest standards. The rapid and statisticians are coming to the archeologists' agricultural and industrial development programs aid. that are now being undertaken in the Near East As well as excavating sites, archcologists will present a further problem, destroying hundreds of also try to reconstruct the ancient surrounding ancient sites each year. Although some of the landscape. Surface survey, in which the visible governments of these countries are aware of the traces of ancient civilization within an area are problem and have financed large-scale rescue projects in advance of building major dams on the recorded, is a valuable way of discovering the rivers, more and more sites are destroyed each year history of settlement of a region, and indeed of and their evidence is lost for ever. selecting a site to be excavated later. l..eji Tell Khucra in northern Above Excavating with a small pick and a painlbrush, a Syrian Syria. Excavations have to be workman at Tell Mardikh carefully planned to enable the (a ncient Ebia) collects pieces of pottery, which are placed in a best use of resources. Today's black rubber basket. T he pollery archeologists have very precise is lhen washed, studied and aims in mind ~nd they attempt to recorded. By noting where each solve specific problems. Lengthy type of pottery was found, it is possible to eslablish a detailed discussions between the team picture of the development of members determine the place to different pottery styles. work, but because they can not yet see beneath the ground the results are often unpredictable. 14

Below The easiest way to recover Below Sievi ng to ensure a carbonized plant remains is 10 representative sample of t he throw the earth that has been artifacts is essential for quantitative studies to be carried dug up into a large container of water and to stir it so that the out. lfthe soi l is sandy, dry sieving is feasible, but if t he soil carbonized seeds float to the top. These can then be skimmed ofT is more lumpy then wet sieving, (irst dissolving the soil in water, through a set of graded sieves and lcfi to dry before being may be the bcuer method. Only sorted and identified. selected samples are sieved. Above Archeologists collect ing Below Cleaning and artifacts and plann ing the ir posilio ns on a silc in Lhc consolidat ion of a group of Jordanian desert. In the statuettes from Ain Ghaza in Jordan, belonging to the coun tryside many archeological Accramic Neolithic period sites arc d iflicult to recognize. (c. 7000 nc). They were made out These include the temporary c,1mp sites of nomt1d ic ofmud on a reed framework and sheepherders, sil cs used for were very fragi le. The statues Oint- knapping and sites that havc been completely eroded by were removed as a single piece the w ind, leaving behind the and taken to the laboratory stone artifacts buried t here. where t hey were carefu lly cleaned and impregnated with a chemical consoliclant to preserve them. 15

ARCHEOLOGY OF THE NEAR EAST Below Tree-ring dating, or Limber can be matched against dendrochronology. The the sc9uence 10 ascertain the -r.;:: ' th ic kness of the annual growth date of the timber. However, the rings of trees depends on the pattern differs by region. Whe n :.id ~ weather. A sequence ofyears has the patlern for the Near East has a distinct pattern of thick and been worked out, this will be an ~~ thin rings. By staning with extremely valuable dating living trees, sequences going method. Tree-ring dating has z; ~~ back more than 9,000 years l,ave been use d to calibrate been calculated. The patterns of radiocarbon delenninations. = rings ofan ancient piece of f sequence from living tree time back into past ,~ ~ ~i i i{ l ~~1-~)lil ~~ I . ,;\"''•\"\" ,;ogo ~\"' I sequences from older timber Right Part of the calibration 100 years due to statistical 4.700 +1 X tan ar dev1a1ion curve for converting 0 Sam variation in the measuremen ts. radiocarbon determinations to As the amount of Carbc>n-14 in U) via ion calendar years. Radiocarbon the atmosphere has not re ma ined dating provides an objective constant with time, the gi time-sca le for measuring the age 4.600 0 ofobjects. Living plants and rad ioc;irbon determination must anima ls absorb carbon dioxide be calibrated to give the age in ~ from the atmosphere, which ca lendar years. The cal ibration contains the radioactive curve was made by test ing 4.400 Carbon-14 isotope. This decays tree-ring-dated t imber and at a constant rate, with a ha lf- life shows tfiat radiocarbon 4_2001--<,-------r- -fllr-- --ll--t-+-----------------t--------1r-----1 determinations are too recent by of 5,750 years. This means that up to 1,000 years. For example, a Calendar years (BC) 2.930 3.360 3.520 every 5,750 years a dead object radiocarbon determinatio n of 2.910 3.000 3.500 loses half its Carbon- 14 atoms. The amount ofCarbon- 14 that 4,500 ± 100 b.p. corresponds to rema ins in the object can be measured to give a radiocarbon a calendar date betwc:cn 3360 determination of its age. This determination is given in the and 2930 uc with a probability of 2 out of 3, or belwccn 3520 and form 4, 500 ± 100 b.p., meaning 2910 nc with a probability of 19 out of 20. For the sa ke of that the average value is 4., 500 simplicity all the dates in this radiocarbon years before AD book have been converted to 1950 with a standard error of calendar years and are given as the average va lue of the interval. Below In excavat ion the earth is tracing the fa~es of mud- brick loosened using a large pick and removed with a spade or hoe walls or floors, a small pick and before being taken away in baskets to be dumpe\\l. trowel are more effect ive. For Increasingly, human labor is being supplemenlcd by very delicate cleaning or fragile mechanical equipment such as wheelbarrows, conveyor belts objects or skeletons, knives or and dumper trucks. For more precise excavation, such as scalpels, cocktail sticks, dental picks and paint brushes are used, but each archeologist has his or her own collection of sieve ~~tools. d~# ~• ~~ ~ tweezers l ayers numbered in order of ; ta l p : ~ deposition fro m the earlies t to the latest paint brushes Above The excavation of a Near Eastern tell is often a complex I Natu.al satl 2A.8.C Mud•bock wa,111 ~ trowel · process requiring great skill on 3A.8 FIOOfs going w.th 2A8.C 4 lolor lkJof vel the part of the excavator, who gomg with 28 and 2C fiA.B.C Fill of rooms has to distiguish between the whon lhe wals co,llap$ed Including SOOtOM different deposits. Early deposits ol fallen w.tll and mud•bricks 6A Mud-bnck · will be underneath or cut by wal 68 Mud•buck 1omb in giavo dug later ones. Through careful observation of the stratigraphy, bene11h floof 7A.8,C Fill of rooms 8 G,ave the correct sequence of deposits dug horn e levtl Ot3l ha! boon e,ode,d away can be determined. Ifa later pit 9A.8 layers OI s,11w&~hod down 1,om lhO has gone unnoticed or the natural layers have been IOI) ol UlO Sl4fl 10A.8 Mud•bud: Wllll:s on incorrectly identified, objects stonelouncta11on,. llA,8.C Floors gomg with from different periods will be w3lls JOA and 100 12A.8.C,O Ftl ol rooms muddled, possibly leading to faulty conclusions. 13 Griun slOf&ge p t dug lrom lovtl nt:/W eroded away 14 S1b1Ag 1,om·1he top of the s11e lev(l4 I 2•5 Le'IIOf II 6•7 Level lll6 leYel rv 10· 12 l evel V 13 t.avo,s dopc»1to-d 'M\\to lhe site was not octul)led 1 9 1'I tape measure rubber bucket 16

PARTONE VILLAGES

EARLY FARMERS (12,000~7000 BC) The distant past systems of communication that can convey a The spread ofagriculture in the Old World The evidence from the past is fragmentary. Only a limited amount of essential information, human Barley and wheat were first domesticated shortly before 9000 few features of human activity are preserved in the speech can communicate a vast range of seemingly BC and for some time arable farming was confined to the hills archeological record. Large areas remain unknown trivial as well as indispensable knowledge. Some around Mesopotamia. Over I.he next two millennia it spread to and unknowable. Yet those traces that have sur- animals can make and use simple tools, but we rely the southeast of the Caspian Sea and to the west of t he Indus vived suggest that in some ways people have been on tools so much that we could not survive valley and by 5000 He had been introduced into Europe, Egypt the same for thousands of years. For instance, we without them. Both speech and toolmaking arc and the whole of the Indus region, with, very probably, ascribe the same emotions and motivations to transmitted through culture, that is they arc animal-drawn plows being used and irrigation practiced. In nort h prehistoric humans that we ourselves have today. learned from previous generations. China and southeast Asia new These characteristics, which distinguish us from The success of culture as a means of survival was crops of millet and rice were our animal cousins, developed at some point on the apparent in the widespread distribution of human being domesticated. Within another 2,000 years arable long ladder of evolution. Indeed, many human colonies by the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic farming had become the normal way of life for the Old World, characteristics also find parallels in the animal period, more than 35,000 years ago. The popular t hough anima l herders still exploited the habitats of Russia kingdom. For example, ants farm caterpillars and image of stone-age people dressed in skins, living and Africa. aphids, they live in cities, and like humans their in caves and wielding clubs is rather one-sided. social roles change according to the circumstances. Indeed, they lived mostly in small bands and sur- Yet no other species has the variety of skills that vived by gathering roots, berries, leaves and humans have developed . Whereas animals have grubs, only supplementing their diet by hunting -0 2 , , 30\" 33• 46\", \\ ~r \\)\"\\.. 54• \\ 70' l \\t\\o o ,• '<lA(S£' c-<iv~} \\ CJ 0 &.s G s: ~/4' -1?7:,S ,· ) ~ :'.I, lrtflOk •• f '\\,A CASPIAN ,pl' I . •o ,, yi h. c,·, . , 0 F . ~,.,,._...,._,._ . .' ' ~ o· Urmis / ~\\.. / f,1ESOPO~ I I ~~~ ~~ i::~~ .. j l An Nafud / \\ The Gull '' - . 120\" \\ Equatorial scato I:88 intrOduction ol agriculture ·., ~)~.,; ~ J D bel0<e 9000 ec L J 9000-7000 BG I L J 7000-5000 BC L J 5000-3000BC J\\ prilclpal Clop I c:::J bailey and wheat rr=Jlmillel I [Z:J rice 'I \\ scale I: 20 74vtJOO I 0 I •j '( 400mi 18

EARLY FARMERS working, pottery and stone carving. Gradually, new forms of social organization developed, lead- ing, more than 5,000 years ago, to the emergence of cities, ruling classes, established religion and w riting- the standard ingredients of modern civil- ization. From the Near East the agricultural and urban ways of life passed to Europe, where, through the Greeks and Romans, they formed part of modern civilization. In other regions of the Old World where farming developed, the connection with the Near East is less clear, though very probably the concept of agriculture ultimately came from there. Agriculture and complex forms of .,social organization also sprang up independently in the Americas a few thousand years later, but the Near Eastern developments, being the earliest and ancestral to modern civilization, have particular significance. Geography of the region The supply of food, the basic requirement for human settlement, depends on the environment and the local geography. The Near East bas been called the land of the five seas, being encircled by the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Gulf and the Red Sea. The seas, however, have been a less important influence on human settle- ment in the region than the land. There is a great diversity of landscapes in the Near East, from the marshes of southern Iraq through the basalt desert of Jordan and Syria to the snow-covered moun- tains of Iran. Each environment supports differ- ent vegetation and imposes different methods of subsistence on its inhabitants. Of the few shared geographical features in the region, the only sig- nificant one is the lack of rainfall in the summer months. The variety of habitats in close proximity allowed different ways of life to exist in constant contact with each other, a factor that may have led to a cross- fertilization of ideas and stimulated the remarkable technological, scientific and social advances of the ancient Near East. 1/1111 ,. I he w ntrast between the larger animals. This way of life, which has been G e o lo g y , ll)OI''\" mountains and the fertile observed throughout the world, proved effective Two hundred million years ago the two ancient for hundreds of thousands of years and is still continental landmasses, Gondwanaland and Laur- l,l~lm llllc•d with sediments found in many regions today. About 12,000 years asia, which together with the ocean basins made up 1111111h1 dow n by the spring ago, however, as the sea level was rising at the end the earth's crust, started to break up and to move 1111111[~ I• lhund throughout the toward each other. Between them lay the Tethys of the last Ice Age, people in the Near East dis- Sea with thick layers of marine sediments. As the 1 1111111 w here wheat and barley covered a new way of obtaining food. It involved continents collided they split into several smaller , 1, fh •,1 domesticated. Here the the cultivation and subsequent domestication of coastal \"plates\" w hose movements relative to each plants and animals and is now so widespread that it I 111111, mo untains, still covered is difficult to imagine any other basis for human other created the main geographical features of the 111, , now in the late spring, existence. The development of farming in the Near modern Near East. As the Arabian plate moved East was followed by its rapid spread into Europe, under the Iranian plate it was forced down, to form 111w1 1 11vcr an upland valley in Africa and Asia. Within a few thousand years the the Gulf and the Mesopotamian lowlands, through t 1h, l,1111 , mnhern Turkey . The bands of hunter-gatherers, whose way of life had which the Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow. The developed over many millions of years, were same movement pushed up the steep parallel ridges ,h,11111111tt,1111 slopes provide grazing replaced by settled villagers. of the Zagros mountains to the northeast of Meso- potamia. The Taurus mountains of southern I 11 ''I' ,rnd goats while cereals The introduction of farming brought about other Turkey formed in a similar way, by the African 1101V1')l('l,1ble crops are grown in important changes. Houses became a permanent plate moving under the Turkish plate. The Red Sea 110 ll,11 llllfds. T his regio n lies feature of village life, while settlers explored new was created by the spread of the Arabian and materials and new technologies, such as metal- African plates, splitting the Arabo-Nubian massif, 1111111 1lw w ne w here there is which had formed part of the ancient continent of 11111, 1(•111 ,ainfall fo r dry Gondwana. The same movement of the Arabian plate to the north also formed the rift valley from I 11 11111111, hut irriga tion increases the Gulf of Aqaba north along the Wadi Ara bah, as 1111 ylo•ltl~ ,1nd extc nd.s the well as the Dead Sea and the Jordan valley. 1(11•\\Ylttp sc,1son so thal more iii w rnl; l'rop per year can be 111 111 19

VILLAGES USSR The advance or the sea after -, the last lee Age In I5,000 uc sea levels IRAN .,iI-.·, throughout Lhe world were abou1 JOO m lower than they are IRAN \\ today. By about 4000 nc they had reached present-day levels. SAUDI ARABIA For most of the Near East this would have submerged only a ..... ARABIAN SEA narrow coastal strip, but in Che SOUTHERN Gulf' everything was flooded. YEMEN The Tigris and Euphrates with the other rivers coming from the \\ • 0 so· mountains of Iran flowed through the area of the Gulf, the SAUDI ARABIA river banks providing suitable habitats for hunkr-gathcrcrs. Un fort unatcly, any trace ofsuch occupation is submerged beneath the waters of the Gulf. buried under sediment layers brought down by the rivers. The lakes and in la nd seas (Lake Urmia, Lake Van, the Caspian Sea ,,nd Dead Sea and others) had higher water leve ls than today and the inte rior basins of Turkey, Iran and /\\rabia may have had extensive mars hes anti lakes. Since 4000 nc the sea level has varied by only I 2 m, but such small changes, combined with local subsidence and sihing cau sed by the rivers, could have made great difTcrcnces to the coastline. Many scho lars think that the head of the Gulf' reached much farther inland, perhaps as far as the city of Ur in about 2000 BC. 26'\" la,1hes1 e,1en1ol The Gull by Q1SOOOBC LJ12500BC D•oooosc L J 7500BC LJ40008C presem day roaslline ) UNITED ARAB \\ scale 1 6000 000 100m, 0 SO' EMIRATES \\. I l 0 54• 56\" 48\" The precise boundaries of the plates are still west, the Pontus mountains near the Black Sea and Above right The banks of the uncertain but their complex interaction has created the Taurus mountains near the Mediterranean Sea. Euphrates in Syria. The numerous points of structural weaknesses where Between these ranges the Turkish platea u, which is Euphrates and Tigris rivers leave earthquakes and volcanoes are common and in more t han 500 meters above sea level, slopes up the mountains of eastern certain places rocks of volcanic origin, such as from west to cast. In eastern Turkey the mountains A na101ia to now in narrow basalt and obsidian (volcanic glass), cover large coalesce and join the two main mountain ranges of valleys through northern areas. Most of the surface rocks in the Near East are Tran: the Elburz in the north, which runs along the Mesopotam ia. Sou t h of the sedimentary, either formed under the sea as lime- southern shore of the Caspian Sea, and the Zagros stones or made of redeposited eroded rocks such as range, which runs from the northwest to the south- dry- forming zone, ,rops g,·ow in sandstones and mudstones. This process bas east and separates the Mesopotamian lowlands continued to the present day, with much of the from the Iran ian plateau. These mounta ins reach 1hc river v,1llcys and flocks of Arabian peninsula covered by sand dune'.' and heights of about 4,000 meters and the tallest peaks, shccp trnd goats gr,1zc 011 the many of the river valleys and inland basins filled which are, in fact, extinct volcanoes, rise even extensive ste ppe la,,ds. 111 with alluvial silt eroded from the mountains and higher. They include Mount Ararat (5,125 meters), spring, when the snov..•s mch in deposited by the rivers. Only along the western where today Turkey, Iran and the Soviet Union the mountains ofTurkey and edge of the Arabian peninsula and in Sinai, and in meet, Mount Savalan (4,810 meters), Kuh- i Taftan Iran . the Tigris and 1, uphra1cs occasional exposures in the mountains of Iran and on the Pakistan border (4,040 meters) and- highest rivers rise sevcr,11 mclcrs a nd Turkey, arc earlier, igneous rocks (containing valu- of all- Mount Demavand in the Elburz mountains be~ome raging muddy 101-renis able minerals) easily accessible. in northern Iran (5,605 meters). In the center of the of inuncn~c violcnrc. At other Iranian plateau are two vast inhospitable deserts, tirncs, the rivers llow more The landscape the Dasht-i Kavir and the Dasht-i Lut. gently ,ind the waters are clear. As a result of these geological processes and the more recent effects of water, wind and ice, the South of the mountainous regions of Turkey and llisl!I Sheep ,111d goats graze in landscape of the Near East is very varied. To the Iran the landscape is less savage, as the steep the Lar valley in I he El bur,. north, in Turkey and Iran, p lateaus bordered by mountain ranges give way to t he plains of Mesopo- mountain ranges rise some 2,000 meters above sea tamia. From the Gulf in the southeast the land rises mountains in northern Iran. level. In Turkey two main ranges run from east to slowly to the northwest, following the course of Spring comes later 10 the the Euphrates river until it turns north and enters snow-covered mountain vc:1lleys of Iran a nd Turkey I han 10 the lowlands. In summer, tri bes of' nom(1<lic pastoralis1s lake their herds up into the mountains. where the grazing is s1ill lush after the vegeta tion ha~ turned brown in the houer, drier regions. This way of lire 111.1y go b,1ck to prehistoric times but it h;is left lit1 lc trace in the archcological record . 20

EARLY FARMERS the Taurus mountains, having risen only 400 meters over a distance of 1,200 kilometers. The lower part of the Mesopotamian plain is almost flat, being formed by silt brought down by the Eu- phrates, Tigris and other rivers from the mountains to the north and east. In the upper part of Meso- potamia the landscape is rolling plains. Along the Mediterranean coast o[ Syria, Leba- non and Palestine arc more mountain ranges. The highest peaks are in t he Lebanon, in places reach- ing more than 3,000 meters above sea level. Herc the topography is varied, with the upland zone split by the north- south fault that now forms the Jordan valley, the Dead Sea (some 300 meters ·below sea level) and the Wadi Arabah valley lead- ing to the Red Sea. More mountains run parallel to the Red Sea on the Arabian peninsula. The Hejaz range at the northern end of the Red Sea is more than 2,000 meters high, while the Asir mountains in Yemen at the southern end of the Red Sea rise to 3,500 meters. From there the land slopes down gradually to reach the Mesopotamian plains and the Gulf coast. The mouth of the Gulf, however, is marked by the high mounta ins of Oman, which exceed 3,000 meters. Sea-level cha nges The relief has been form ing for hundreds or thou- sands of years, but an important cha nge occurred with the end of the last Ice Age. During the Ice Age huge icefields covered the polar regions, trapping part of the waters of the oceans and reducing the 21

VILLAGES 54• Kara Kum Syr ian D esert An Nafud scare 1· 14 280 000 \\ -- - 0 400km meanaruiual rainfall Rub al Kha li mm The vegetation of the Cli mate of the Nea r East scale 1.31 500 ooo 800km 1000 Near East The winds from the west bring 500mo 600 This map shows the natur,11 ra in to the Near East. II falls 0 400 where the wi nds first hit die vegetation of the Near Ea~t. that hills and mountains. Many 200 is. how the vegetation would be 100 if left alone. w ithout human inland areas arc situated in a 0 intcrforcnc;c. The vegetation depends to a great extent on the \"ra in shadow\", such as the p,Htern of rainfall. Large areas of regio n to the cast of the Caspi,111 the Nc,1r East receive so little Sea. and th e Arabi;in desert, and t hc~c rct:civc k·~!> rain. A lmost ,ill rain that the land is desert and the rain !alls in the winter un!)uitablc for human sclllcm<.:nl. months ,111d. except along th~ On the fringes of the deserts coasts ofTurkey and of the extend ing into the foothills 1he Caspi,111 Sea. there b no rainfall natur,11 vegetation is steppe. between June and September. w here grasses and low shrubs The temperature in the Near East grow, and on the mountain i ncreases toward the south and slopes arc wooded regio ns. The c.k<.:rcasc!) w it h ,1hitudc. There is populated areas or the past arc the same as t hose where pe<Jple a considerable difference live today. For th is reason. scienLists bel ieve that over the bCh<\\1Cc11 the summer and winter last 10,000 years there have been tem peratures. Near the coa~l!> the difforcncc is abou t 15•c but it no great ~hangcs in the d in1t1tc rises to more than 25°C in the mounta ins. Much of\"thc higher and vegetation apart frnm those land of Iran ;rn<.I Turkey is under caused by human interference snow in winter. with 1hc natural environment through overgrazing, deforestation and agriculture. 22

EARLY 1°1\\RMERS J, u1,1h•~l\"lnt10n 'I!. sea level by more than 100 meters. Then, about they do today. FMther south too, the dry and cold It1tllh,roos IOfest 16,000 years ago, the sea level started to rise. Most conditions of the Ice Age y ielded to a warmer, ,1,-cld11011s forost of the seas surrounding the Near East shelve moister c limate, a llo wing the growt h of more trees. However, by abou t 11,000 !IC the ra infall had J ,nl~(l(j l0tes1 steeply down, so that the resultant changes in the become less a nd large areas o nce ilgain reverted to coastline were not great. The Gulf, howe ver, is steppe or desert. ~.,d,tll/loocan forest shallower and there the r ivers fed from the runoff from the Taurus and Zagros mounta ins reached the During the last 10,000 years the climate and the j IIOOdplaln sea much sooner than they had done earlier. The vegetation of the Near East have been broadly , ,,,,ppe flat alluvial plains of southern Mesopotamia and s imilar to conditio ns there today . Four d istinctive the Egyptian Delta were created afte r the sea had zones formed bands across the a rea. T he mo untain I fttrNCklse<I reached approximately its modern level. The sea zone, where deciduous and con iferous trees grew '\"''\"Oil level rose rapidly, at times exceeding L meter in a with va rying mixtures of' oak, pine, cedar and century, and reached its present level in about juniper. experie nced cold wet winters and dry ,30· 4000 BC. It has remained with in l or 2 mete rs of summers. ln the foothill zone, extending a lo ng the this since then. One effect of the steep rise is that Med iterranean coast and the foothills of the Taurus the evidence for early occupation in the Gulf a nd Zagros mo untains, t he w int ers were mild and region and in southern Mesopotamia is buried moist and the summe rs warm and dry. The vege- beneath thick sed iments. For the early periods tatio n was fairly open Med iterranean forest, w ith therefore it is necessary to look at areas where the oak, pine a nd tereb inth trees, and grasses t hat landsca pe has changed less and where the occupa- included the wild varieties or early do mesticates tions are more readily accessible. such as barley and wheal. A steppe zone a lo ng the Climate and enviro nme nt eastern a nd southern margin of the foothil ls and on The sources of evidence for the climates of ancient the Iranian a nd Turkis h platea us had mild dry times are many and varied. For example, the rela- winters <1nd hot dry s umme rs, supporting open, tive proportions of the two oxygen isotopes O 10 a lmost treeless, grassland. Fina lly, t he desert zone to O18 in the sea arc an indication of the amount in the interior or /\\rab ia and Iran had mi ld dry of water held in the polar ice caps and hence of w inters a nd hot dry summers, but virt u,1lly global temperatures. Similarly, thick sedime ntary nothing g rew there. The boundaries bet ween thC'se deposits reveal increased river flow, whic h may be regions have s hifted w ith sma ll c ha nges in climate, the result of greater rainfall. One of the most useful but the genera l pattern has remained the same even techniques is the identification of t he polle n gra ins t hough c hanges in water courses, the drying up of from flowering plants preserved in the sed ime nts lakes a nd s prings a nd the movement or sand dunes of ancient lakes. From these it is possible to build have probab ly caused loc;.il c ha nges. Moreover, up an idea of the changing vege tation. Although during the last 10,000 years huma n intervent ion there is no fina l agreement on how to inte rpret throug h overgrazing, deforestation and interfer- these results, wh ich seem to vary from reg ion to ence wit·h t he natural water courses has inc reas- region, a rough picture emerges. ingly changed the e nvironment. As the ice sheets retreated and the seas rose, the T he presence o f perma nent w,11t:r supplies temperature increased rapidly, rising a lmost 10° created particularly favorable h;ibitals, which Celsius between l 2,000 and 8000 BC, before reach- though t hey did not occupy large areas, wen: very ing a maximum of l O or 2° Celsius above present important to early human beings. These included levels. During the Ice Age the northe rn mountain the sea and lake sho res, with thei r rich stores of zone had had la rge ly steppic vegetation and a cold, marine a nd :iqu;itic life (both animal a nd vege- arid climate. Afterward, as the climate became table), the river valleys and spring-red oases, warmer and mois ter, thick forests grew, so that by where thickets or tamarisk and other trees and a bout 6,000 years ago oaks a nd other trees covered bushes lhrived, a nd swamps, where near the head the s lopes of the Zagros and Taurus mou nta ins, as of the Gulf the wild a ncestors of the date palm tree prob;.ibly flourish ed. ·,60\" 66\" ~J T he Near Dasi was also r ic h in la nd- based '\\ ?I a nima ls . Herds of gazelle, fal low deer, w ild ass a nd \\._ wild cattle roamed t he steppes. Red deer, roe deer, wild s heep and wild goats were more common in \\ ,'- the mountains while wild boar th rived in damp conditions. Preying on t hese an imals were jacka ls, C I wolves, bears, ly nxes, hyenas, c heeta hs, leopards, \\:o~·II SEA t t igers and lio ns. Smaller mammals in cluded foxes, hares, w'ildcats, hedgehogs and different species or I ,00 000 rodents. Two s urprising absentees were the ca mel and the horse, which, having disappeared during -.---.---.---8100\\vn the Ice Age, did not reap pea r until the third mi llen- nium BC. Amphibia ns and reptiles were common, 500,rj including tortoises, snakes, lizards and frogs, w hile from the rivers, lakes and seas came many varie ties of fi sh and s hellfish . There was a wea lth o r birdl ife in the regio n, inc luding numerous migran t species, as the Mediterranean coast and the head of t he Gul f lie on the main migration routes from Russia to Africa. Of the larger birds, ostric hes, busta rds, par- tridges, duc ks and geese were a useful food source. 2}

VILLAGES 1..eft /\\n oasis in wcslern Syria. The provision of wa1cr can transform Lhc barren waste of the Near East into fertile land where orchards and gardens thrive. The water may come from rivers or springs. If the water source dries up. the area will once again become desert. Ea rl y setllemc nts in the Above and above ,-ight Prchisioric pottery was often decorated Near East with paintings ofanimals and After the end of the last Ice Age, birds. The animals were normal ly wild rather than people established settlemen ts domestic and chosen panly for their decorative efTect. Wild where they could cxploil the sheep and ibex were very na1urally occurring wild popular. The representations arc often so sty lized that the varieties of wheal, barley and par1 icular species cannot be other plants and hunl animals. identified. The snake (above), Most of these sites lay within the dating to the 61h millennium ut, shows the typical primi1 ivc area where barley and wheat method of representation, with grow wild today, which is the body seen in profile and the limited 10 the south because of head from above. The skidding the available rainfall. The large leopard (above ,-ight) comes from Luristan in western Iran and number of sites discovered in dates to the 4th millennium uc. Palestine reflects both lhe intensity of archeological work in this area and the importance of the region in the cpipaleolithic period (c. 18,000 9300 oc). In the following Proto-Neolithic period (c. 9300 8500 oc) i1 is probable that wheal and barley were already d o m e s t ic a t e d . 34· 38' ? r I) \\,___ I0 ,I'/ ' CJPIAN SEA \\','\\ ·0-. r i;.'\"\"i I 0 ~ ) <? / 1 6il38' ANATOLO < tI l? r o&u~0 ~~ r Abu HJ oyra• t' .. _./ I Ii.,_ Cypru~ I 34• I-. MEDITERRANEAN , SEA I ,,I , / I ,,I ' I \\ , __,, PALESTINE • Epipaleolijhlc site • Prolo-Noolithoc sile , Rosh,.,• •Wadi Hasa □ ~:~~~!~\": □:;~~~~ Ql 'I / • Rosh Horesh.a I Salem• The Gulf -~\"'-. ·~iTha scale 1:9000000 I0 300km I } -- - - ' - - ~ - ' - - - ~ - , ~~ :0 I 24

EARLY FARMERS ,, The origin s o f agriculture wild from domesticated varieties and breeds. During the millions of years in which people sur- However, the identification and interpretation of 111,· , ,lrcad of farming and vived by hunting, scavenging and gathering, they animal and vegetable remains is a matter for ,, 111111111 hus bandry had made great technological. advances. With the experts, who do not always agree about their It,\"'•\" kJble ad van ces were made emergence of anatomically modern human beings findings. 111 Ilw Acera mic Neolithic pe riod (Homo sapiens sapiens) the pace of progress acceler- ated, leading to the colonization of all the continents The collection of seeds and bones has been a I• K\"K> 7000 oc). Plants and by no later than 20,000 BC. People's increasing regular part of archeological excavation only ,11111,,,t, were d omesticated , la rge ability to control their environment showed in during the last 40 y ears. Before that, archeologists improved and more elaborate Oint-working tech- relied on noticing changes, such as in the method , lll1•111cnts ho using hundred s o f niques, in more settled occupation and in more com- of making stone tools, to distinguish between I\" \"pl,• grew up a nd indus try in plex social behavior such as ceremonial burial riles periods. In the Early Stone Age, tools were made ilu lorm of meta lwo rking and and paintings on cave walls, dating from about by chipping and flaking but in the Neolithic period 11111,· plast er ma nufacture began 30,000 BC. These skills were necessary prerequisites (Late Stone Age) grinding and polishing were used. 1111 ., l,orgc scale . The s e ll le mcnts to adopting agriculture as a way of life. Other changes were recognized as occurring at ,1lll l,1y w ithin the regio n of 'roughly the same time. These included settlement 1.,l11lrd arable farming but n ow As hunter-gatherers people had exploited plants sites with houses, the use of pottery vessels, and , , 1,•11dcd into the wooded and animals, but made little attempt to look after the burial of the dead in cemeteries. (Although 111011111.,ins a nd onto the Turkis h them. Obviously any predator that allowed its similar sequences of development occurred in ,u,I lr,rnian p lateaus. Wh ile most main source of food to dwindle would itself be in India, China, Africa and America, the earliest were , 11 l1•ments dep e nded on cereal danger of extinction. In fact, from early on humans in the Near East.) , 11hlv,11ion, the re we re still some bad attempted limited forms of cultivation by leav- 11!,11 ,11rvived as ing alone young animals and small fish and by pro- It is interesting to speculate why farming devel- huntt•r-ga thc rc rs. Ouring this tecting selected species. Proper domestication, oped at this time. During the cold and warm I\" 11ml 1he e mphasis o n Palestine however, implies that the plants or animals arc periods that alternated with the earlier Ice Ages Ih,11 WJS evide nt ea rlier is less themselves dependent on people for their survival. agriculture should have been possible sooner . '\" ukcd. In the early stages of agriculture people cultivated However, it was only after the latest Ice Age that wild species of plants and animals. But over suc- human groups had a sufficiently developed social ceeding generations, through selective harvesting and technical infrastructure to take ad vantage of and sowing of plants and selective breeding of the opportunity afforded by the climate and animals, changes occurred and new varieties and geography. In particular, the use of language, breeds emerged. Some of these changes, which arc which developed between 100,000 and 20,000 recognized in plant remains and animal bones years ago, would have been crucial in communi- found on archeological sites, serve to distinguish cating information and passing it on from genera- tion to generation. 34' 50\" 0 CA IAN SA )L i / .~ \"-J .1 fblkl, Huyuk ANATOLIA J I . Jarmo . . x ~an1-0j~~bdll\\HO$€~ J MksOPOTAMIA I\\ -~ ~ MEDITERRANEAN I , an • I SEA I han..j I - I ( ,I I ,' I , : • wadi Dubai 8 ) •NatialOM~ I I ,,r)0 J,,,/ r' .Bei<!Ha jO' I ... AcMamic Neohlhic site t<f--r -4e~sta_ L J d1sorolM1on ol She,ip and goa•s :, L J land above 500m I scale 1· 9000 000 The Gulf \\ 0 25 Wad, Tho 200ml

V I LLAGES 26

EARLY FARMERS However, the reasons that first attracted stone- age people to cultivate plants and raise livestock were arguably different from those that perpe- tuated that way of life. According to recent studies, farmers work harder than hunter-gatherers to obtain enough food t.o survive and agriculture does not provide easier or more abundant supplies. Against this, a more settled life, with the possi- bility of larger social groups, offered the advan- tages of reduced child mortality, as mothers did not have to move with the tribe, and through agricul- ture, more direct control of the food supply. There were also unforeseen opportunities within the agri- cultural way of life which eventually resulted in its adoption in all but the most remote and the least hospitable areas of the world. For example, sheep, which were probably bred at first for meat, sk in and bones, also became a useful source of milk and wool through sclcctivc breeding. Ea rly settlements in t he Near East Left It has been suggested that Abow Cereal cultivation The transition from hunter-gatherer to farmer in the 11crcc wild callle were involved new t.cchnological the Near East is most apparent in the Levant and originally domesticated for processes that included reaping Palestine. Over the last 40 years, archeologists, in religious reasons or for their and milling, using flinl sickle the course of intense fieldwork, have excavated meat, hides, bones and horn. blades and grindstones, some of numerous early sites in Israel, compared with only But early in the Neolithic which have been preserved on a few in other Near Eastern countries. Despite the period cattle were probably kept archeological sites. Other unevenness of this research, this region docs seem for their milk ,ind for use <IS to have been crucia l for the development of draft ;inimals. Oxen (neutered activities such as winnow ing, agriculture. bulls) are still w idely used today which used wooden tools and The first habitation sites in the Near East were for plowing. harrowing, took place away from lhc either caves or temporary open-air camps or work threshing, and for pulling carts. sculcmcnts, have left lilllc trace areas. Following the last Ice Age, more permanent in the ardicological record. settlement sites became common, as evidence from the Kebaran period in Palestine (from about 18,000 J 1,000 to 9300 BC, was more widespread than the to 11,000 nc) shows. At Ain Gev I, a site on the Kebaran. It extended throughout Palestine and the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, dated about Levant and related sites have been found on the 15,000 llC, the foundations of what had probably Euphrates in Syria and further cast. In the Natufian been a round dwelling hut contained stone slabs and a stone mortar for grinding grain, as well as period the archcological evidence for the adoption sickle blades that had the characteristic sheen of cereals as a major element of the diet is much caused by reaping cereals or reeds. The Kebaran clearer. Grindstones, hearths and storage pits have people also hunted wild animals and often went been uncovered at Natufian sites along with the after particular species. For exam ple, nearly three- burned seeds of wild two-row barley and wild ein- quarters of the bones found at Naha l Oren on korn wheat, and of other wild food plants such as Mount Carmel belonged to gazelle, whereas at acorns, lentils, chickpeas and peas. Wadi Madamagh, near Petra, more than 80 percent were from wild goats. Besides having tough husks, which are closely attached to the seed and can only be removed by The presence of grinding stones, however, roasting or by pounding, wild cereals also have a shows that plants and cereals formed an integral brittle rach is (central axis) which breaks very part of their d iet. Cereal grains are very nutritious easily, causing the seed to scatter and making but arc protected by an indigestible husk. To make harvesting difficult. Once people had learned to them ed ible, the husk was removed by roasting, sow and harvest grains, they preferred varieties before cooking the grain at a low temperature with w ith a tougher rachis. This is one of the criteria water to form a type of porridge, or the grains were used to distinguish domesticated from wild varie- ground up to make flour, which was then mixed ties of cereals. with water and baked at a high temperature. The sickles, made out of several flint blades set in a Two species of wild wheat were found in the wood or bone handle, may have been used to reap Near East: einkorn wheat and emmer wheat, which wild cereals, though cutting the stems risked may have arisen as a natural hybrid of einkorn scattering the seeds, and so plucking the ripe grain with another species of wild grass. Through selec- by hand was probably more efficient. Similar types tive harvesting and planting, both cinkorn and of flint working have been found in the contem- emrner wheat produced domesticated varieties. porary cultures in Turkey and in the Zagros moun- The modern hexaploid wheats were probably tains but there is no comparable evidence for plant derived from domesticated cmmcr wheat through food preparation. hybridization with another wild grass. Varieties The Natufian period The Natufian culture, which lasted from about 27

The Neolithic Village Village life in the Near East does not appear to have / Left This painted stone mask changed greatly between the Neolithic period and from Nalial Hemar may have the late 19th century, though our knowledge of the been used in some ritual early period is based largely on the remains of ceremony. Some scholars think stone or bone tools and the ruins of buildings, as thal the finds al Nahal Hemar organic materials are seldom preserved. In the belonged to a temple or other extremely dry conditions of the cave of Nahal religious institution. Hemar, near the Dead Sea, a wider range of material has survived, including textile and Below The earl iest houses were basketry fragments and wooden tools and beads. The textiles, in particular, show a surprisingly round huts sunk intO the high level of technical ability. Some finds hint at the religious life of the time, but the rich heritage ground, like this one from of dance and myth is now beyond our grasp. Qermez Dere in northern Iraq, dating to the Proto-Neolithic ~-L. I Jj J ..J... .J period. They were more than ~ just places of shelter and played ,. .... .... a centra l role in the spiritual life of the community . The stone and .,, plaster pillar and the placing of human skulls on the fioor of the ...J,, '·' ' '\" .... , Tabandoned building arc indications ofthe kinds of rituals enacted in the house. ...J, .... ' .,. .,! .... T I II I I I I Mudwall Roof removed ,~.::::;;; The earliest evidence for textile before filling Ancient ground in house manufacture comes from the level (ft) Accramic Neolithic period. In ..............'-'-'~ the cave of Nahal Hemar, Surviving material was made by twisting height of pairs of nax (linen) weft threads wall round the warps. Where the twisted threads are separated this is called spaced twining (above center); otherwise il is called close twining (top). Impressions on clay from Jarmo show that normal weaving (tabby weave) (above) was also known at this period. Right Stone mortar and pestle Rig ht Bone hook or buckle and ' ' . ,' from Jericho. ll had a wide wooden tools from Nahal Hemar. variety of uses, from food Stone and wooden tools included ..'· , preparation to grinding pins, needles, awls, arrowheads pigments. Similar stone vessels or points for spears or harpoons, .. were used from the Natufian lo and so on. lhe Islamic periods. Below A sickle from Nahal Hemar with ninl blades fixed into a wooden haft using bitumen as a glue. ll may have been used for culling reeds. 28

EARLY !'ARMERS Ht•lmu Two varieties of wild may also be distinguished by whether the husks, of cereals allow a delayed return on the e nergy whc,u Jl\"c found in the Nc11r or glumes, stick to the seeds (hulled or glume invested in their col lection, so that grain can act I 11'-l, lldmcly einkorn w heat t111d wheats) or whether they arc easily removed (naked like money, having an accepted standard of value , 111111er wheal. The laller may or free-threshing wheats). Barley, too, has hulled and a medium of exchange. The storage and, later, h11vc arisen ,'ls a nal ural hybrid and naked varieties as well as varieties t hat have cultivation of grain thus allowed the possibility of ol l.'inkorn \\•Vil h species of wild either two or six rows of seeds in each head. Not wealth accumu lation, promoting the development surprisingly, the naked or free-threshing varieties of a society in which status was based on wealth. were generally preferred to the hulled kinds. The Natufian people collected wild cereals and It is often possible to tell from their shape other plants, but perhaps also \"cultivated\" them to whether grains of wheat or barley belonged to wild protect them from predators and may have even or domesticated species, but with other ed iblc planted some wild varieties. The worn-down teeth plants t his difference is less easy to recognize. The of Natufian skeletons have been attribu ted to the wild varieties of legumes such as lentils, vetc hes grit in their diet from the extensive use of grind- 1(11,ll i:r,1ss. Throug h selec1 ive and peas, fruit such as figs, apples and pears, nuts stones in the preparation or plant food . The ratio of h,11 vcs1i ng and plan ting, bo1h such as acorns, almonds and pistachio are almost strontium to calcium in their bones is similar to f'l11korn and cmmcr wheat p111c.luccd domesticMcd v,irict ics identical with the domestica ted varieties though that in the bones of herbivorous animals rather ,111tl II is from lhc d omcs1 irn1cd these have become larger over the years. Many than carnivores, suggesting that the bulk of their ,·1umcr w heal 1hat 1he modern food plants only occasionally leave traces in the d iet was made up of plants. lw.,.,ploid w heats w e re probably archcologica l record. Leafy plants like cabbage, let- dr1 ivcd by hybrid i'lAHion wi1h tuce, spinac h, onion and garlic, and fles hy plants The inhabitants of many Natufian s ites also such as melons, cucumbers a nd mushrooms a rc hunted particular species of wild a nima l. At al- .11uu hcr wild goat grass. Varieties Wad and Nahal Oren 80 percent of the animal bone 111,,y .ilso be disl inguished on 1he h,1'i, of whe1her I he husks or }tl11111cs stick to 1he seed s (hul led only seldom found in archeologica l excavations recovered belonged to gazelles and at Abu Hurcyra •H glunw wheals) and those where I he husks arc easi ty and the history of their cultivation ca n on ly be on the Euphrates (possibly the end of the gazelle's 1tmovcd (naked o r guessed at. For these reasons, archcologists have natural migration route) 65 percent of the bones l1w-lhrcshi11g wheats). Only concentrated their attention on the cereals. On were gazelle bones. At Bcidha, near Petra in south- h,1rd, bread a nd dub wheat were present evidence, the cereals were among the ern Jordan, goats were the main game an ima l, while the bones found al Ain Ma lla ha in the .Jordan 11,,kcd o r free-I hrcshi11g. W ild earliest domesticated plants, but it is likely that valley included gazelle's (44 pe rcent) as well as legumes were harvested and c ultivated at about the those of roe deer, fallow dee r and boar, a nd a few l>tJnts h,,d brilllc c,,rs 1hal broke from wild cattle, goats, foxes, hyenas and hares. same time. T he re mains of birds, fish, snails, mussels, snakes, wf'orc or duri11g h,1rves1ing, The cereals also differ from much other plant tortoises and rodents were also found at Ain wh ile in d<.1mcstica tcd varieties Mallaha, though it is unlikely t hat all of these food in that they ca n be stored for long periods, served as food . w~,~lhc c.\\:irs remained ,llt~1chcd 10 the provided that they arc kept dry and [rec from pl,1nt, w hit;h Ml ~1d v,1nt age insects or rodents. Grain can also be heated or As with plants, the process of domestication parched to prevent germination. T hese properties during harvesting. In the carlies1 ,1~gcs of,1g rk 11l1ure the seeds wnuld not h.ivc been mudil1cd ,111d su could nut be.; dbti11guisht'd from wild v,1ricl ics. DIPLOID affected a nimals, so that over generations differ- (two sels of chromosomes) ences in the bones ena blc zoo-archeologists to dis- tinguish wi ld from domestic varieties. Othe r signs Wild Goat Grass Wild Goat Grass of domestication include t he presence of animals /Aeg1/ops spelto,des) (Aeg,lops rauschli) outside their natural ha bitats, size d iffere nces, changes in the composition of' flocks a nd cha nges in the proportions of diffe re nt species. Some of these diffe re nces, however, were not solely due to domestication but might also have bee n ca used by changes in climate. After the last lee Age, ma ny an imals became sma lle r, perhaps in order to cope with t he warmer cl imate, though domestication also seems to have favored smaller a nimals. TETRAPLOID The animal bones found on Natul'ian sit.cs were (four sets of chromosomes) predominantly those of wi ld s pecies. At Ain Mallaha and Hayonim terrace to the southwest, however, archcologists measured a set or bones that were smaller than those of the modern wolf and probably belonged to \"ma n's best friend\" now shown to be the oldest too- the domes!ic dog. From t he same pe riod at Ain Mal la ha, about J0,000 llC, an old woman was found buried with a 3- 5 month-old puppy . Although it was not possible to tell whether the skeleton was that of a wolf or a HEXAPLOID Spelt Wheat dog, the an imal clearly e njoyed a close relationship (six sets of chromosomes) with the woman. Many a nimal bones from Natu- /T. spelta/ [ian sites, unlike those from earlier periods, @Hybrid showed signs of hav ing been chewed, another indi- Club Wheat cation of the presence of' dogs. Since t·he bones o f Q WIid planls with brmle ears clogs were relatively rare, howeve r, they were Q Domes1icated plants with tough ears /T compacrum probably kept not for food but to help with the Q Domesticated plan1s with tough ears and hunting. A dog's jawbone was also found in the naked, free-threshing seeds cave or Palegawra in northeastern Iraq . Th is has been assigned to the slightly earlier Zarzian culture 29

V I I . LA C E S of about 11,000 BC, but it is likely that it belonged U.'ft /\\hhoui:h there have bL-cn to a la te r period. Whether people of the Natufia n occasion,,I finds or buri,11s from period he rded a nimals a nd cu lti vated pla nts is a c,1rlicr l ime~. in the Nalufian subject or d isagreement among experts, but the re is insu fficien t evidence to prove that t his was so. period dispo,al of lhc de,1d outside hou,cs or in c..1vcs Palle r ns o r Na tufia n settleme nt became common. No ofTcrings or W ild cereals still grow in t he Near East and in t he items or equipment were left few weeks w hen the gra in is ripe a fam ily ca n with the mrpse lo suggesl that gathe r e nough grain to last a year. The difficulty of the people of the time thought moving grain supplies, however, a nd the need for that they should provide for the heavy equipment such as grindstones wou ld have needs of the deceased ,n the favored perma nent settlemen ts in Natufia n t imes. af'lcrlirc. /\\ number ofskeletons, Sett lemc nts were either occupied throughout the however, still had their personal year or just at certain limes of the year. Vi llages or camps were s ituated in the a reas where wild cereals ornamc111, such as necklaces# as grew a nd othe r, more temporary ca mpsites w ere in this gr,1vc from al W,1d (Mugharet cl Wad) on Mount Carmel. The hody wa, huricd in ,1 conlrLu:tc<l position, w hile round 1hc he,1d was pl.iced a headdress that included rows of shell be~d, from the Mcditcrr-.1nc,1n Seel. set up elsewhe re !'or the p urposes of h unting. Sculement sites were some times in the ope n and sometimes on terraces outside caves and rock- s heltc rs. ln the ope n, the build ings were simple, round huts whose roofs were su pported by wood en posts. Often they were s unk more t han a meter into the ground lo make them easier to build a nd improve the ins ula tion. T he huts generally had a heart h and the floors were paved w ith stones. Those at Ain Mallaha were between 3.5 and 5 meters in d iame te r. They were freq uently rebui lt a nd pro ba bly were inha bited throughout the yea r. The remains of' nine h uts have been found, but original ly there were proba bly fifty or more hous- ing a community of 200 or 300 peop le, much larger tha n t he s ize of modern hunt e r-gatherer ba nds, bones consisting of the s kul ls of' 15 goats a nd the which average abou t JO people. bones of' 17 or so la rge birds of prey, mostly w hite- tailed sea eagles. Th e vast majority of t he bird Some hu ma n skeletons have been discovered bones belonged to t he wi ngs, some of w hic h were beneath the floors of the huts, but other burials still joined together. Marks on the bones showed took place away from 1he build ings. There were that the wings had been cut off, suggesti ng some some individ ual graves a nd oth ers contained magic ritual t hat involved dressing u p in b ird several skeletons. Funerary gifts were ra re but wings and goat heads. Similar scenes arc shown in ite ms of pe rsonal orna me nt w ere common, incl ud- wall paintings a t the much la ter site of Chatal ing s hell a nd bo ne beads used for head coverings, H uyuk. necklaces, bracelets a nd a nklets. Natufia n conte mporaries Th e P roto-Neolith ic peri od T he c ultures in the Zagros mountains a nd the foothills arc less well known 1han t he Nat ufian and In the Leva nt the pe riod following the Natufia n is o nly a few s ites ha ve been investigated . The nint known as Proto-Neolithic or Pre- Pottery Neolit hic tools fo und in t he Zagros s ites arc similar to those A. Proto-Neolithic sites arc less common t ha n those fou nd in the Levant and belonged Lo hunting and of the Natufi a n or the s ucceeding Accra mic Neo- gathering communities who exploited a w ide lithic (or Pre-Pottery Neolithic 8) pe riods. Pe rhaps va riety of pla nts a nd animals. How ever, the use of t his was because overexploitat ion of the land ground stone tools and the move to ope n sett le- together w ith lower rainfall red uced t he natural me nts possibly occurred a little la ter than in the food s upply, leading to a d ecrease in the s ize of the west. Evid ence from Zawi Chcmi, an ope n-air site population a nd la ter encouraging relian ce on cu lti- in northeastern l raq dating to a bout 10,000 BC, s ug- vated pla nts and herded an ima ls. gests that t he inhabitants used gri nding stones and lived in circula r huts. Also, as in the Natufia n of The most impressive remains of this pe riod were the Levant, b urials contained personal orna ments. fo und at Je richo in t he J ordan valley. 13y a bout A cemete ry belonging to this period that w as 9000 BC a settlement had grown up near a n a bun- uncovered in t he Sha nidar Cave, fa mous for t he dant spr ing, t he inhabita nts livi ng in rou nd huts much earlie r Neanderthal skeletons, contained 26 measuring about 5 meters across. These, like earlier gra ves, including tha t of a child wit h 1,500 small Natufian huts, were partly sunk into t he ground beads around its head a nd a woma n's grave tha t a nd en try was by a short passageway with steps had a knife w ith a bone haft and a flint blade set in lead ing down. T he walls were of handmade bricks bitu me n. The skeletons of ad ults buried in Sha ni- da r Cave were ofte n accompanied by those or small orwith rounded to ps, made out mud dried in the c hildren, in what is thought by some to ha ve been ofsun. This is the earliest k nown example t he use a form of h uma n sacr ifice. of m ud-brick, w hich is still the standard build ing An intriguing fi nd from Za w i Chemi was a pile of ma terial of t he Near East. Mud- brick has ma ny adva ntages. I t is read ily a vaila ble, cheap to make and easy to use. It is also structurally sound a nd a good insulator. It is, however, easily eroded by running water a nd needs carefu l a nnual mainten- 30

EARLY FARM ERS /1,•/,,\"' Mud- brick. Mud is a most Brickmakers in Jericho in lhc Right Village in nor1hwcstcrn Aceramic Neoli thic Iran. Throughout most or t he v1•1 1<Mt ilc bui ld ing malcrial. Wal ls Near East today, as in 1hc past, , ,111 he built out of layers of period produced longer houses arc made of mud-bricks 11111d, or 1he mud can be bricks, pressing their thumbs and have Oat roofs. The walls l,o,hloncd into bricks and dried into the top 10 make a and the roofs arc wated with 111 the sun before use. The herringbone pattern, which plaster made of mud and straw. ,,.,dics1 bricks. from 1hc provided a key for the mud When the buildings fall down or l'ttllo •Ncolithic period, were are abandoned the roof timbers ,11udclcd by hand and had a Oat mortar. Elsewhere, bricks were arc removed but the rest of t he h,,w ,111d rounded top. hy this time being made in structu re is left to form a small, a mold. flat mound of mud. Over the centuries rebuilding on 1hc same si1e has resulted in high mounds being formed. Most of 1he archcological sites i11 lhe Near East are made out of the debris of many levels of buildings. Somel imes the mounds 1ha1 contain the remains of important cities reach heights of more than 50 rn, !hough those belonging to villages are only a few meters above the surrou nd ing fields. Left c111cl belo,v To make mud- bricks mud, chopped straw and water arc mixed together and allowed 10 steep for some days. The straw stops the brick from cracking as it dries. Somelimcs gravel or other materia l is used instead of straw. The brickmakcr takes a lump of mud and presses it into a square or recta ngular mold. The bricks are then left to dry in the sun for several weeks . For this reason mud- bricks arc normally made in summer after the harvest. when there is little danger of rain and when straw is available. The shape and size of mud- bricks varied from periud to period and thus the type of bricks in a bu ilding can sometimes help 10 determine ils date. ance. For these reasons, mud- bricks were not re- used, when a building fel l into ruin, but the site was leveled and a new building built on top. As building succeeded building, a mound formed to produce the typical archeological site found in the Near East. In Arabic, this is called a tell, in Persian a tepe and in T urkish a hiiyiik. Some twenty-five building levels from the Proto-Neolithic period were identified at Jericho, forming a mound 10 meters high. During this period a large stone wall and a stone tower attached to the interior fa ce of the wall were built over the remains of some of the huts. The tower stood on the west side of the site and the remains of the wall have been found to the north and to the south. If the· wall enclosed the whole settlement but not the spring on the east, Jericho covered some 3 to 4 hectares. Estimates of its popu- lation range from 400 to 3,000, but most probably about 1,500 people lived there. Build ing the wall, which was made of more than 10,000 tonnes of stone, required not only a large labor force but also considerable political will and organization. Its purpose-and that of the tower- are unclear. At first, they were thought to be a defence against possible invasion, but equally plausibly the wal ls and ditch were a protection against flooding. Evidence for domesticated p lants has also been found in Proto-Neolithic Jericho. This includes s ix grains of two-row hulled barley and two grains of emmer, as well as legumes and fig pips. However, until these seeds have been radiocarbon-dated or 31

VILLAGES Jericho The site of ancient Jericho (Tell al-Sultan) lies in left In the Aceramic Neolithic period at Jericho the dead were the Jordan valley some 200 meters below sea level. commonly bu ried beneath the noors of the houses with their Jerich o is now remembered as the city where sku lls removed. The removal of the cranium was probably Joshua blew his trumpet and the walls came tum- carried out after the nesh and sinews had decayed, as the lower bling down, but it was an important city long jaw was normally left with the rest of the skeleton. Some of Lhc before and long after the Israelite invasions in the skulls found under the noors had had t heir features modeled Below In the Proto-Ncolith ic late second millennium BC. The prosperity of in plaster and the eye sockets period Jericho was s urrounded fi lled with shells, sometimes by a stone city wall and a ditch Jericho depended on the abundant spring on the bivalves, and in one case cowrie cut into the rock. The settlement shells. of round huts covered an area of east side of the site. T he earliest occupation lies 3 ha and probably contained .Doorway and some 1,500 people. J ericho deeply buried beneath later remains and has been passage showed a precocious development, and no other site ·investigated in a few areas only. These show that of this period approached it in size. Only in the following after settlement in the Natufian period, it was an Aceramic Neolithic period did other sites become as large or as important center in the Proto-Neolithic (Pre- co mpl ex . Pottery Neolithic A) and Aceramic Neolithic (Pre- 50m Pottery Neolithic B) periods and throughout the 0 50 100 150N coo1ours a12mllltel\"'1a1s Bronze Age. Right a11d below One of the more remarkable features of Proto- Neolith ic Jericho is the stone tower attached 10 the inside of the city wall. The tower is 10 m in diameter and still survives to a height of more than 8 m. A doorway l.7 m high on its eastern side leads inside to a sta ircase of 22 steps, each made out of a single block of stone. The city wall was repa ired and rebuilt several times and a ditch 8 m wide and more than 2 111 deep was cut into the rock J outside the wall. The purpose that the tower served is still a matter ofdebate. I Original / i citywall I I I I I I I _,._,--,.....,., Ditch 32

EARLY FARMERS more have been found, the possibility remains that horn for working and another looked as if it had they were of a later date and w ere moved t he re by belonged to a butcher. mice or ants (tho ugh, admittedly, this is unlike ly). While on most agricultural s ites the buildings The animal bones found at Jericho belonged to contained several rectangular rooms, the type of wild rather than to domesticated spec ies. Further- construction varied. The walls were of stone, mud more, the pattern of high numbers of gazelle and or mud- bricks, some of which w ere handmade fewer sheep a nd goat was the same as in the earlier with thumb impressions on the top to he lp key the period, when hunting was practiced, and guitc mud mortar and some were rectangular bric ks unlike the following Neolithic period, w hen sheep made in a mold . The noors w ere made eithe r of and goats were k e pt in herds. The source of wealth mud or of a thick lime plaster that had been of J e richo is uncertain. It may ha ve derived from polished smooth and decorated with red or brown cereal cultivatio n, using water f'rom the abundant paint. So me had s ubstructures whose pur pose was spring, or from trade in salt and bitumen from the perhaps to provide damp- proofing or insulation. Dead Sea or from its position as a distribution At Basta, in southern Jordan, narrow channe ls cente r for the surrounding region. roofed over with slabs of stone w ere con cealed T he mound of Tell Mureybet, beside the Euph- be neath t he f1oors. Similar features, called grill- rates in Syria, is a site that spans the Natufian and plan foundations, have been fo und a t Chayonu in Aceramic Neolithic periods. l t includes the remains southern Turkey and at J armo in eastern Iraq of round or ova l huts from the earlier Proto-Neo- cover ed by floors supported on stone or r eeds. lithic period as well as later Proto-Neolithic build- Chayonu also had a form of mosaic noor made out ings, some of which were not single-roomed h uts of small pebbles. Some of the la ter buildings al but rectang ular multiroomed structures. This has Chayonu had substructures made of intersecting been taken as a sign of increasingly complex social cross wa lls (called cell plan foundations) a nd larger o rganization. The rema ins of a nima l bones from the rooms that might have housed some ritual activities Proto-Neolithic period showed tha t the people within the community. hunted wild ass, gazelle a nd wi ld cattle. Wild c in- Situated o n the Euphrates near the conOuence korn, wild barley, lentils and bitter vetch were with the Ha bur, Bouqras is the site ofa vi llage from amo ng the plants that were consumed. Inte rest- the e nd of the Aceramic Neolithic period. Some of ingly, w ild e inkorn does not now grow in the a rea, the buildings were excavated and others near the so it may have been cultiva ted at Tell Murey bet, s urface became visi ble after a n unusual ly wet but it is equally possible that t he distri bution of winter. The houses were rectangular a nd, on w ild einkorn was not t:he same then as it is today. average, measured 7 by 5 meters. They had aboui- nine rooms per house, inc luding both lo ng a nd The Aceramic Neolithic period small square rooms. T he buildings were close In the Accramic Neolithic period (called Pre- together on the same alignment with a lleyways Pottery Neolithic B a nd C in the Levant), which between them. started in about 8500 BC, bolh the number and the Tell Maghzaliyeh, whic h a lso dates from th e size of scttlcmt:nts increased and they spread later Aceramic Neolithic period, is the site or a fart her afield. By the end of t he period, about 7000 small village that probably occupied less than a BC, s ites such as Tell Abu Hureyra, Ain Ghazal, hectare. It was su rrounded by a stone wal l stand- Jericho, Beisamoun and Basta each occupied about ing some 2 meters hig h t hat still exists today. IO hectares and had populations of a thousand or Perched on a hill above a stream, the site did not more, requiring elaborate forms of socia l organiza- need protection against 11ooding (unlike Jericho) t ion. However, not all the Accramic Neolithic sites and the wall was possibly intended as a defence were so large. Many covered Jess lhan a hectare. ' aga inst invaders, though t hert: is little evidence f'or Settled fa rming vi Ilages based on cereal- crop culti- warfare at this period. vation and domesticated animals existed on the Anatolian and Iranian plateaus and throughout the Buria l and ritua l Near East. The inhabitants grew domesticated Methods for the disposal of the dead in the Accr- varieties of barley, einkorn and cmmcr wheat a nd, amic Neolithic period differed across the region. by the e nd of the period, cultivated flax and spelt, Often, headless bod ies- sometimes with the lower club and bread wheat. They kept goats, sheep and jaw still attached to the skeleton- were buried pigs and later, probably cattle also. Hunting and beneath the ·noors of the houses, and the skulls gathering, however, still p layed an important part deposited elsewhere in groups. The scpai-atc burial in the economy. Some settlements, such as those in of skulls was also practiced during the Proto- Sinai or in the Jordanian desert, s how no ev idence Neolithic period. In the Accramic Neolithic this that agricu lture was practiced. method was common at many s ites in Pa lestine and I n the earlier levels of s ites and in temporary the Levant and even as far afield as Haci lar, on the hunting cam ps, round huts were still common. Anatolian plateau, and Chayonu, near the source o[ However, a tendency toward more complex, rec- the Tigris. Occasionally the skul ls were decorated. tangular structures is seen at the smal l sil·e of Some had been scraped w ith a sharp blade, others Bcidha, near Petra. Whereas the early levels had painted with red ocher or bitumen, and a few had round, semisubterrancan huts, the later levels had shells placed in t he eye sockets with the features rectangular or polygonal buildings. Some of the modeled in plaster. Skulls treated in this elaborate houses had rectangular rooms measuring 5- 7 by way have been found at Jericho, Tell Ramad, Beisa- 6-9 meters with plastered lloors painted brown or moun and Ain Ghazal. The c ult has been inter- red. Others appear to have been roundations or preted as a form of worship in w hich the dead basements for upper floors. One room contained ancestors, according to the belief, probably e xer- beads of stone, bone and shell, another conta ined cised a powerful inOuence over their descendants J3

VILLAGES and had to be pacified by prayer and sacrifice. Nemrik contains 15 stylized stone sculptures of Above These remarkable clay At Chayonu three buildings associated with this birds, animals and humans. Clay figurines, particu- stalucllcs <laling from l hc larly of women, arc also common. At Bougras a Accramic Neolithic period were ritual have been identified. One may have been wall painting showing a row of birds has survived. found at A in Ghazal, an used for sacrifices and another contained numerous human skulls as well as several bulls' head s. Trading lin ks arc heological site in the suburbs Animal skulls were also found at Ganj Dareh in the Trade, or at least the importation of goods, was of Amman in Jordan. Unlike the Zagros mountains and in Nemrik in northern Iraq, practiced long before t he Neol ithic period. A site in cult ofskulls, for which where they were attached to the walls of buildings. Wadi Hasa dating to about 15,000 BC contains evidence has been found at /\\in A similar practice was adopted at Mureybct in the s hells that had been carried more than 100 kilo- Ghazal and on other sit es of this Proto-Neolithic period and in the later shrines of meters from the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. period linking it with ancestor Chatal Huyuk, and still continues today in the Evidence for long-distance trade during the Accr- worship. the purpose of t hese mountains of Iran. amic Neolithic period became more apparent with images is unknown, though it the use of obsidian, a form of volcanic glass for was certainly religious. At Ain Ghazal, in Jordan, several pits that were making cutting tools. Obsidian supplemented the excavated were found to contain large male and traditional chert and flint used in tool making. female statues made of clay and modeled over a Scientific analysis has traced obsidian to its source recd framework. Statues similar to these, which and uncovered extensive trade networks. Most of may have been used in religious rituals, were also that used in the early Near East came from the Ana- found at J ericho and at Nahal Hcmar, a cave in the tolian plateau in eastern or central Turkey, but in Judean desert to the southwest of the Dead Sea . t he Aceramic Neolithic period obsidian was being The cave also contained a stone mask wit h a human used in sites more than 800 kilometers from the face, heads made of wood and clay, fo ur small source. Whether, however, the obsidian was carried carved bone human heads and several skulls of by professional traders, or passed from village to adult men decorated with a net pattern in bitumen, village, or whether trading expedit ions were sent perhaps representing plaited hair. These objects out from the major centers, is so far unclear . Shells, were probably associated with the local religion. semiprecious stones, copper and bitumen arc also found on sites far from their sources. There was Examples of representational art have been found from the Natufian period, but they were more common in the Accramic Neolithic. The site 30• I 38\" 42\" I )_1 'i f! ( ,l )RfSarikamish T ,l •Yerevan, d :\\ azan I ' Chayonu \\ '1{ t) ' ' {- \\ lMourn Savalan ';' '\"~\\ \\ (/. \\. ,, 34• exientof obsidian finds f , MEDITERRANEAN SEA C J cenlraJAnato.\\an I I D east Analolian ' I • obsidiansource l type of obsidian found at sio I 34 \\ 0 Acigol ' • Chi11lik Q Blngol • Nonuut Oag • SuphanDag • Ooglbayazil • possibly near Lake Urmla Q unknown scale 1:8 000000 200km 0 150ml

EARLY FARMERS I hi• resources or the Near Eas1 sa· 62' I ht· lo wland plains of M,·,opotMnia we re r ich in fertile scale I: 17 000 000 400km 1,11 th ,ind water a nd produced 0 J-, 1111',tl wea lth through farming. 300mi 1111 111.1ny materials do not occur 111 Ilie plains a nd had to be \\ h111ught th ere eithe r from the 111011ntains to the north a nd cast Pb \"' lrom farther afield . • bitumen Fe 1,n11d-quality timber and stones Fe !111 l>uilcling. met.1 ls o r many Ag silver ldnd-,, gemstones, and even Au gold K' l11tlsloncs l'or makin g llour all , 1111\\t' from outside the river Cu COpjlel v,tlleys. Ide ntifying the sources Fe Iron ol these raw materia ls s t ill 11•,1uircs ,, lot of work. Sources Pb lead 111,ll (ire of minor importance lrnl.1y may have been more •lw1lficanL in th e past. while 110111 lcal and economic • n11,.ic.lcrations wou ld also have h1•lpcd determine which sources wt·rc exploited . 11,•/uu, In the Accramic Neolithic prrlod. before pottery came into 111•111\"ral use. vessels were ma de ,1n1 of' a type of lime plaster , .1llccJ whi te \\•varc, as in Lhis 1%1mplc from Abu 1-fureyra. I ,ugc quantities o f lime plaster wnc also used for lloors of ltulldings of this period . Al t'h,1yom1o ne hui lding contained ,hout 1.6 lo.,n es, wh ile one at I'll 1,1hcl had as muc h ,,s 6 tonnes. Uh,idian lradc in the probably trade in other goods, too, such as salt, t he time of the destruction of the village. N••olithic period textiles, skins and other vegetable or animal The making of lime plaster, used in wh ite-ware C1h1,ldi(11i is tl naturally occurrin~ products, but the evidence has not survived. vessels and in the fine floors of the Aceram ic Neo- vul, ,111ic glass which was used 10 Adva nces in technology lithic houses was a process that req uired consider- 111,,kc very sharp c ulling tools. Before the d iscovery and excavation of the cave of able technical skill. It needed a lot of la bor and fue l A•, pieces of o bsid ian from Nahal Hemar in 1983, a few impressions of recd as well as kilns ca pable of reach ing high tempera- , lllft-rcnl ,ourccs have diffcrcnl matting and textiles left in bitumen or in clay, or tures. Lime plaster is mad e from crus hed limestone , l11•mical compositio 11s (some o r traces in the soil that disappeared when excavated, (CaCO 3), h eated up to a temperature of 850°C for whkh Jrc very dis tinc tive), ii is were the sum total of what was known of the bas- several days and then left to cool slowly lo produce nmt•Limcs possible 10 identify ketry, textiles and wooden objects of the period. quick lime (CaO). ll is then treated with water lo fh1• ,ources o f ob sidian tools prod uce slaked lime (Ca(OH)2), which on ,contact ,.,11111I on arcl1eo logic,,I sites. In At Nahal Hemar the items preserved included with carbon dioxide w ill set hard. ll was manufac- wooden-handled sickles as well as fragments of 1h1• /\\tcr,, mic Neol it hic pcl'iod thick mats made of bundles of rushes or grass held tured on a vast scale; one building al Chayonu used th,• obsidian used in the Near together with string, baskets made of coils of about 1.6 tonnes of it. twisted cord coated with bitumen, and hundreds I''\"' c\\llllc from ..:-c11t1\\1 I and of pieces of cord varying from fine string to 10- At Chayonu, which lies orily 20 kilometers from millimctcr-thick ropes. Bitumen-coated baskets the rich copper mines of Ergani Maden, archeolo- 1,l~h·rn J\\n,Holia. N ot all the and containers have also been found on other sites gists have uncovered more than one hundred 11111n·cs, ho\\•vcvcr, have been and carved stone vessels were common- more copper beads, pins and tools from the early levels than two thousand fragments were found at Jarmo of the site. On other sites of the Aceramic Neolithic ,ll~rnvcrcd and there is still alone. Many carved stone bracelets have also been period, however, only a few copper artifacts have d,•h,llc a bout the iden tification found on Aceramic Neolithic sites throughout the been found, including an awl from Tell Maghza- 111 \"\"nc o bsidian types. The region. Other containers were made of white ware, liyeh (made out of copper said to come from central wi<k,prcad distribution of a mixture of lime plaster and ashes, which was Iran, more than 1,000 kilometers away) and beads 11h-.idi:rn indicates extensive popular in parts of the Levant. In Mesopotamia from Tell Ramad in the Levant and from Ali Kosh It 111111g links. T he volume of the vessels were more often made of gypsum plaster. in southwest Iran. These objects are thought to 11,tdl• was 1101 g reat, but it s hows Clay too was sometimes used for making vessels have been made of naturally occurring metallic tl1o11 the early scttlemcnls were but more often for figurines. At Ganj Dareh, clay llul I\\Ol,1 tcd a nd indcpcnclcnt, pottery vessels were found intact in a level that copper, not from smelted copper ore. 11111 m,1intai ned contact with was destroyed by burning. The vessels had presu- The precocious use of metals, public works, craft mably been made of unbaked clay that was fired at 1 11'11 ot he r. In the 4th special ization, long-distance trade and t he increas- 111lll1•11niu 111, obsidi,111 cutting ing importance of religion all signaled that these 1,,.,1, were superseded by those communities of the Accramic Neolithic period bad 111,11k from copper .1lloys. taken a major step on the road to civilization . 35

Anitnals Only certain species of wild animals can be success- fully domesticated. These include wolves, bezoar goats, Asiatic mouffions, wild boar, aurochs (wild cattle), wildcats and wild asses, all of which were native to the Near East and are thought to have been the respective ancestors of dogs, goats, sheep, pigs, cows, cats and donkeys. These breeds, with the addition of the chicken, arc still the most common farm animals and pets throughout the world. Information about animals in Mesopotamia comes from three sources: from excavated bones, from textual references and from pictorial representations. Studying animal bones can show not only the species, but also the sex and age of the animal and sometimes t he .diseases that it suffered from. The ancient texts included standard lists of animal names, as well as the economic records of temple herds, observations on animals in omens, and lists of animals that were hunted or kept by the kings in their special · parks. Many animals- domesticated, wild or fantastic- were illustrated on the monuments and cylinder seals of the ancient Near East. These included elephants and flies, vultures and crabs as well as snakes, turtles and fish, though the animals most commonly shown were those of importance in Mesopotamian culture, such as lions and bulls. Domesticated Wild Aboue A relief from the North B,•lu,v Herds of gazelle roamed Palace of As hurbanipal (668 627 the ste ppes of the ancient Near animal (11/CCS(Or /legion Date Ile) at Nineveh s howing a breed cast. The herd carved o n this ofm,,stiff ke pt by the Assyrians rclief(detail shown) from the Dog Wo lf Near East C. 11 ,000 llC for hunl ing. Dogs were the North Palace at Nine ve h has Goat Bczoar goa t Near East c, 8500 UC ea rliest a nimals to be been disturbed by a beater and domest icatcd. Oog s keletons nees toward the Assyrian king found in the Ubaid graves at who lies concea le d in a pit ready Eridu (c. 5000 BC) have been to shoot them. iJcntificd as greyhounds. Sheep Asiatic moufnon Near 13ast C. 8000 BC Above A re lief from the No n hwcst Palace o f Pig Wild boar Nea r cast c. 7500 nc As hun1asirpal (883 859 1ic) at Kalhu s ho wing horses being Cattle Auroch Nea r E.ost c. 7000 Ill\" groomed ,lnd fed. Ho rses arrived in Mesopotamia at I he e nd oft he Cat Wi ld cat Nc,ir East c, 7000 nc 3rd millen nium IJC, T hey came from southt.:rn Hussi,,., where Chicken Red jungle fowl China C, 6000 BC they had been domest icat ed Llama Guanaco Andes C. 5000 nc almosL 2,000 years Ctlrlicr, and were used in warfare for pulling Donkey Wild ass Near East c, 4000 KC c hario ts. tn the 1st millennium nc mounted cavalry beca me more Horse Tarpan Sou1hern Russia c. AOOO nc importa nt. partic ula l'iy for Camel W ild camel ?Southern Arabia/ c. 3000 nc ?$outhcrn Central campaigns in mountainous Asia orterrain . T he a<:quisition horses Guinea-pig Cavy Peru c, 2000ric Spain C, 1000 IJC was one ofthe priorities or I he Assyrian Mmy. The breeds that were esp ecia lly p rized came from the mountains of northwes1ern Iran a11d from Nubia. Mules were valued as beasts of burden. Rabbit Wild rabbit T u r ke y Wild turkey M exico C. JOO 11c 36

Below Baked clay head of a Below center Ivo ry box found in sheep, sim ilar· to a sandstone the palace of Niqmepa at Alalah head found at Uruk dating lo (14t h century BC). The missing aboul 3000 BC. Sheep have parts of the neck and lid have always been the most important been restored in wood. Ducks and geese were kept in domestic an imals in Mesopotamia from at least 2500 Mesopotamia. Woollen textiles uc and probably long before. were one of its main cxporls. Length 13.5 cm. Length 13.6 cm. left On this relief from Lhe North Above These strange beasts Palace of Ashurbanipal al carved on the Black Obelisk of Nineveh, Arabs on their camels Shalmancscr Il l (858 825 BC) al arc fleeing from the invading Kallw were part of the tribute of Musri (probably Egypt). The Assyrian army. Camels were first (on the lcf'l) was c,1llcd a introduced into Mcsopo1.1mi,1 in river-ox (perhaps a waler the second half of the 2nd buffalo); the second may be a millennium uc. The rh inoceros, while 1hc third looks cwo~humpcd, or Bactrian c,1mel like some species ofgoat. Other anima ls brought from Musri came from Central Asia and were two-humped can,cls, elephants, monkeys and apes. m,1de its home in the mountains of Iran, and the single-humped camel, or dromedary, probably came from lhc Arabian peninsula and was found in the deserts to the south. They were used for tr,1nspor1a1io11 but 1101 in l,aulc. 17

Pottery The earliest known pottery comes from Japan and dates to the 11th millennium BC. In the Near East pottery appeared about 3,000 years later and was almost certainly an independent invention. Throughout the world, pottery is associated with settled village life, as its bulk and fragility make it unsuitable for the mobile life-style of most hunter- gatherers. Pottery is one of the most useful artifacts for Near Eastern archeologists and fragments are found in great abundance on sites throughout the region. Pottery vessels were cheap to manufacture and easily broken. The broken pieces could not be reused, and were simply thrown away, ready to be rediscovered. Fortunately baked clay is almost indestructible and is preserved in almost all conditions. Many sites arc covered with a thick layer of potsherds, left behind after the wind and rain have washed away the surface soil from the site. A great deal of information can be obtained from studying pottery. As the chemical composition of clays used to make pots varies, the sources of the clays can often be identified by scientific analysis. Even without scientific aids, it is easy to dis- tinguish between different types of pottery. The tempering added to the clay can be of different kinds- sand, chaff, hair and so on- and each leaves its own distinctive trace in the fa bric of the vessel. The firing of the vessel can vary according to the conditions under which it takes place. In particular, the presence or absence of oxygen in the kiln chamber changes the color of the clay from red (oxidized) to gray or black (reduced). Pottery vessels came in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, from shallow saucers to huge storage jars. Some were formed by hand and built up by adding pieces of clay as pellets or as slabs or as a coil. Some were pressed in a mold, and some were shaped on a slow wheel (from about 4500 BC) or thrown on a fast wheel (after about 2000 BC). Surface treatments also varied. These included wet smoothing (being slipped with a thin liquid clay), painting with clay pigments, being burnished, incised, carved, stamped or inlaid, and, after 1500 BC, glazed. Different techniques of manufacture and of decoration were characteristic of different regions and periods, so that pottery can be used to d,ate a period . This is particularly useful for prehistoric times or those when written sources were not abundant. Furthermore, sherds picked up from the surface of a site can be used to date the occupation of the site and so establish changes in settlement patterns of a region t hrough time. Pottery can also reveal trading activities and cultural influences. Although, however, the main features of the development of pottery styles for the different regions of the Near East are known, much more research will be needed to refine the chronological sequence and to understand the details of the manufacture and distribution of ancient pottery. 38

Below The eadiest poucry was dates to an early p,1r1 of the only lightly fired and so was still H;assuna period, .Hound the qu ite porous. Higher midd le of the 7th mi llennium 11,·. temperatures for baking II is decor,ll ed with herring-bone achieved through bui lding more p,1llcrns of lines inscribed with a cfl7cicnl ki lns enabled the sharp instrument. Some later Hassuna-pcriod potters to m,1ke pollcry has a simil,1r design but vessels that could be used lo can be d istinguished by 1he store liquids. This pollery jar quality of the day. fou nd at 1he site ofTell Hassuna \\/mve Scale d rawings of the pol tcry vessels found in 1·xc,1vations enable archcologists 111 compa re one vessel wi th ,utother. T he normal method is 111 view the pot from the side with one quarter removed. In Ihi<. way, a single drawing can ,how both the outside and inside ol the vessel as well as a 110,s-section through the vessel w,,11. 1,11 In the Ubaid period (• 5900 4300 uc) pa le pottery w,is decorated with dark paint. l\"hc patterns used varied over I1111c. Th is is an example of the l,11,·~t style, found in a grave at l/1, Diameter 23 cm. •1'I r,arly Ubaid pottery has 11uly been found in southern Mt·sopotamia. Pottery in the ~1ylc of the Late Ubaid period h,\" been d iscovered from the 11,,nian plateau to the Mediterranean. This Late Ubaid j.u ,-.,me from a grave at Tell A, p,ichiyeh near Nineveh. /11,~hr I\\ Samarran-stylc bowl ilum Tell Hassuna. Samarran lu11tcry is found in central Iraq 111t was also used in northern 111hJ ,,t sites where Hassuna 1u111cry was the local ware. 'i1111111rran pottery sometimes has 1wlrling patterns like that shown h1·1 <·. The bowl was broken a nd 1111•ndcd in antiquity. as is shown l,1 the holes drilled either side of I1,,. hreak. Diameter 25 cm. I ,11 right The pottery of the 11,,1.,r period (c. 6000 5400 nc) is ,11111,• of the finest produced in 1111 Near East. An outstanding 1t II'\\ of polychrome bowls were h11111d in the latest Halaf level at I,·II /\\rpachiyeh. The geometric ,I, •lf\\n was pain ted in red, black 111d white. Diameter 33 cm. 39





TOWARD CIVILIZATION (1000;4000 BC) Early agricu ltura l settlements tenst1cs already existed in the earlier formative After the discovery and widespread adoption of period of the Aceramic Neolithic and became more agriculture and animal husbandry, different kinds elaborate or more firmly established in the Pottery of settlement arose in the Near East. Some were NeoUthic and Chalcolithic periods. These provided small agricultural villages distinguished from their the vital background from which urban life could predecessors by the increasing use of pottery but emerge. where otherwise the daily life was almost unchanged. Others were more sophisticated both The Pottery Neolithic period in the objects they made and used and in their Pottery that had been lightly or accidentally fired social organization. These developments culmi- is occasionally found even on sites of the Accramic nated in the remarkabJc urban transformation that Neolithic period. In the following Pottery Neolithic took place in southern Mesopotamia in the fourth period, however, it became so common that arche- millennium uc, which formed the basis for modern ologists define local cultures according to the type societies. of pottery rather than according to the types of The early agricultural settlements of the Near stone tools used, which defined earlier periods. East were in hilly regions and in oases, favoring Decorated pottery is much more sensitive to areas along the rivcrs and on the shores of lakes changes in fashion than chipped stone and is thus a and seas. The lower-lying plains, which received more sensitive indicator of both cultural affiliation too little rainfall to allow cereal crops to grow, and chronology. were occupied by nomadic tribes. Cereal grains Transforming pliable soft clay into hard imper- stored up in a good year could enable a community vious, virtually indestructible pottery by heating to survive a disastrous harvest, but attempting to is an almost a magical process. It was known to the farm in areas where the rainfall was unreliable inhabitants of Chayonu and Ganj Dareb, who made would not have been a risk worth taking when pottery vessels and small figurines as early as the there was plenty of more productive land avail- eighth millennium uc. In the Aceramjc Neolithi c able. The distribution of early farming settlements period vessel.s were normally of stone or wood, or was very similar to that of the dry-farming region of basketry, sometimes covered with p laster or (not using irrigation) of today. It corresponds to bitumen, or of plaster, as in the white ware of the areas that receive more than 250 millimeters of Pre-Pottery Neolithic B. By about 7000 BC, how- rainfall a year, confirming that the climate has ever, pottery had become widespread throughout indeed changed little in the last 8,000 years. the Ncar East. Unlike the Egyptian Nile, which flooded in the At any period the inhabitants of a region made growing season to allow cereal crops to thrive pots in only a limited range of types and styles, without additional rainfall, the rivers in the rest of enabling quite small pieces of pottery to be the Near East flooded in the spring at just the identified. Archeologists have learned much by wrong time of year, and cereal agriculture had to comparing changes in pottery over a time in one rely on rainfall. The development of irrigation by region with other sequences of change in pottery canals changed the pattern of settlement. The styles from other areas. In this way, sherds of colonization of the fertile but drought-stricken broken pottery have been used to date the sites alluvial plains gave increased yields, allowing where they were found. These results togetber larger settlements to thrive and eventually leading with information on the changes in styles that took to the first citi.es. place over quite a short period can provide relative The developments following the Aceramic Neo- chronologies that are often more informative than lithic period up to the beginnings of urbanization radiocarbon determinations. span the Pottery (or Later) Neolithic and the Early Similarities in pottery assemblages may indicate and Middle Chalcolithic periods. Conventionally close connections between different groups. the Neolithic and ChalcoUthic periods are divided Pottery that was obviously imported from another by the Chalcolithic people's use of copper and area indicates trade or exchange in the pots them- bronze tools in addition to the tools of chipped and selves or in their contents. Studying pottery offers Previous pages A scene in the polished stone, which were used by Neolithic one of the best ways of investigating societies that marshes of southern Iraq . people. However, a few copper tools were already existed before writing was invented and even in Changes in the courses of the in use in the Aceramic Neolithic, and, in fact, little historical per iods is a valuable aid to the rivers have left large areas of the soulhern alluvial plain under metal has been found on sites antedating the Late archeologist. water. The positions of the lakes Chalcolithic period. As well as the settlements around the foothills of have changed over the years. and although the marshes were Small farming communities throughout the ages the fertile regions of the Near East, during the depicted in the 8th-ce ntury 11c differed less from each other in their basic every- Accramic Neolithic a few settlements had started to Assyrian reliefs, 1heir precise locations in the past have nol day life-styles than did the earliest village com- exploit the resources of the Turkish and Iranian been identified. The still waters munities from their hunter-gatherer predecessors. plateaus, and some existed along the river valleys of the lakes with their plenliful Many of the features of modern society are absent of Mesopotamia. From that time on the plains of supplies of fish, provide an alternative way of life to the among hunter-gatherer societies and had to be Mesopotamia became more important while the fanning communities found invented or discovered at some stage. Some charac- Levant and Palestine, which had been the scene of elsewhere in the Near Easl. 42

TOWARD CI V I LIZATION 46' °Tepe S.avan Ha1r enJuooi<l 0 al•Kowm TellUmm Oabagl'iyeho Shamra) I mea m MEDITERRANEAN SEA ,I ' ,,./_,_ , ,.' I I I _.. -... -... _ , . ,,I r ,, I •I I - - , ••I .. ... ,( 0 I souu,orn !mil of d,y !arming / -+-- / DO Kadosh8arnea -I tistribution of poltcry 7000-6000 BC -,,I I L J AmuqB I 1 f ',·'1 I L J Prolo-Hassuna anti Hassuna I ~ 1•8 000 ~ ; - I I 0 200km I L J Samarra I I tSOmi ,I D Archaic Susiana I and 2 I .. - - ancien1 ooasUine - - ancient course or river 1,arly pollcry-11si n g c ultures remarkable changes in the earlier periods, declined bu ild ing there were 120 of these. The plastering In the 7th millennium 1hc use of decor., 1ed po ltcry became in influence. was possibly carried out annually (as the houses w iclt-spn:ad, e nabling ,1rchcologists to distinguish with in a s ingle level had approximately the same rnli 11 r.1l g ro ups on the basis nl' d ilfcrcnt pottery styles. In the The site o f Chata l Huy uk number of plasterings), giving an idea or the age of I l(1ssuna and contcmpo1-.1ry A number ot sites on the Anatolian plateau such as the buildings. In those rooms that were painted, Archaic Susiana and Amuq 13 pe riods I he plo w w:is pro bably Hacilar, Suberde and Can Hasan III are similar in the painted layers were separated by several layers ,1lrcady in use, a nd this all owed date and standard or achievement to the Aceramic of p lain plaster, so that the paintings had probably 1hc cuhiva1ion o f large areas o f less fertile la nd a way from the Neolithic of the Levant, but none of these compares been visible for only a short period before being moisl soi ls ul iliz.ed by earlier with Chatal Huyuk, which is much bigger and covered over. Why the inhabitants sometimes l~u-mcr~. In th<: Samarra period, better preserved. The site covers over 12 hectares painted th e walls is not known, but the fact that whic h partly o vcrl,1ppcd Lhc and the Neolithic feve ls are each 15 meters high. So the wall paintings have been preserved owes a lot Ilassu na pe riod. g rav i1y -fcd far, the earliest levels have not been investigated, to their being plastered over rather than allowed to c:,ul.1b for crop irrig:u ion gt1vc improved y ields. pc rmilling but the 14 levels that have, accord ing to the evi- decay. The paint, which was applied with a fine- ,1gl'icult ur·al selllc me nts lo be dence of radiocarbon determinations, cover from hair brush, was mostly made from minerals that l'\\lablishcd in arc,1s outs id e the limits or d ry r,,rmin!(. about 6850 to 6300 BC, close to the final Pre-Pottery occur naturally in Anatolia, such as ocher, azurite, Neolithic B period of the Levant. Unfortunately, in malachite, cinnabar, manganese and galena. Apart common with other archeological sites, the latest from t he white or pale-cream background, the levels at Chatal Huyuk have been bad ly eroded. main color was red or red- brown, though yellow, black, gray, mauve and blue were also used. Wall paintings Most of the painted scenes were within a single Some of the rooms on the site have remarkable wall panel framed by the wall pilasters, though some or paintings, relief figures on the walls and benches the most impressive paintings were more exten- and pillars with modeled bulls' heads and horns. sive. Some panels were painted plain red, some had These were probably shrines, as having such geometric patterns, and others depicted scenes of decoration in an ordinary house would have been people and animals. Some experts have compared both odd and inconvenient. However, the number the patterns with the woven rugs traditionally of these \"shrines\" (about a third of all the houses made in Turkey, but there is no other evidence for excavated in the sixth and seventh levels) is sur- weaving with different-colored yarn al this date. prising. Either they had a purely religious func- The most interesting paintings were representa- tion, in which case the excavated area of the site tional. Some were quite naturalistic while others was probably a religious quarter, or they were a were more stylized. Rows of human hands, some- special type of dwelling. times painted in reverse, were rem iniscent of the The walls and floors of the houses were covered art of the Upper Paleolithic, though the same motif with layers of fine white mud plaster, and in one is also found today painted on the local village 43

VILLAGES Chatal Huyuk Above Baked clay figure of a fat The site of Chatal Huyuk (<;:atal Hi.iyi.ik) was exca- pregnant female in the act of vated by James Mellaart between 1961 and 1963 giving birth. It has been and produced spectacular and unsuspected results. identified as a \"birth He uncovered a large area of a town of the seventh goddess\"supported by two millennium BC where the houses were unusually cat- like anima ls. The figure was well preserved. Some, which the excavator called found in one of the latest shrines shrines, had elaborate wall paintings and modeled at Chatal Huyuk. The head has reliefs, with animal skulls attached to the walls and been restored. benches. The fantastic decoration of t he \"shrines\" has led to much speculation about the nature of the s0 religion of the inhabitants: mother goddesses and birth goddesses have been seen in the figurines, the leopards and the modeled breasts stuck on the walls, while the numerous skulls and horns of bulls are said to represent male deities. religion was a driving force within the society. Chatal Huyuk is very different from the simple farming villages that had previously been considered to typify the period. As a prehistoric site it is still unrivaled, though more recent excavations at Aceramic Neo- lithic sites such as Ain Ghazal, Abu Hureyra and Bouqras show the antecedents of the developments at Chatal Huyuk. Right A reconstruction of pan of the settlement of level Via. The single-storey buildings were entered from the roof. The roofs rose up in terraces toward the center of the settlement. Above right A reconstruction ofa shrine in level VIA. The walls were made of mud- bricks built around a timber framework. Men were buried beneath the northeast platform and women and children beneath the others. o 5 tom Above l'ight A reconstruction of the north and east walls ofa jf-- ~1 -\"'----.-1- -1--1' shrine in level VU. The legs of 0 10 20 30 ff the vultures are strangely human and it has been suggested that Right In level Vis the tightly the scene shows priests dressed packed houses shared their walls up as birds with a headless with their neighbors. About half corpse between them. the buildings have been classified as \"shrines\". Between Right One ofa pair of painted the houses were open spaces, leopards from a shrine in level formed by the remains of VII. The animals had been derelict houses, that were used replastered many limes and for the disposal ofgarbage. repainted at least seven times. Typically, the design consisted ofa roughly square living room imil ol excavalion that led into a long narrow store- room, either by a low door or through a porthole in the wall. 44

TOWARD CI VI LIZATION ll,•/11w I\\ view over the excavated with a population of 5,000 houses. Impressive hunting scenes decorated two people. The edge of the of the \"shrines\" at different levels. In both the h\"li'••\"• ,,t Chatal Huyuk. On settlement has not been north wall was dominated by a huge red bull about AV• •••11•· the houses covered an investigated, so it is not known 2 meters long, while diminutive figures wearing whether there was a wall round leopard-skin loincloths danced around. Most of the 11, ,1111',1bout25 m2, which figures were male and their skin was painted red. the site. The house walls The painting from level V, the ea rlier of the two uw11\",lS that they each themselves would have formed levels, continued on all four walls, and included an obstacle to any invading other animals such as deer, boars, wild asses, bears, 1,, 1111m1odated a nuclear family. wolves and lions. The scenes do not accurately rorce. depict a hunt but probably had some symbolic II h,\" hccn calculated that in the function, perhaps showing a festival that included dancing and animal baiting such as Minoan bull- ivl111l~ ~ile there would have jumping or Spanish bullfighting. A fragmentary I••, 11 ,,bout 1,000 households scene from the shrine at level III, however, showed a male hunter, accompanied probably by a dog, Above Some of the graves of shooting an arrow at a stag. adult men in the later levels contained baked clay stamp Another bizarre scene, which occurred three seals. These had a variety of times, showed large birds and small, head less shapes and were carved with humans. Although painted in a stylized way, the deeply incised lines, spirals and birds have been identified as griffon vultures strip- triangles. As no impressions left ping the flesh from the bodies of the exposed dead. by these seals on clay have been Another painting that was thought to be connected found, it has been suggested that with the treatment of the dead was found at a they were used on less durable lower level (level VI). It supposed ly showed a materia ls. such as textiles. or charnel house made of reeds and matting and skins, or even for the decoration decorated with woven mats that had hollow-eyed ofthe human body. skulls beneath. r Human and animal figures Some or the walls were also decorated with reliefs modeled in mud plaster on a framework of reeds, like the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B statues from Ain Ghazal, Jericho and Nahal Hemar. These reliefs were sometimes painted, showing human and animal figures, animal heads and female breasts. The seven human figures in relief were each about a meter high and were frontal with arms and legs sticking out horizontally on both sides. One fine example was painted with a crazy network of orange, red and black lines. The faces, hands and feet of all the figures were damaged, perhaps because they had been decorated with some valu- able material that was reusable or because the mutilation of the relief was part of the ritual that took place in the shrine . The figures were often placed close to modeled bulls' heads. Some people think that the figures were intended to show a god- dess giving birth and that the bulls' heads repre- sented male divinities. Elsewhere a stag was modeled in relief and, at three successive levels, there were pairs of leo- pards. Each pair was arranged as a heraldic group with the heads close together and the bodies fac ing in opposite directions. Some had been replastered and repainted many times, each time with a different pattern on t he bodies of the animals. Animal heads, either modeled entirely of plaster or using skulls or horn cores from real animals, were also uncovered on the earlier sites of Ganj Dareh and Nemrik. Bulls were most common but rams and stags were also found. The heads were placed on the walls or on low benches in groups of three, five or seven, or sunk in p illars of mud akin to the horned altars of later periods. The female breasts were usually attached to the wall in groups. Interestingly, they were often built u p over the lower jaws of boars, or over the skulls of weasels, foxes or vultures. 45

VILLAGES Burial custo ms ►-. Above A modern village in People were buried under the living room, but not Iranian Kurdis1an shows many of under the storerooms or beneath open spaces. II I Often they lay about 60 centimeters below the plat- the same feilturcs as the early forms, contracted and on their left sides with their - vi llages of the Nea r East. The heads toward the center of the room. In fact, houses arc built of mud-bricks burials were in two stages. After death the bodies It and mud mortar and covered were taken away and only later buried under the houses, as was shown by the traces of red ocher P la nts a nd animals with mud plaster. The llat roofs found on some skulls and bones, and by the Nine- tenths of the meat that the people of Chatal consist of tim bcr bcan1s incorrect arrangement of the bones of some of the Huyuk consumed, as represented by the animal supporting layers of branches skeletons. The wall paintings of headless corpses bones found there, probably came from domesti- and malling. which have a layer being eaten by vultures perhaps showed how the cated cattle. Dogs had also been domesticated by of earth for insulal ion. The roof dead were treated. In one room four detached that time. Some wild animals were hunted for their is plastered lo offer protcc1iu11 human skulls had been placed on a platform and skins as well as for their meat. They included wild against the weather. In winll'r elsewhere a female skull had been given cowrie sheep, deer, wild boar, onager (wild ass), bears and lhe roofs have Lo be cleared of shells for eyes, like an earlier plastered skull from big cats, possibly lions or leopards. Domesticated snow, and ahcr rain they must Jericho. plants included einkorn and emmcr wheat, naked be dried with Slone rol lers kept six-row barley and perhaps hexaploid bread on lhc roof for this purpose. The Normally, people were not often b uried with wheat. The people of the Lime also collected other roofs provide an additional their belongings, but there have been exceptional plants native to the area. Some of the varieties living space and can be used for finds including woven textiles and more spectacu- found thrive under irrigated conditions, but there sleeping or for storage. lar items. Male burials were accompanied by is d isagreement over how much irrigation was weapons, stone mace- heads, daggers with bone or practiced. In general, the scientific evidence for wooden handles, baked clay seals, copper finger how the people lived differs from the account rings and S-shaped bone belt hooks (like the one given by their wall paintings and shows the diver- found at Nahal Hemar and others in Greece). gence of reality and ideology in their lives. Women's graves contained jewelry, stone palettes for grinding up cosmetics and, occasionally, After Chatal Huyuk was abandoned toward the polished obsidian mirrors. Wooden vessels, end of the seventh millennium, succeeding cul- baskets and food offerings were found buried with tures in Anatolia were distinguished by fine both sexes, but no pottery vessels or figurines. painted pottery from sites such as Haci lar and Can Judging by the bones, the people were fair ly Hasan II. By about 5700 BC, however, both these healthy, though many were anemic, possibly as a sites had also been abandoned. At Can Hasan, in a result of malaria, and others suffered from arthritis level that had been destroyed by fire, the body of a or lim b fractures. On average, the men lived to the 45-year-old man was found with a copper bracelet age of 34 and women to 30. Men were about 170 and a copper mace-head in the collapsed debris o[ centimeters (5 feet 7 inches) tall and women about one of the houses. This mace, which had a hole for 158 centimeters (5 feet 2 inches). a wooden shaft, had been made by casting into a mold. This is the earl.iest known example of the use Artifacts at Chatal Huyuk of this technjguc. The pottery from Chatal Huyuk was rather cum- bersome, consisting of bulbous or bag-shaped vessels. The wooden vessels found there- bowls, cups, and boxes- were made from fir and other softwoods. Most of the chipped stone objects were obsidian, which probably came from the Acigol source, 150 kilometers to the northeast. Obsidian was also polished to make beads and mirrors. Some of the finest tools and weapons, particular!y daggers and knife blades, were made of flint imported from Syria. Copper and lead were used for beads, pendants and rings from the ninth exca- vated level and above. Naturally occurring lead is much rarer than copper, and the lead was probably smelted from ore. The discovery of a lump of copper slag, however, suggested that some copp~r, too, was smelted, even though most of the copper objects from Chatal Huyuk appeared to be made out of hammered native copper. Of the clay and stone figurines, the fat females were particularly interesti ng. One represented a woman giving birth, either supported by two cats or seated on a chair with arms in the shape of cats. The animal figu r ines were mostly of species that were hunted: leopards, cattle, wild boar and wild sheep or goats. Some had stab marks, suggesting that they were used in a hunting ritual. Two clay cattle figurines from Ain Ghazal also displayed a similar feature. 46

TOWARD CIVILIZATION •l/•11••· A p,1in1ing on a house By about 6000 BC villages were well established Einkorn, emmer, bread wheat, club wheat, spelt w,111.,1 ll111m Dabaghiych, in 1hc throughout the Near East. T he chief varieties of wheat, six-row naked barley, lentils and peas were d,•M'l'I ~l\\•ppe to the west of the domesticated plants and animals were well known all c ultivated by the people of the time. They kept I l)tlI·, river, s howing what might and these still form the main sou rce of food in the domestic cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and dogs, while region to the present day. The developments that wild species accounted for less than one-fifth of the h,1v1· hcc·11 .111 o na ger hunt. The followed did not involve finding a new means of animal bones found. Cattle, which compared with subsistence, as had occurred in the transition from sheep and goats were large and fierce, must have pt ~u-r~,inH oronagcr skins was hunter-gatherer to farmer, but lay in changes in been difficult to keep. Perhaps they were used for social organization and in growing technological milk and transportation as well as for meat and ,,.,.,,lhly lhc main economic competence. These changes were gradual and local, hides, or even to pull plows, which might have and initially centered on Mesopotamia. already been in use to cultivate the wide plains of ,11 1ivlty ol the se t tlement. How northern Mesopotamia. Early Mesopotamian settlements Iht·\"· ,111i111Jis were captured is In the Aceramic Neolithic period settled communj- Umm Dabaghiyeh 11nt ,T, l11in1 but it has been ties were perched round t he edge of the Mesopota- The small site of Urnm Dabaghiyeh lies beyond mian plains. In a few areas the people were what is today the dry-farming region. Tts four main ,11r,flllsl1•d th.it they were driven fortunate in being able to exploit the resources levels of occupation belonged to the Early Pottery 1111111w11,·d e nclosures and 1ha1 outside the region, where rainfed agriculture was Neolithic period and the lower two levels were possible. In the Pottery Neolithic period settle- well preser ved and fo llowed a similar plan. The the 1111c, .,huve 1he on,1gers in ments were widespread throughout the rainfcd central feature of the site was three blocks of small agricultura l zone. The earliest of such sites in rooms, measuring about 1. 5 by l.75 meters, th,• 11,11111!11~ repre sent the present-day Iraq date to the first half of the arranged on three sides of an open space. Many of 11rlly,ht, lrnm which netting was seventh millennium nc and arc contemporary with the rooms had no doors and were probably used huu>1 The .1nimals arc each Chatal Huyuk. Although often less than a hectare for storage. Scattered more haphazardly were ,1ht111t I', t 111 long antl painted in in area, and at first glance showing none of the dwelling houses consisting of one or two rooms. 1~,l on., while g round . These sophistication of Chatal Huyuk, they perhaps These houses were apparently en tered from the represent a more complex situation with a much roors: in one corner there were ste ps and above ,1111pl1• plnures ,,re greater diversity of activities. them toe holes were carved in the walls to serve as ladders. They also had fireplaces with prope r ..11111•111pm.u·y w ith thos~ of These early Pottery Neolithic sites arc sometimes chimneys. 1·1,,,1,II I!11y11k, belonging 10 the called Proto-Hassuna, as their culture developed 11,,1 h,111 r>l'thc 7th into the succeeding Hassuna cu lture. The pottery Most surprisingly, the stone tools that were was mostly coarse, chaff- tempered ware in simple found on the site were of a hunting community 11olll1•1111l1111111c. shapes, open or deep bowls, globular jars with rather than a farming one. The people ate domesti- cylindrical necks and flat round or oval dishes. cated plants but these might have been brought . ~·-... Some of these dishes had rough or corrugated there Crom farther north. Most of the meat con- insides and are thought to have been used in cereal sumed was obtained by hunting wild animals. I - ~: ., . preparation. The surface or the bowls was often Two-thirds of the bones found on the site belonged decorated with applique designs in clay, some of to onager, a variety of wild ass, and about 15 per- ~. ' ,· which were geometric and others of animals. cent to gazelles. On ly about 10 percent of the bones About one-sixth of the finer pottery was painted were rrom domesticated species, notably sheep. . with simple red designs. Other pieces of better- The evidence for hunting and tJ1c extensive use of fired dark-gray burnished pottery found on t he storerooms suggested that the people specia lized in ,, . .. sites may have been imported from the more the capture of onagcrs and gazelles for their hides. advanced western regions. ,.a ')• -1,,. Very probably, other sites specia lized in other The people of this period lived in rectangular products, such as salt, bitumen or obsidian. How ·~~~· .~,· buildings made of packed mud (called in Arabic t hese commun ities found a market for their pro- ducts is uncertain, but the fact that they were able l/•fll'1' A p,1l11tt!<l pollcry vessel tauf, and sometimes called pise). The houses to suggests that regular food surpluses were stored , IIOllO m lhc style is similar to and traded for other goods. Such stored wealth was 11i,1l nl 1hr p<lllcry in the lates t normally had two or three rooms, probably accom- the foundation for the future urban society or modating a single fami ly. Some of the other build- Mesopotamia. h1Vt'I ul I l,1ril,11 i n souLhwestcrn ings had foundations made of rows of parallel walls and these have been called drying racks. Others Hassuna and Samarra cultures 1111 kt v illl' putters at Hacilar were grids of small rooms less than 2 meters square In the middle of t:hc seventh mil lennium BC new which may have been used for storage. At Yarirn styles of pottery developed a nd more elaborate w111• v1•1 v lnvcnl ivc and Tepe I, special round or rectangular structures painted and incised pottery replaced the simpler were sometimes used for the disposal of dead patterns. The Hassuna culture, which was based on v111 10Hllc·, 111mlucing some vessels bodies, which showed signs of having been dis- the earlier Proto-Hassuna, s hared many of its traits. membered. A juvenile buried at Tell Sotto had also Finds from both Proto- Hassuna and Hassuna levels ,h,11wd like• ,111i111als or humans, been treated in this way. The head, arms with included clay sling bullets, chipped stone hoes, shoulder blades, and legs each with half the pc!vis, biconical clay spindle whorls (for spinning thread WII I Ill< l'Yl'' i11sc1 w ith pieces had been cut offand placed on top ofthe rest of the from CTax or wool) and several incised stone beads body before it was buried. Whether this was the or pendants, which have been identified as stamp ,,I\"'\"\"111111. M,1ny pots of this standard method of adult burial or whether it was seals. (As at Chatal Huyu k there is no evidence for a treatment reserved for special individuals is not the stamp seals being used to make impressions on I VI\"' h,I\\<' lii1111d their wily Imo known. Infants were normally buried beneath the clay.) Copper ores and copper metal were used for I 11i,1pt,111 ,111d American walls or floors of houses, sometimes inside a tools and jewelry. Lead in a bracelet found at the 11111.i•111111,. Sonw o f the finest pottery vessel. lowest level at Yarim Tepe I had been smelted from 11w ,. wn r ,.,ken from cemeteries ore, so the people of the later Hassuna culture hy 11111d1•111 w,,vc robbers and Most of the sites of this period lie well within the area of rain fed farm ing. The economy, as s hown by Ill, tt••IIY 1•xpor1cd . Others arc plant and animal remains, is typica lly agricultural. •kl llilly 111,ldc modern forgeries th,11 • .m 1,,. detecte d on ly by ~, li·nllll• ,111,1lysis. 47

VILLAGES probably used smelted as· w\"cll as native copper. Above A painled baked clay However, their large dome kilns, measuring head ofa female figurine dating 2 meters across, were most likely used for pottery to the Samarran period from rather than for metal. Turquoise, rock crystal, Choga Mami. The hairstyle is obsidian and sea shells from this time were found probably a long plait wound in northern Iraq, also showing that there was trad- over the top of lhc head, similar ing throughout the Near East. to that shown on Sumerian statues 3,000 years later. The Toward t.hc e nd of the seventh millennium BC, in co!Tcc-bcan eyes were typical of the later Hassuna levels, a new type of pottery the period. Height 4./\\ cm. appeared. Well-fired and painted a chocolate brown color, often in stunning patterns, it Left Beneath the earliest belonged to the Samarran culture to the south. buildings at Tell a l-Sawwan, in Samarran sites occupied a band across the center of what is today central Iraq, more Iraq. T he important site of Tell al-Sawwan, over- than a hundred graves belonging looking the river Tigris, has lower levels dating to lo the Samarran period have about 6300 BC according to a radiocarbon determin- been excavated. Most of these ation. Beneath the earliest houses more than one were children's graves hundred graves were discovered in shallow oval containing goods such as stone pits. They included adults and juveniles but most beads, and alabaster statucllcs were of children. Buried with the bodies were and vessels. The statuctlcs arc beautifully carved alabaster vessels in the same fema le and are lhought lo tradition as those found on Hassuna-pcriod and represent human rather than ear lier sites, carved alabaster female statuettes and divine beings. Some figures have beads. inlaid eyes and features picked out in bitumen (upper left). The Several large, carefully planned buildings of the vei ncd alabaster vessels (lower same period were of rectangular molded mud- left) were carved in a variety or bricks, allowing a more regular plan than was shapes: jars, bow ls and ladles arc normal when using mud alone. The bricks were the most common. Pottery each about 60 centimeters long, longer than the vessels were not buried in the width of the walls, and at the corners and at the graves al Tell al-Sawwan. junctions of walls the building had added external buttresses for extra support. This buttressing, maintain cana ls stretching for considerable dis- Halar a nd other cultures which characterized Samarran architecture, later tances. Irrigation brought increased yields to dry- In the 6th millennium ~c the became the hallmark of Mesopotamian religious farming areas, so that they could support a greater Halal' culture spread in a band architecture. The buildings of the earliest two population, and made agriculture possible for the levels each occupied about 150 square meters and flrst time in areas where there was insufficient across northern and eastern contained more than fifteen rooms. The arrange- rainfall. Perhaps reflecti ng this technical superior- ment of the rooms suggested that the two sides of ity, the Choga Marni Transitional style inOucnced Mesopotamia. Pollery inlluenccd the buildings were used by two groups or people, the local traditions of pottery to the southeast, in by I la laf styles is found towal\"CI perhaps males and females. The rooms were less the Deh Luran plain and in Susiana. 1hc Mcdilcrr,rncan (within the than 3 meters wide, probably the maximum that. i\\muq C cull urc), tot he north Ha laf cu lture and to the easl in the Z.1gros could safely be spanned with the available timber. In about 6000 BC the Hassuna culture in northern mounlains. The dislribution of Much of the settlement of the next level, dated Mesopotamia was replaced by the Halaf cuJture. Its Halal' pottery matches a lmost origins are uncertain, but it seems to have devel- exactly the region where dry to about 6100 BC, has been excavated . Herc the oped in the same area as the Hassuna culture. The houses were smaller, about 70 square meters in Halaf culture survived some 600 years and spread forming is pracliccd tod.1y, ,111d area, with two rooms, each 3 meters square, sur- out to cover all of present-day northern Iraq and undoubtedly this was the norm,11 rounded by smaller rooms. Ten or so of these Syria, exerting an influence that reached as far as method of farming in t he Ilal,11\" buildings were situated rather haphazard ly in an p<'riod. In southern area of about 45 by 50 meters, which was sur- Mesopotamia. where there w,1s rounded by a thick wall and a ditch. too little rainfall for dry farming. the Early Ubaid wl turc that The later levels at Tell al-Sawwan had been became established was based 011 eroded. At the site of Choga Marni, however, irrigation agriculture. The region farther east on the edge of the Mesopotamian plain, excavations have uncovered both classic Samarran ~uound Susa lo the cast showed a occupation and a late phase of the Samarran called similar development in I he Choga Marni Transitional. There the bui ldings Middle Susiana cu lture, which comprised regu lar rectangular grids of rooms, of a' has parallels with the Early type that has also been found at Songor A in the Ub,1id pollcry st ylcs. Hamrin Dam Salvage Project. The plant remains from Samarran sites included the familiar range of einkorn, cmmcr, bread wheat, two-row and six-row hulled barley and six- row naked barley. The presence of flax (or linseed), and the size of the seeds, suggested that the people had irrigation. Indeed, water channels found at Choga Marni have been dated to this period. Possibly the inhabitants of Jericho and Chatal Huyuk practiced irrigation on a small scale, but by the Samarran period, people had the technology to build and 48