Tell Abu Hureyra

was a site of an ancient settlement in the
northern Levant or western Mesopotamia . It has been cited as
showing the earliest known evidence of Agriculture anywhere. It
is located on a plateau near a south bank of the Euphrates River ,
presently beneath Lake Assad in northern Syria to the east of
Aleppo . {Link without Title} There were two separate periods of settlement, with a
period of abandonment between.

An Epipalaeolithic settlement was established around 11,500 BCE
{Link without Title} , probably by the Natufian Culture in a northeast expansion
from their earlier settlements in the southern Levant. It consisted
of a small number of round huts, probably constructed from degradable
materials such as wood and brush, with the settlement
housing a few hundred people at most.
During this time most food was obtained from hunting, fishing and
gathering wild plants. Huts contained underground storage areas for
food. The main animal hunted was Gazelle during its annual
migration, with other large wild animals such as Onager , Sheep
and Cattle killed occasionally and smaller animals such as
Hare , Fox and Bird s were hunted throughout the year. Wild
plants harvested included Einkorn Wheat and Emmer Wheat and
two varieties of Rye .

Evidence has been found for cultivation of rye from 11,050 BCE
{Link without Title} . It has been suggested that drier climate conditions resulting
from the beginning of the Younger Dryas caused wild cereals to
become scarce, leading the people to begin cultivation as a means of
securing a food supply. Results of recent analysis of the rye grains from this level suggest that they may actually have been domesticated during the Epi-Palaeolithic.

After a period of abandoment, a Neolithic settlement was
established, perhaps 10 times as large as the earlier settlement and
one of the largest at that time in the Middle East . Mud-brick
houses were constructed and a large mound was built up under the
settlement mainly from the remains of old houses. An increasingly wide
variety of plants were cultivated and examination of human skeletons
has shown various deformities that have been associated with laborious
agricultural work, particularly the grinding of grain. {Link without Title} . Animals
were also herded. Pottery was used from around 6000 BC and
Weaving some time before that. The village was abandoned
around 5900 BC {Link without Title}

ARCHAEOLOGY

The site was excavated in 1972 and 1973 as a rescue operation before
it was flooded under Lake Assad , which was the reservoir of the
newly constructed Tabqa Dam . A large amount of material was
recovered and studied over the following decades. A preliminary
report was published in 1983 and a final report in 2000 {Link without Title} .

REFERENCES AND EXTERNAL LINKS

#http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba51/ba51news.html
#Village on the Euphrates, A.M.T. Moore, G.C. Hillman, and A.J. Legge (2000). -- http://www.rit.edu/~698awww/statement.html -- http://super5.arcl.ed.ac.uk/a1/module_1/sum4b1c.htm
#Estimated calibration of 11500 Radiocarbon Year s BP from {Link without Title} .
#estimated calibration of 7000 radiocarbon years BP from {Link without Title} .
#, according to http://users.ox.ac.uk/~orau/dl_am21.html
#BBC article -- http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_489000/489449.stm
#estimated calibration of 11,000 BP as cited in See also Moore, et al [2000 Village on the Euphrates. Oxford University Press.
#http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/proj/anthro/asb222/projects/project15.html
#Theya Molleson, http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi960.htm

Information About

Tell Abu Hureyra