31441800-prehistoric-settlements-of-the-middle-east.pdf

5/19/2018 31441800-Prehistoric-Settlements-of-the-Middle-East.pdf

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IDDLE EAST

THE CRADLE OF CIVILIZARTION


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THE MIDDLE EAST


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LOWER PALEOLITHIC

2,700,000- 200,000 BC

MIDDLE PALEOLITHIC

200,000- 30,000 BC

UPPER PALEOLITHIC

40,000- 12,000 BC

MESOLITHIC

12,000- 5000 BC

PRE-POTTERY NEOLITHIC

9500- 4500 BC

POTTERY NEOLITHIC

4500- 3300 BC

CHALCOLITHIC4500- 3300 BC

EARLY BRONZE3300- 2200 BC

MIDDLE BRONZE

2200- 1550 BC

LATE BRONZE

1550-1200 BC

TIME PERIODS 2,700,000- 1200 BC


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ALEOLITHIC : SUSTENANCE

2,700,000- 200,000 BC

Throughout the Palaeolithic, humans werehunters, fishers, and gatherers

; in fact for thegreater part of the Lower Palaeolithic, early humans (Australopithecus, Homo habilis, and

Homo erectus) were probablyscavengers

rather than hunters.

It was during the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic that hunting really came into its own, andbecame more

efficient

, with morespecialized tools

andcommunal drives

.

Hunters concentrated on herbivoressuch as the horse, bison, deer, goats, and antelopes,

depending on the climate which fluctuated through the Ice Ages.

Artists rendition of hunting scene.www.methodfitness.com


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ALEOLITHIC : SHELTER

2,700,000- 200,000 BC

Palaeolithic peoples appear to have been

highly mobile

, ornomadic

, moving with theanimals that they hunted or with the seasons.

Throughout the Lower Palaeolithic, they musthave lived mostly in

flimsy camps

, traces ofwhich are found primarily in open-air sites

and river terraces

, though somecaves

werealso occupied. In the Middle and Upper

Palaeolithic cave-mouths and rock-shelterswere far more intensively and extensivelyused, but people also continued to live in

open-air settlements.

In the Lower Palaeolithic, simple windbreaksor crude hutswere erected, but by the Upper

Palaeolithic there is evidence for light tentssophisticated huts made of hundreds of

mammoth bones.

An assortment of prehistoric tools provides evidenceof the hunting and gathering methods of early

peoples. Slabs ofbark

were often used to gather nutsand berries and functioned as crude dishes or bowls(top left). Reproductions of fishing tackle and arrowsbelieved to have been used around 8000 BC aredisplayed on the lower left. Recovered tools fordigging and cutting (right) are shown with recreatedwooden handles. The heads of the adzesare madefrom flint, as is the fire-startershown below them.Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia


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ALEOLITHIC : FIRE

2,700,000- 200,000 BC

Fire appears to have been masteredby

1.5 million years ago

, andhearths

are commonplace in living-sites ofthe Middle and Upper Palaeolithic.

Fire was probably used originally for

light

,warmth

, andprotection from

wild animals, but eventually also forcooking food.

By the Upper Palaeolithic it was also

being used forheating flint

to makeit more workable; forchanging the

colours of mineral pigments; and insome areas for firing clay figurines

and vessels. www.dkimages.com


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ALEOLITHIC : BURIAL

2,700,000- 200,000 BC

The first clear evidence of burialpractices occur during the Middle

Palaeolithic. One NeanderthalburialatShndr Cave, Iraq

appears to have been accompanied byflowers. It is in the Upper Palaeolithic

that burial becomes moreelaborate

,with red ochre, grave goods, and

beads

, as well as other forms ofornamentation

, andtools

.

PALEOLITHIC : ART

2,700,000- 200,000 BC

Similarly, while somerudimentary

examples of art are known from theMiddle and even the Lower

Palaeolithic, it is in the UpperPalaeolithic on every continent that

figurative art appears, as rock or caveart or as portable engravings and

carvings

.

The Red Lady ofPaviland is afairly completeUpperPaleolithic-erahuman maleskeleton dyed inred ochre.

www.pembrokestory.org

Horse (c.

15,000-10,000BC), Lascaux,Francearthistory.about.

com


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OLDOWAN ERA

2,580,000- 1,500,000 BC

The Oldowan era is theearliest

formallyrecognized cultural tradition of the

Lower Paleolithic and Oldowan tools arethe oldest known, appearing first in theGona and Omo Basins in Ethiopia. They

are named after theOlduvai Gorge

site innorthern Tanzania, and are associated

withomo habilis

andomo

rudolfensis.Oldowan hominids primarilygatheredfruits and vegetables and

scavenged medium and large size game .

Possibly, like chimpanzees, Oldowanhominids occasionally killed small game

to supplement their diet.

insidethecosmiccube.blogspot.com


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The tools likely came at the end of a longperiod of

opportunistic tool usage

:chimpanzees today use rocks, branches, leaves

and twigs as tools. The key innovation is thetechnique of chipping stonesto create a

chopping or cutting edge. Most Oldowan tools

were made by a single blow of one rockagainst another to create a sharp-edged flake.

Flakes were used primarily ascutters

,probably to dismember game carcasses or tostrip tough plants

. Fossils of crushed animal

bones indicate that stones were also used tobreak open marrow cavities. And Oldowan

deposits include pieces of bone or hornshowing scratch marks that indicate they were

used as diggersto unearth tubers or insects.

OLDOWAN TOOLS

2,580,000- 1,500,000 BC

Oldowan stone tools were simply broken to give a sharpedgewww.ushumans.net


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OLDOWAN SITES

2,580,000- 1,500,000 BC

Erq-el-Ahmar is a rock-shelter located in the Wadi Khareitoun southeast ofBethlehem. The site had pebble tools belonging to the Oldowan era.

YIRON, ISRAEL: 2,400,000 BC

The early human colonization of south Asia is represented by stone toolassemblages in the Siwalik hills at Riwat, near Rawalpindi in Pakistan. Pebble

core, flake and chopping tools have been found.

Kashafrud Basin provides evidence of the oldest-known human occupation ofIran. There are some collections of simple core and flake stone artifacts made of

quartz, indicating skill and good knowledge, since quartzs friable naturerequires experience and control.

El-`Ubeidiya in the Jordan Rift Valley preserves traces of the earliest migrationof Homo erectus out of Africa. The site yielded core-flake (developed Oldowan)

tools.

The oldest occurrence of Oldawan art is in Yiron, in the north of the Israeli Rift

where flint artefacts were found.

RIWAT, PAKISTAN

:>1,900,000 or 2,500,000 BC

UBEIDIYA, ISRAEL

:1,400,000- 1,100,000 BC

KASHAFRUD, IRAN

: 800,000 BC

ERQ-EL-AHMAR, ISRAEL

:1,96,000- 1,78,000 BC


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ACHEULEAN TRADITION

1,400,000-100,000 BC100,000 BC

The Acheulean Tradition gets its name from the site of St. Acheul, France. The Acheuleantradition originated in Sub-saharan Africa, and early forms of Homo spread the

culture out of Africa into thenear east, southern

andwestern Europe

. They continuedwith large, medium andsmall game hunting, scavenging andgathering.

By 500,000 years ago the Acheulean methods had penetrated into Europe, primarilyassociated with omo heidelbergensis, where they continued until about 200,000 yearsago. The industry spread as far as the Near East and India, but apparently never reached

Asia, where Homo erectuscontinued to use Oldowan tools right up to the time thatspecies went extinct.

Bhimbetka, Auditorium Cave, Madhya Pradesh:Acheulian Petroglyph Site, c. 200,000 - 500,000 BC.

Acheulian artisans who placed the cupules on

Chief's Rock may have seen the rock as a figurationof one or even two elephants. The larger 'elephant'appears to have a flake removed to create the eye.

The possible smaller 'elephant' which appears tohave two eye chips (noted in highlight) has a verysteeply sloping back, which suggests a very young

elephant.

www.originsnet.org


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ACHEULEAN TOOLS

1,400,000-100,000 BC100,000 BC

Phases in the experimental reduction of a hand axe.blogs.sciencemag.org

The tradition is characterized bybifaces

i.e. largebifacially flaked stone tools, such as hand axes,

cleavers

andpicks

. The most common tool materialswere

quartzite, glassy lava, chert

andflint

. Makingan Acheulean tool required both strength and skill.

The key innovations were

chipping the stone from both sides to produce asymmetrical

(bifacial)cutting edge

the shaping of an entire stoneinto a recognizableand repeated tool form

variationin the tool forms for different tool uses.

Acheulean tools show aregularity of design and

manufacturethat is maintained for over a millionyears. This is clear evidence of specialized skills anddesign criteria

that werehanded down

byexplicit

socializationwithin a geographically dispersedhuman culture. 1

1: http://www.handprint.com/LS/ANC/stones.html


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Large cutting tools have been

known for a long time in South Asiaand have always been considered to

be related to the Acheulian. Thecharacter of the Indian Acheulian,

however, has not been welldescribed and its evolution is poorly

known, as there are few sites whichare dated.

The large cutting tools (especiallycleaversbut also hand axes) are

mostly based on the production oflarge flakes

.

They compare well with the earlyAcheulian from other parts of the

world.

ACHEULEAN SITES :INDIA

1,200,000-100,000 BC69,000 BC

1 Dina and Jalalpur, Pakistan 2 Didwana, Rajasthan3 Adi Chadi Wao & Umrethi, Guj. 4 Pilkasaur, MP5 Navasa, Maharashtra 6 Bori, Maharashtra7 Yudurwadi, Maharashtra 8 Isampur, Karnataka9 Attaripakkam, Tamil Naduwww.assemblage.group.shef.ac.uk

1

2

3

4

5

67

8

9


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SITE AGE CHARACTERISTICS

Adi Chadi Wao, Gujarat 69,000 BC Final AcheulianKaldevanhalli 174,000- 166,000 BC

Umrethi, Gujarat 190,000 BC

Didwana, Rajasthan > 390,000 BC Levallois technique

Teggihalli, Karnataka > 350,000- 287,333 BC Late AcheulianSadab, Karnataka 290,405 BC Late Acheulian tools, red

ochre

Nevasa, Maharashtra > 350,000 BC Late Acheulian, Levalloistechnique

Yudurwadi, Maharashtra > 350,000 BC Late AcheulianDina and Jalalpur, Pakistan 700,000- 500,000 BC

Bori, Maharashtra 670,000- 537,000 BC Acheulian with trihedrals

Isampur, Karnataka > 1,200,000 BC

ACHEULEAN SITES :INDIA

1,200,000-100,000 BC69,000 BC


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UBEIDIYA, ISRAEL

1,400,000-1,100,000 BC

Ubeidiya is an early paleolithic archaeologicalsite located on a low rise in the

Jordan Valley

of

Israel, and is one of theoldest hominid sites

outside of Africa.

Bone found at the site include extinct species ofhippopotamus and deer, and molluscs; hominid

teeth

were found at the site, unidentifiable to

species.

The site consists of several identified 'living floors'of concentrations of Acheulean tools such as

handaxes, picks, and bifaces

, andpebble-core

tools and flake-tools.

Homo erectuspopulations effortlessly shiftedtheir stone tool technology between theproduction of large cutting tools (picks,

handaxes, cleavers, etc.) and pebble-core

reduction.

Core tools of theOldowan type

were found in'Ubeidiya, Israel(I), as wereAcheulianbifaces (II)www.uiowa.edu

(I)

(II)


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HOLON, ISRAEL

201,000-198,000 BC

Excavations at the open-air siteof

Holon, Israel, have provided aunique perspective on homininbehavior, technology, andsubsistence strategies in the MiddleEast.

Late Acheulian tools found usetrifacial reduction method. Theflakes were not derived from handaxes but rather from corereductions.

Tools from the Paleolithic site of Holon,Israel.A: Handaxe.B: Chopper.C: Retouched Flake.www.semioticon.com


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Traces of human existence found in Anatolia date back to approximately 2 million yearsago. Many sites have remains of the

Homo Neanderthal

species along with tools and

implements.

Turkey

www.google.com

Yarimburgaz

Maarack

Karain and Belbacaves

Dlk

ANATOLIA

600,00010,000 BC


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ANATOLIA

600,00010,000 BC

Earth was covered with ice during this age.

Human beings were hunters and gatherers,andsurvived in small groups.

Their style of living was nomadic.

Control over fire was gained through the end of the age.

Primitive religious believes called totemismwere alsoseen in this age. [1]

1. Birth Of Civilizations, Microsoft Word Document, www. turkishdaysinny.org 2. www.wikipedia.org

A totemis any supposed entity thatwatches over or assists a group ofpeople, such as a family, clan, ortribe.

Totems support larger groups thanthe individual person. In kinship anddescent, if the apical ancestor of aclan is nonhuman, it is called a totem.Normally this belief is accompaniedby a totemic myth. [2]


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Yarimburgaz (The city of Bathonea, near Istanbul)

humans (homo-erectus) occupied the area from 800,000 BC.

Pre-pottery neolithic naviform tools and cores, made inneolithic potteries. homo-sapiens have occupied the area forthe past 15 millennia.

Karain and Belbai caves (Antalya)

Among the finds are many carved stone and bone tools,

moveable art objects, remains of the bones and teeth of HomoNeanderthal and Homo Sapiens, burnt and unburned animaland bread fossils.

Dlk (Gaziantep)

Ma

arack

(Antakya)

Excavation site at Yarimburgazwww.heritage-key.com

A Lower Paleolithic chopper fromBalitepe, NW Turkeywww. pb-archaeology.blogspot.com

Karain Caveswww.flickr.com

ANATOLIA

SITES

600,00010,000 BC


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TABUN CAVE, ISRAEL

387,000-100,000 BC40,000 BC

The Tabun Cave, located at Mount Carmelwas occupied intermittently during the

Lower and Middle Paleolithic ages

. Itfeatures one of the longest sequences ofhuman occupation in the Levant.

Large amounts of sea sand and pollen tracesfound suggest a

relatively warm climate

at

the time. TheCoastal Plain was narrower

than it is now, and was covered withsavannah vegetation

.

The cave dwellers of that time usedhandaxes of flint or limestone for killing

animals

(gazelle, hippopotamus, rhinocerosand wild cattle) and for digging out plant

roots

. Over time, thehandaxes became

smaller and better shaped, and scrapersmade of flint were probably used for

scraping meat off bones

and forprocessing

animal skins

.

B: 40,000 years C: 150,000 yearsD: 250,000 years E: 400,000 yearsF: 500,000 years G: 1,000,000 years

dottieandrichard.info


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TABUN CAVE, ISRAEL

387,000-100,000 BC40,000 BC

Neanderthal woman found at Tabun in Israelmathildasanthropologyblog.wordpress.com

Theupper levels

in the Tabun Cave consistmainly of clay and silt, indicating that a

colder, more humid climate

prevailed; thischange yielded awider coastal strip

,covered by dense forests and swamps. Thematerial remains from the upper strata of

the cave are of the Mousterian culture(about 200,000 - 45,000 years ago).

The large number of fallow deer bonesfound in the upper layers of the Tabun

Cave may be due to thechimney-like

openingin the back of the cave whichfunctioned as a natural trap. The animals

may have been herded towards it, and fellinto the cave where they were butchered.

The Tabun Cave contains aNeanderthal-

type female, dated to about 120,000 yearsago. It is one of the most ancient human

skeletal remains found in Israel.


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MOUSTERIAN

INDUSTRY

2,00,000-40,000 BC

Named after the site of Le Moustier, arock shelter in France, Mousterian

describes a style of predominantly flinttools (or industry).

The Mousterian industry appeared inmuch the same areas of unglaciated

Europe,

theNear East

andAfrica

whereAcheulean tools appear. In Europe these

tools are most closely associated

with omo neanderthalensis,butelsewhere were made by bothNeanderthals and early

omo sapiens.

Artists rendition of a neanderthal

www.google.com


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Mousterian toolmakers either shaped a

rock

into arounded surfa

ce beforestriking off the raised area to get a wedgeshaped flake, or they shaped the core as a

long prism

of stone before striking offtriangular flakes from its length.

Tools included smallhand axes

,flake

tools probably used as knives and toothedinstruments produced by making notches

in a flake, perhaps used as saws or shaftstraighteners. Wooden spearswere used

tohunt

large game such as mammoth andwooly rhinoceros. Scrapersappear for thedressing of animal hides, which were

probably used for shoes, clothing,bedding, shelter, and carrying sacks.

MOUSTERIAN

TOOLS

2,00,000-40,000 BC

Neanderthal toolswww.boneclones.com


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By this time the entire process hadstandardizedinto explicit stages (basic

core stone, rough blank, refined finaltool). Variations could be produced bychanges at any stage. A consistent goal

was to maximize the cutting areawhichmade the process more labour intensive

but also meant that the tools could be

reshaped or sharpened

, so that theylasted longer.

Because tools were combined with othercomponents (handles, spear shafts) and

used in wider applications (dressing

hides, hunting large game), thistechnology led to manufacturing

activities in other materials

. Mousteriantool making procedures made possiblethe

accumulation of physical comforts

which implysocial organization and

stability

.

MOUSTERIAN

TOOLS

2,00,000-40,000 BC

Replica stone tools of the Acheulean industry, used by Homoerectusand early modern humans, and of the Mousterian

industry, used by Neanderthals.www.britannica.com

Mousterian tool kits often have quitedifferentcontents from site to site., whicheither means that different groups ofNeanderthal men had varying toolmakingtraditions or that they were used by the same

peoples to performdifferent functions

.


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MOUSTERIAN

SITES :INDIA

2,00,000-40,000 BC

The number of Mousterian sites are

few. In general, however, the middlePalaeolithic populations occupiedthe same regions and habitats as thepreceding Acheulian populations.

SITE TIME CHARACTERISTICS

16R Dune, Didwana, TharDesert, Rajasthan

150,000- 100,000 BC Mousterian tools

Hathnora, Narmada, Madhya

Pradesh

200,000- 300,000 BC Hominid cranium (around 200,000

years old) represents an advancedstage of Homo erectus or early stageof Homo sapiens

Patpara, Middle Son >103,000 BC (100,000-150,000 BC)

Blade and flake blade middlePalaeolithic tools

Amnapur, Narmada, MadhyaPradesh

74,000 BC Middle Palaeolithic tools

Mousterian stone tool assemblages have been found at:

Stone toolsassemblage from

the centralNarmada Basin

www.assemblage.

group.shef.ac.uk


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QAFZEH CAVE, ISRAEL

100,000 BC

A dozen or so remains found in theQafzeh Cave are the oldest specimens of

modern humans in the Near East.This precedes the known dates for theexistence of Neanderthals in the region,

which goes on to prove that modernhumans and Neanderthals were actually

contemporaries, at least for some time,

and do not have any direct ancestral

linkages.

Neanderthal skull (left) and modern human skull (right)www.nationalgeographic.com

The fossils of

Skhul andQafzeh found

at Qafzeh cave,Israel are theoldest Homo

sapiens

sapiens of theMiddle East.

geoserver.itc.nl


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KEBARA CAVE, ISRAEL

60,000 BC

Kebara Cave isan Israeli limestone cavelocality ofthe Wadi Kebara.

Excavations in this part of the worldhave revealed

skeletal remains of

Neanderthals.

The most significant discoverymade at Kebara Cave was that in1982 of the mostcomplete Neanderthal skeletonfound to date.

A throat bone called thehyoid

,needed for speech, was found in theNeanderthal remains. This points atthe fact that they could speak, but didnot have an effective communicativelanguage, which eventually led to

their downfall.

Neandarthal skeleton found in Kebara Cavewww.nationalgeographic.com

www. nationalgeographic.com


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The 4 meter thick cave deposit hasLevallois stone artifacts, many hearths, andmidden deposits.

The oldest occupations at Kebara Cave arethought to be associated with the MiddlePaleolithic Aurignacian andMousterian traditions, and range between60,000 and 48,000 years ago.

These oldest levels yielded thousands ofanimal bone- primarily mountain gazelle

and Persian fallow deer- much with cut

marks, burned bones, hearths, ash lenses

and stone artefacts

. [3]

3. www.archaeology.about.comby K. Kris Hirst

KEBARA CAVE, ISRAEL

60,000 BC
http://www.archaeology.about.com/http://www.archaeology.about.com/


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SHANIDAR CAVE, IRAQ

60,000 BC

The cave site of Shanidar is located in theZagros Mountains of Kurdistan in Iraq. It

yielded thefirst adult Neanderthal skeletons

in Iraq, dating between 60-80,000 BC.

The skull had a flat back and the bodyhad many deformities and injuries.Around 9 more such remains were alsofound.

The Neanderthals buried their dead, andwere ritualisticas well

One of the buried skeletons has traces ofplants and flower pollen

next to the body.

Injury signs on the skeletons of theNeanderthals point at

the possibility of a

clash between the Neanderthals and

modern humans.

Shanidar Cavewww.wikipedia.com

Neandarthal SkullShanidar 1www.wikipedia.com


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IRANIAN STEPPES

43,000 B.C.

Artist's impression of the Hunter gatherers of the MiddleEast.

www.scienceblogs.com

The vast Eurasian and Iranian Steppes were an unbroken grasslandstretching from theGulf of Aqaba to Mongolia

, rich with big game likeantelope and bovids.

Upper Paleolithic era hunters soon began expanding along its length.

Climateshifted and became colder, more aridand dry, as droughthit the region, turning itinto a desert, effectively closing the Saharan Gatewayfor the next 20, 000 years, and most

hunter gatherers remained

in theMiddle East.

These semi-arid plains were a part of anancient superhighway

stretching fromFrance to Korea.

A small group of these hunter gatherers

kept moving north

of the Middle Easttoward Anatolia

and thereafter formedthe founding settlements of this region.

They hunted in groups, and hadtemporary shelters, and no organized

activities or social structures

yet.


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UPPER PALEOLITHIC

40,000- 12,000 BC

In the Upper Paleolithic period Neanderthalman disappears and is replaced by the

omo

sapiens.

It marked the beginnings of communalhunting and extensive fishing

, and the firstconclusive evidence of belief systems centeringon magicand the supernaturalcome from this

time.

Pit houses, the first man-made shelters, werebuilt, sewn clothingwas worn, and sculptureand paintingoriginated. Toolswere of greatvariety, including flintand obsidianbladesand projectile points.

Characteristic of the period were hunting andfishing settlementsalong riversand on lakeshores, where fish and molluscs wereabundant. Portable art from the Upper paleolithic era.

www.blue.utp.edu.com

Catalogued tools from the Upper paleolithic era.www.blue.utp.edu.com


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UPPER PALEOLITHIC :INDIA

40,000- 12,000 BC

Due to arid climate

andsparse vegetation

, humanpopulations faced restricted food resources in this period.

This explains thelimited number of upper Palaeolithic

sites

in the arid and semi-arid regions. However,excellent

archaeological evidenceof this period comes from theBelan and Son valleys in the northern Vindhyas , ChotaNagpur plateau in Bihar

,upland Maharashtra

,Orissa

and from the Eastern Ghats in Andhra Pradesh.


Baghor I, Son Valley 8,000 BC Stone tools used for foodprocessing, hunting, craftwork

Chopani Mando, Belan Valley 23,000- 17,000 BC Habitation site with culturalsequence from Upper Palaeolithicto Neolithic.

Budha Pushkar, Thar Desert 40,000-12,000 BC Parallel Sided blades struck fromPrismatic cores.

Paisra, Munger, ChottaNagpur

7,000 BC Blade and Burin tools

Cave art from the Upper paleolithic era.

www.blue.utp.edu.com


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EMIRIAN

40,000- 12,000 BC

The Emirian culture represents the transition between theMiddle Paleolithic and the Upper Paleolithic in the Levant

(Syria, Lebanon, Palestine).

There are also numerous stone blade tools, including somecurved knivessimilar to those found in the Chatelperronianculture of Western Europe.

The Emirian eventually evolved into theAntelian

culture,still of Levalloise tradition but with some Aurignacianinfluences. [1]

Emirian stone toolswww. adias-uae.com

www.google.com

1. www.wikipedia.org

32 000 26 000 C


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AURIGNACIAN ART INFLUENCE

32,000- 26,000 BC

The Lion Man of the

Aurignacian culture.www.wikipedia.org

The Aurignacian cultureis an archaeological culture ofthe Upper Paleolithic

, located inEurope and southwest Asia,

whichexerted a strong influence on the Middle East.

Aurignacian flint tools were more varied than those of earlierindustries, employing finer blades struck fromprepared cores(typical 8 shape) rather than using crudeflakes.

The people also madependants, bracelets and ivory beads, and

three-dimensional figurinesto ornament themselves.

The Aurignacian tool industry is characterized by complex art,which includes

figurines depicting faunal representations of the

time period associated with now-extinct mammals,

includingmammoths, rhinoceros, and the European horse

, alongwith

anthropomorphized depictions

that could be inferred assome of theearliest evidence of religion.

The oldest known example of figurative art, the Venus of HohleFels, comes from this culture.

12 000 5000 BC


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MESOLITHIC

12,000-5000 BC

The Mesolithic peoples were hunter-fisher-gatherers, like their predecessors, but they often

focused on very different species (such as reddeer and boar rather than reindeer) because ofthe change to a more to a more temperate climateat the end of the Ice Age.

Their toolkits reflect these changing conditions,

and are characterized by the presence ofgeometric microliths. These they used not only asbarbs on

arrows

but also probably in compositetools, mounted with resin on to handles or shaftsto be used as sicklesand other plant-processingimplements. There were also

stone axes

or adzes

used inwoodworking

.

It was the middle east Mesolithic people, such asthe Natufians of Palestine, who took the firstdecisive steps towards

producing food

and

adopting a sedentary lifestyle

.Mesolithic toolswww.wikipedia.org

Mesolithic rock artwww.wikipedia.org

12 000 5000 BC


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MESOLITHIC :INDIA

12,000-5000 BC

Increased food security duringthis period led to reduction in

nomadism

and to seasonallysedentary settlement. This isreflected in the large size ofMesolithic sites, the marked

growth in human population,and the presence of

large

cemeteries

.

The explanation for this dramaticincrease in human settlements

lies in the increased rainfallandits effect on the

growth of plant

and animal life

.

Microliths

, are tiny tools madefrom microblades of one to five

cm length, by blunting one ormore sides with steep retouch,

wereextensively used

.

The first human colonization of the Ganga plainstookplace during this period, as proved by the presence of

more than two hundred archaeological sites inAllahabad, Pratapgarh, Jaunpur, MirzapurandVaranasi

districts of Uttar Pradesh.

Similarly, the effective colonization of the deltaicregion of

West Bengal

andWest Coast

, particularly

aroundMumbai

and inKerala

also took place duringthis period.

Mesolithic huntingscenes in red, Urden,

Indiawww.chenzhaofu.cn

12 000 5000 BC


37/80

The first evidence ofintentional

disposal of the dead comes from this

period. The dead wereburied

ingraves both in

extended and crouched

position. Sometimes two individualswere buried in a single grave. The

dead were occasionally provided withgrave offerings which include chunks

of meat, grinding stones, stone, boneand antler ornaments, and pieces of

haematite.

Mesolithic human burials have beenfound at Bagorin Rajasthan, Langhnaj

in Gujarat, Bhimbetkain MadhyaPradesh, and Lekhahia, Baghai Khor,

Morhana Pahar, Sarai-Nahar-Rai,Mahadaha

andDamdamain UttarPradesh.

MESOLITHIC :INDIA

12,000-5000 BC

Mesolithic Sites in IndiaPrehistoric human colonization of India

10 000 8000 BC


38/80

ANATOLIA

10,0008000 BC

Glacier covering the earth surface started melting,and climatic conditions of today first appeared.Transformationof humans from hunters and

gatherers intomanufacturers

also started in this ageIt is considered that primitive farming was alsofirst done in this speriodHunting and the collecting of plants continued tobe the main supply of food, but the human began to

store his food in storage

s for later consumption

Excavated wall

www.blogspot..com

LizardUrfa Excavation

www.wikipedia.com

10 000 8000 BC


39/80

Pottery and small tools first appeared, bowsand arrows were used.

Animals became smaller in size and fasterthan before, so human had to develop hisstone tools and weapons in a lighter andmore practical form.

More tools and weapons which were madeof bones and woodand also some otherpersonal ornamentation and daily use

items such as combs.

One of the most interesting usages of stone

of this period is what is calledMicroliths

that are small tools made from Obsidianand flints.

Domestication of Animalsis the maindevelopment of this period; the Dog was

domesticated during the Mesolithic Age. Mesolithic Tools www.google.com

ANATOLIA

TOOLS

10,0008000 BC

9000 B C


40/80

NATUFIAN CULTURE

9000 B.C.

Natufian Culture thrived in the Near astsLevant Region (the Eastern Mediterranean)

Warming temperaturesgave rise to new plantfoodswhich enabled nomadic hunter-gatherers

tosettle down in large communities based on

foraging.

Its members were probably the first todomesticate dogs.

Cemeteries yield clues of

social hierarchy

inwhich jewellery, burial artifacts and gravemarkersserve as indicators of status.Artists rendition of Natufians working in the

fields.amscoextra.blogspot.com

9000 B C


41/80

Natufian reaping tool in which small, sharp blades mightve been set.www.nationalgeographic.org

Natufians developed basic agricultural skills, such as the use of stone bladed sickles

The focus shifted from hunting, but when theyhunted

, the did soin a more effective and co-

operative manner.

The knowledgeable Natufians compensated for the drastic change in climatearound 9000B.C. by supplementing plants of their traditional food crops.

This heralded the age offarming dominated societies allover the Middle East and anagrarian lifestyle all over theworld.

They grew mostly cereals, oftenclearing wild scrubs to

experiment with new seeds.

NATUFIAN CULTURE

9000 B.C.

9000 B C


42/80

Open settlements that were of modest size,

with some traces ofround huts

, some ofwhich were built onstone foundations

,although cavesare also known to have still

been inhabited.

Traces of normal developments of flint

industries based essentially upon local

Upper Palaeolithic antecedents, bothinfluenced in their food getting by the

alreadyintensified food-collecting practices

of immediate predecessors

Sheep

used at theincipient level

, hints offlint sickles, ground-stone mullers, mortars

and pestles, and probable hoe blades suggestthat

food plants

alsoreceived marked

attention.

NATUFIAN CULTURE

9000 B.C.

Ruins of supporting wall of an ancient Natufian housewww.wikpedia.org

10 000 B C


43/80

THE FERTILE CRESCENT

10,000 B.C.

The Fertile Crescent (Green)

www.staff.4j.lane.edu

Stretches in graceful curvefrom theNile Valley, across the Syrian Desert, to

theTigris

andEuphrates rivers

ofmodern Iraq.

Birthplaceof irrigated agriculture andurban civilizationapproximately 12,000years ago.

Shifting climate and growingpopulationsmade hunter-gatherersustenance insufficient and

spurred the

shift to agriculture.

Region washome to wild crops (barley)that could be supplementedand wild

animals (goats and sheep) that could bedomesticated.

Incorporated two of the most important

regions :Mesopotamia

and theLevant.

7000 BC


44/80

JARMO, IRAQ

7000 BC

The oldest known agricultural community in theworld, dating back to 7000 BC.

There were approximately100 to 150 people

who lived in the village.

The people reaped their grain with stone sickles,stored their food in stone bowls

. They grew emmerand einkorn wheat, barley, and lentils. In addition

to their agriculture, they also foraged for wildplants such as the

field pea, acorns, pistachio nuts,

and wild wheat

possessed domesticated goats, pig, sheep, anddogs.. The later levels of settlement contained

evidence ofclay pottery.

Jarmo is an archeological site located in northern Iraq on the foothills of theZagros Mountains. The site of Jarmo is approximately three to four acres(12,000 to 16,000 m) in size and lies at an altitude of 800 meters abovesea level in a belt of oak and pistachiowoodlands.

Excavations at Jarmowww.google.com

7000 BC


45/80

Twenty permanentmud-walled houses

were excavated. whichhad:1. stone foundations

2. tauf walls

3. reed bedding

.

A primitive form of commerce existed. Bone tools, especially awls,were abundant.

Bone

spoons and beads

were also found

Bone awls

www.google.com

Sitting figure, Hassuna,6000 B.C.www.wikipedia.com

Jarmo as a settlement was a social and economicalexample for future Mesopotamian cultures that would

arise around 4000 BC. [1]

Jarmo is one of the oldest sites at

which pottery has been found

. Thispottery is

hand made, simply

designed with thick sides, treated

with vegetable solvents. There areclay figures, zoomorphic or

anthropomorphic , including figures

ofpregnant women

(fertilitygoddesses) similar to the MotherGoddess.

1. www.mnsu.edu

JARMO, IRAQ

7000 BC

9500 3300 BC


46/80

NEOLITHIC

9500- 3300 BC

These early farming tools date from about 6000 BC. The

axe

, bottom,was used for clearing;flint sickles

, left,were used for harvesting cereal crops; a

flat rock and

rounded stone, centre,were used for grinding flour; andperforated clay slabs, upper right,were probably used toventilate bread ovens.Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia

The Neolithic has traditionally beenassociated with the origins of farming and asedentary way of life

, together with the useof potteryand of ground (polished) stone

tools.

In the Near East food production developedbefore pottery occurred (thus giving rise to

the terms Pre-Pottery Neolithic andPottery Neolithic).

The Neolithic also saw the rise of the first

true villages

, with houses being built ofdifferent materials, for example, mud-brick

houses in the Levant

9500 3300 BC


47/80

NEOLITHIC

9500- 3300 BC

The mobile hunter-gatherers of thePalaeolithic knew how to make pottery,

but did not generally do so, as it is tooheavy to carry; their receptacles wereundoubtedly made of leather and basketry.

Pottery, thus a natural development forsedentary peoples, was widely used by the

neolithic people.

Pottery was often richly decorated withincised, stamped, or painted motifs.

Neolithic art also included a wide varietyof figurines(often of females, as in the

Mother Goddess

).

The cultivation of cerealsanddomestication of animals

such as cattle,sheep, goats, and pigs was adopted, not as

a brilliant discovery, but as a necessitycaused by the pressures of a

rising

population

.

Pottery excavated at Jericho, dating from the period3300-1550BCwww.bible-archaeology.info

9500 3300 BC


48/80

NEOLITHIC :INDIA

9500- 3300 BC


Kashmir Neolithic Culture 3,000 BC Lived in pits dug into the compactKarewa loess

Ganga Valley NeolithicCulture

2500 BC Convergence of Indo-Aryan,Dravidian and Austro-Asiaticpeoples

Eastern Neolithic Culture 2200 BC Pointed-butt celts and cordimpressed pottery

Peninsular Neolithic Culture 3,000 BC Ash Mounds

Neolithic toolswww.wikipedia.com

Toranagallu ash moundwww.wikipedia.com

7000- 2500 BC


49/80

TheNeolithic phase

atJhusi

is

characterised byhand made potterybone tools and arrowheadsstone tools.A big structure that might have beenused as hearth-cum-pottery-kilnhas also

been found.

Lahurdewa

, in the central ganga plain issurrounded by water bodies. Availability of waterand

well-suited soil conditions

would have been

determining factors

for the locations.early innovations associated with the ceramictypes and other artefacts

cereal domestications and some sort ofcultivations at quite an early date.Appearance of morphologically distinct form ofrice

, comparable to cultivatedOryza sativa - an

early beginning of agriculture.

There is a strong possibility that people havebeen living in Ganga Plains since late Palaeoliticand interacted with the communities living in the

Vindhyas,Himalayas

and other areas.

` lahuradewa

Jhusi

Prehistory in

India,

doc. By VN Misra

JHUSI LAHURADEWA :INDIA

7000- 2500 BC

7000- 2600 BC


50/80

MEHRGARH :INDIA

7000 2600 BC

Mehrgarh is aNeolithic

site inBaluchistan

,Pakistan

, andone of the earliest sites with evidence of farmingand

herding

in south Asia. Mehrgarh is now seen as aprecursor

to the Indus Valley Civilization. The site was occupiedcontinuously until about 2600 BC, when it was abandoned.

The settlement was transformed froma cluster of smallmudbrick storage units with evidence of domestication of

cattle and barley

to asubstantial Bronze Age village

at thecentre of its own distinctive craft zone. The absence of early

residential structures has been interpreted by some asfurther evidence of the sites early occupation by mobile

early humanspossible travelling through the nearby passseasonally.

Although Mehrgarh was abandoned by the time of theemergence of the literate urbanised phase of the Indus

Civilisation, its development illustrates the development ofthe civilisations subsistence patterns as well as its craft and

trade specialisation.

Early farming village in Mehrgarh, c.7000 BCE, with houses built withmud brickswww.wikipedia.org

7000- 2600 BC


51/80

The earliest settled portion of Mehrgarh was in an areacalled MR.3, in the northeast corner of the 495-acre

occupation. It is asmall farming and pastoralist village

dated between 7000-5500 BC, with mud brick houses

and granaries.

The early Mehrgarh residents used local copper ore,basket containers lined with bitumen

, and an array ofbone tools. They grew six-row barley, einkorn and

emmer wheat, jujubes anddates. Sheep, goats andcattlewere herded at Mehrgarh beginning during this early

period.

The most recent studies at Mehrgarh showed they evenhad a pretty good grasp of evidence of dentistry.

Later periods includedcraft activities

such asflint

knapping, tanning, andbead production; also, asignificant level of

metal working

.

MEHRGARH :INDIA

7000 2600 BC

A figurine from Mehrgarh, c.3000 BCEwww.wikipedia.org

9500-7500BC


52/80

URFA, ANATOLIA

9500 7500BC

The hilltop mound, around 300 meters in diameter and some 15 meters high, contains aseries of circular structures or temples, carbon dated to a period between 9,500 and

7,500 B.C.Structures were made by first building an "artificial" mound of debris, then hollowing itout to create a sunken chamber.

Each contains a series of T-shaped limestone monoliths, the tallest of which are uptofive meters high.

These freestanding stones are anthropomorphic, with the top of the T representing the

head of the figure. The stem of the T represents the body, with arms carved in light reliefon either side.

FoxUrfa Excavationswww.wikipedia.com

9500-7500BC


53/80

The excavated architectural remains were of longrectangular houses

containingtwo to three parallel

flights of rooms. These are adjacent to a similarlyrectangular ante-structure, subdivided by wallprojections, which should be seen as a residentialspace.This type of house is characterized by thick, multi-layered foundations made of large angular cobbles

and boulders,

the gaps filled with smaller stones soas to provide a relativelyeven surface

to support thesuperstructure. These foundations are interruptedevery 1-1.5m by underfloor channels, at rightangles to the main axis of the houses, which werecovered in stone slabs but open to the sides. They

served thedrainage, aeration or the cooling of the

houses

In the northwest part of the village a cult complexhad been cut into the hillslopeMonolithicwere built into its dry stone walls, itsinterior contained two free-standing pillars of 3 m

height

.

The sitewww.turkeyforholidays.com

A housewww.ancient-wisdom.co.uk

URFA, ANATOLIA :ARCHITECTURE

9500 7500BC

9500-7500BC


54/80

The local limestone was carved intonumerous statues and smaller sculptures,

including a more than life-sized bare humanhead with a snake or sikha-like tuft.There is also a statue of a bird.Some of the pillars also bore reliefs, includingones of human hands.The free-standing anthropomorphic figuresof limestone excavated at Nevali Cori belongto the earliest known life-size sculptures.Several hundred small clay figurines (about 5cm high), most of them depicting humans,have been interpreted as votive offerings.

They were fired at temperatures between500-600C, which suggests the developmentof ceramic firing technology before the adventof pottery proper. [1]

sculptureswww.google.com


URFA, ANATOLIA :SCULPTURE

9500 7500BC

9500-7500BC


55/80

Many of the monoliths are covered inrelief carvings of wild animals, usually

either predatory or dangerous, such aslions, snakes, foxes and scorpions.

The floors of the temple chambers areof burnt lime, and benches line thewalls.

These massive stones were quarried,

cut to shape, carted into place andsculpted to such a high standard byStone Age man, obviously using onlystone and flint tools, is remarkable.

Some other Mesolithic sites areSarklimagara cave in Gaziantep region,Baradiz cave

from Burdur areaand

open air settlements and cemeteries of

Sogut Tarlasi, Birisnear Bozova.

Modern day Urfawww.google.com

Tshaped limestone monolithwww.wikipedia.org

URFA, ANATOLIA

9500 7500BC

9000 B C


56/80

JERICHO

9000 B.C.

Dwelling foundations unearthed at

Tell-es Sultan in Jericho.www.wikipedia..org

Located near Jordan river in WestBank of Palestinian territories.

Site has been inhabited ever sincethe founding of the NatufianCulture.

Mesolithic city plan is similarto

that ofatalhyk

Site had abundant water supply,good climate

andcentral location

Site shows signs of violent

demolition in 15

th

century B.C.

Existedsince before potteryandagriculture.

9000 B C


57/80

Neolithic watch tower built and destroyed inabout 7000-8000 B.C. in Jerichowww.bible-lands.info

During 8350- 7350 BC circular houses of mud brickwere built. From 7200 BC the houses were rectangularin shape with plastered walls and floors.

Populationin such houses as many as 1500.

Settlement surrounded by massive stone wallas adefense mechanism against invaders, animals or floods

A single gate had towersflanking it on either side

Densely packed houses were accessible by narrowallies.

There were buildings forworship

andstorage

Floor levels of houses were below ground level andgenerally had

two steps descending

into themain

room.

Benches ran along

mostwalls.

JERICHO :

ARCHITECTURE

9000 B.C.

8,000 BC


58/80

BURUSHASKI LANGUAGE, INDIA/PAKISTAN

,

Burshaski is a language isolate, spoken till date by people in northwest Kashmir, but hasa history around 10,000 years old.

Karakoram range, where the Burosho people livewww.google.com

Linguists believe that Burushaski islinked to ancient languages like Basque,the extinct Sumerian tongue and someNorth American languages.

Ancient genetic markers ofmigrating humans suggesthow these different languagepockets might actually be

linked.

Usually Burushaski is notwritten. Occasionally,the Urdu version ofthe Arabic alphabet is used,but a fixed orthography does

not exist.

A woman from Buroshowww.paulstravelblog.com

AIN GHAZAL, JORDAN

7250- 5000 BC


59/80

Ain Ghazal

is a Neolithic site located in North-Eastern Jordan, onthe outskirts of Amman.

In its prime time around 7000 BC, it extended over 10-15hectares

and was inhabited by approximately3000 people

(four to five times its contemporary - Jericho).After 6500 BC, however, the population droppedsharply toabout one sixth within only a few generations, probably

due to

environmental degradation

'Ain Ghazal was set on terraced ground at a valley-side,Rectangular mud-brick houses that accommodated a squaremain room and a smaller anteroom.Walls were plastered with mud on the outside, and with limeplaster inside

that was renewed every few years.Being

an early farming community

, the 'Ain Ghazal peoplecultivated cereals, legumens and chickpeas in a field above thevillageThey herded domesticated goats.However, they

still hunted wild animals

- deer, gazelle etc [1


An ain ghazal figurewww.google.com

ATAL HYK

63005500 BC


60/80

Artists rendition of the city of atalHyk

northernblue.ca

atal Hyk was a very large Neolithicand Chalcolithic settlement foundin Southern Anatolia, or present day Turkey.

Sophisticated societywith many trade links.

Ruins yield materials fromtheIranian highlands, Syria and theLevant

region.

It had an average population ofbetween

5,000 to 8,000 people.

ATAL HYK :ARCHITECTURE

63005500 BC


61/80

On-site restoration of a typical interiorwww.wikipedia.org

Mud-brick houses were crammed togetherin anagglutinative manner.

No footpaths or streets were used betweendwellings, which were accessed by holes in theceiling

, and were reached by interior and exteriorladders.

Eachmain room

served as an area forcooking and

daily activities.

In good weather, daily activities may also havetaken place on the rooftops, which conceivablyformed an open air plaza.

Typical homes feature benches, raised platforms,domed ovens

andgrain storage rooms

.

There are no houses with distinct features, whichpoints to an

absence of a social-class system.

ATAL HYK :ART

63005500 BC


62/80

Mother goddess seated on a throne, flanked by twolionesses, as depicted in the above sculpturewww.reclusveleftist.com

Vivid muralsand figurinesare found throughoutthe settlement, on interior and exterior walls.

Predominant images include men with erectphalluses, hunting scenes, red images of the now

extinct aurochs (wild cattle) and stags,

and vultures swooping down on headless figures

Heads of animals

, especially of cattle, weremounted on walls.

Carefully made figurines, carvedand moldedfrom marble, blue and brown limestone, schist,calcite, basalt, alabaster

, andclay

, represent

theGreat Goddess

Arrows, spearheads, long knivesand daggerswere made out of imported flintand obsidian.

Obsidian mirrors, animal figurines,

monochromatic pottery

characterize their art.

ATAL HYK :BURIALS

63005500 BC


63/80

Infant skeleton excavated from a atal Hykburial sitewww.catalhoyuk.com

The people of atalhyk buried their dead

within the village, inburial pits.

The bodies were tightly flexed before burial,and were often placed in baskets or wrappedin reed mats.

In some cases,graves were disturbed

andthe

individuals head removed

from theskeleton.

Some skulls were plastered and painted withochre to recreate human-like faces

, a custommore characteristic of

Neolithic sites in Syria

and at

Neolithic Jericho

than at sites closer by.

In some burials, remains are accompanied byfunerary items like food, mirrors and pottery

.

CHALCOLITHIC AGE

5500-2000 B.C.


64/80

Copper ware from the Chalcolithic agewww.anistor. gr

The phase when copper metallurgy

was being adopted by Neolithiccultures in the Near East and south-eastern Europe is sometimes calledthe Copper Age (or Chalcolithic orEneolithic).

Metallurgy occurred

first in

the Fertile Crescent, where it gaverise to the Bronze Age in the 4thmillennium BC.

Copper may originally have been a

prestige material

since, unlike stone,copper ore is not common andneeded to be

mined

andsmelted

(heated to separate the metal fromthe rock).

CHALCOLITHIC AGE

5500-2000 B.C.


65/80

Copper, obtained from nodules of locallyavailable copperor from copper ores, was used to

makeornaments

andweapons

(such asflat axe-

blades), but was too soft or brittle to be trulyuseful.

It could be cold-hammered into shape to makerough tools or beads; or it could be cast.

Temperatures of about 800 C that were requiredfor smelting were provided by the

high-

temperature kilnsdeveloped for firing finepottery.

Casting made it possible to producelarger and

more complex objectssuch as hammer-axes.

Crucibles and slag dating from the 4thmillennium BChave been found, and copper

mines

are known from a number of sites in the

Near East.

Chalcolithic mine in Timna Park, Negev Desert, Israel.www.wikipedia.org

CHALCOLITHIC :INDIA

5500-2000 B.C.


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SITE Characteristics

Indo-

Gangetic Divide andupper Ganga-YamunaDoab

ochre-coloured pottery (OCP)

Rammed earth floors, post-holes, baked andUnbaked bricksPottery with incised designs, graffiti, paintings in black pigmentCultivation of rice and barleyDomestication of animals

Ahar, Mewar region,

Rajasthan

Houses made of stone, mud-brick and mud,

Massive foundations more than a metre in width,Walls of mudWares made of well-levigated clay, slipped and burnished surface,well baked and sturdy.technology based on Copper,Copper objectsinclude flat axes, choppers etc

Narhan, NorthernVindhyas and themiddle andlower Ganga valley

The houses were generally made of wattle-and-daub asrepresented by postholes, burnt lumps of clay withbamboo and reed impressions, and compact mud floors.They were usually of rectangular shape.

CHALCOLITHIC :INDIA

5500-2000 B.C.


67/80

SITE Characteristics

Kayatha,

MadhyaPradesh

The Kayatha culture people lived in small huts having

well-rammed floorscultivated wheat, barley and domesticated animals, possibly even horses.typical ceramic, chocolate-slipped, sturdy, well baked wares

Malwa,Malwaregion,MadhyaPradesh

wattle-and-daub houses of rectangular and round shape, burnt wooden posts,clay plaster with bamboo, reed impressionscultivated cereals, legumes, oil seeds and fruitspainted designs are primarily geometric such as triangles and lozenges(diamond shaped)

Jorwe,WesternMaharashtra

large villages like Bahal and NevasaRectangular structures, measuring 5 3 m with lowmud walls, rows with the longer axis in aroughly east-west orientation.

CHALCOLITHIC SITES

5500-2000 B.C.


68/80

The site was settled from the Chalcolithic period in the fourth millennium BCuntil the Phrygian period in the first millennium BC. Aliar later developedinto a walled town. Eventually it became the most significant city in the

region. It was a center for trade attracting merchants from Assyria at thebeginning of the second millennium BC.

Can Hasan was a late Neolithic settlement dating from 6500BCE, inhabited into the Chalcolithic period.

HACILAR, TURKEYHacilar is an early human settlement in south western Turkey. It has been

dated back 7040 BC at its earliest stage of development. Archaeologicalremains indicate that the site was abandoned and reoccupied on morethan one occasion in its history.

BEYCESULTAN, TURKEY

CAN HASAN, TURKEY

ALIAR HYK, TURKEY

Beycesultan, an archaeological site in western Anatolia, was occupied during along sequence between Late Chalcolithic to Late Bronze Age (Hittite Empire)

and then also in the Byzantine period.

ARCHITECTURE :VILLAGE

5500-2000 B.C.


69/80

In Hacilar, housing consisted of groupedunits

surrounding aninner courtyard

. Eachdwelling was built on a stone foundation to

protect against water damage. Wallsweremade of

wood and daub

ormud-brick

thatwas mortared with lime. Wooden polesalso

supported theflat roof. It is generally

believed that these houses had anupper

story made of wood.

The interiorswere finished smooth withplasterand were rarely painted. Over time

changes were made to the housing units;

Querns, braziers

andmortars appeared in

the floors. Recesses in wallswere also put togood use as

cupboards

. Thekitchen was

separated from the living rooms and theupper levels were used for granaries and/or

workshops

.

A mother goddess statuette from Canhasan, inTurkey. This figurine, along with other mothergoddess figurines found in Canhasan, is thought tobe an evidence of a continual matriarchal society incentral Anatolia during the Chalcolithic age.

www.wikipedia.org

ARCHITECTURE :DEFENCE

5500-2000 B.C.


70/80

Village architecture also provides evidence forthe necessity of communal defence, which was

accomplished by means of acircuit wall

orasin Haclara continuous wall formed by the

outside rear walls of contiguous houses.

At Haclarand Can Hasan, the heavy ground-floor chambers of these houses had no doorways

and were evidentlyentered by ladders from a

more fragile upper story.

Improvements in architecture, however, can beseen at Mersin, where one of its later phases is

represented by aneatly planned and constructed

fortress

. Thesteep slope

of the mound wascrowned by a continuous defensive wall, piercedby

slit windows

and entered through agateway

protected by flanking towers. Inside, there wasformally arranged accommodation for the

garrison

and other evidence of military

discipline as conceived in 5200 BC.

Excavation site at Tell Brak, Syria.www. mcdonald.cam.ac.uk

3300-1200 B.C.RONZE AGE


71/80

Bronze Age is the period which corresponds tothe

introduction of metallurgy, for making tools,

weapons,

andceremonial objects

.

Sometimes, low percentages of other elements werenaturally present in the copper ore, and were found

to make the metal easier to cast and harder when set.Adding about 10 per cent tin to the copper, a far

harder alloy

bronzewas produced, which waseasy to cast (it flowed more easily) and could be madeinto many different shapes. It also held a hard, sharp

cutting edge

which could beresharpened

, whileworn or broken toolscould be melteddown and

recast.

Most bronze objects

swords, spearheads, axes,

knives, pins,

andbrooches

were made bycasting

.Other objects such as shieldswere made by

hammering sheets of metal into shape.

A drawing of an early cuneiformcarving of a procession by Hittites in

Boazkale, Turkey.www.wikipedia.org



72/80

Modern experiments have shown thatbronze tools and weapons are

generallynot much sharper

than

theirequivalents in flint.

The adoption of bronze was, therefore,probably closely linked to social

status

: not only were thematerials

sometimes difficult to obtain

(andhence presumablyexpensive

), butbronze is a shiny gold-coloured metal

which can also be richly decorated.

Like gold itself, it was an ideal vehicle

for thedisplay of personal power and

wealth

, and was popular among theprehistoric aristocracyfor jewelleryand ornaments, as well as for often

profusely decorated weapons

and fortools.

Because the metal was highly valued, objects made of bronzewere often

hidden in hoards or buried with the dead

, and it isthese sources that have yielded most of the Bronze Ageartifacts known today. The assemblage shown here consistsof objects of personal adornment.Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2003



73/80

Theagricultural way of life

, established in the Neolithic period, continued.Ploughing

appears to have become widespread, as shown by remains of implementsas well asplough-marks under barrows

, and depictions of ploughing in therock art

of the period.

As populations grew and expanded, pressure on land increased, and agriculture spread.Soil erosionalso increased.

Another trend towards the end of the Bronze Age was a growingemphasis on

fortifications

. Bronzearmour

andhelmets

, andnew types of weapons

such as the veryeffective slashing sword, suggest that warfare had come to the fore.

Bronze Age weapons includeslender spearheads, swords, andknives.Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia

2003

5900-1100 B.C.ESOPOTAMIA


74/80

Mesopotamia, located in a region thatincluded parts of what is now

eastern

Syria, south-eastern Turkey

,

andmost

of Iraq, lay between two rivers, theTigris

and theEuphrates

. The nameMesopotamia is a Greek word meaning

between the rivers.

Its oldest known communities datefrom 7000 BC

. The world'searliest

urban civilizations arose here around3500 BC. Mesopotamia, known as the

cradle of civilization

, was the centre of

Sumerian

,Babylonian

,Assyrian

, andChaldeancivilizations.

In the 6th century BC, it became part ofthe Persian Empire, at the time the

largest empire in the world.

Ancient Mesopotamiawww.chaldean.org

5900-1100 B.C.ESOPOTAMIA :TIMELINE


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Time period/ Era

Pre-pottery

Neolithic

Pottery

Neolithic Chalcolithic

Early

Bronze

Middle

Bronze Late Bronze

59004400 BC Ubaid

44003200 BC Uruk

31002900 BC Jemdet Nasr

29002350 BC Sumeriancity states

23502193 BC Akkadian

21192004 BC Ur (3rddynasty)

20001800 BC Assyrian

18001700 BC Babylonian

16001200 BC Kassite(MiddleAssyrian)

12001100 BC Collapse of

Bronze Agewww.wikipedia.org

EBLA, SYRIA 3000- 1650 BC


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The image shows part of the excavated city of Ebla. Most of the ruins have been givena top layer of new bricks. Some stones used to grind flour are also seen in the picture.

www.wikipedia.org

Ebla was an important commercialcentre

ruled by amerchant oligarchy

that elected amonarch

andentrusted

the city's defence to paid soldiers. It wasa

polytheistic

society.

The Akkadians destroyed Ebla around2300 BC. Several centuries after its

destruction by the Akkadians, Eblamanaged to recover some of its

importance, and had a second apogeelasting from c.1850 to 1600 BC.

Ebla was part of a flourishing north Syrian civilization contemporaneous with early Egyptand Mesopotamia.

Excavations unearthed Ebla'sroyal archives

, a collection of more than14,000 inscriptions

on clay tablets dating from 2500-2200 BC. They were written in the cuneiformscriptdeveloped by Sumerians, but were adapted to the language of Ebla's Semitic inhabitants

TEPE GAWRA, IRAQ (UBAID)

5000-3000 B.C


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Tepe Gawra is a Mesopotamian city in northernIraq, fifteen kilometers from the modern town ofMosul

. The earliest occupations at Tepe Gawraare dated to the mid-sixth millennium BC, theUbaid period in Mesopotamia.

Burials at Tepe Gawra reveal socialstratification, expressed by the presence ofbeads of imported lapis lazuli as well as ivory,

etc.A storage facility called the "round house"stored grain and weaponry.

Tomb in Tepe Gawrawww.cnes.cla.umn.edu

1. www.cnes.cla.umn.edu

Mesopotamian tabletwww.google.com

www.google.com

TEPE GAWRA, IRAQ (SUMER)

5000-2000 B.C.
http://cnes.cla.umn.edu/courses/archaeology/1044/Uruk/TepeGawraTombs.htmlhttp://cnes.cla.umn.edu/courses/archaeology/1044/Uruk/TepeGawraTombs.htmlhttp://cnes.cla.umn.edu/courses/archaeology/1044/Uruk/TepeGawraTombs.htmlhttp://cnes.cla.umn.edu/courses/archaeology/1044/Uruk/TepeGawraTombs.html


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Eridu is best known for its temples, called ziggurats.The earliest temple, dated to the Ubaid period about 5570 BC,consisted of a small room with a possible cult niche and anoffering table.Temples were built in the classical early Mesopotamianformat of tripartite plan, with abuttressed facade

and along central room withan altar.The city wasplanned on the basisof casteand economicstature

with the rich in thecenter and the poor surrounding

them.

Eridu is theoldest known Sumerian city

, 22 kilometers southof Nasiriya,during the Ubaidthrough Urperiods of southern

Mesopotamia. According to Sumerian tradition the citybelonged to the god Enki.

Zigguratwww.wayfaring.info Enkithe God of Eriduwww.wayfaring.info


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SOURCES


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Readers Digest Vanished Civilizations, The Readers Digest Association Limited, 2002Prehistoric human colonization of India, V N MISRA

Microsoft Encarta EncyclopediaStandard 2003

en.wikipedia.orgwww.handprint.comwww.originsnet.org

www.britannica

.commaps.nationalgeographic .comarchaeology.about.comancientneareast.tripod.comwww.history-world.org

31441800-prehistoric-settlements-of-the-middle-east.pdf

Documents

lower palaeolithic

upper palaeolithic

lower left

lower paleolithic2

middle east5192018

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artists rendition of

humans werehunters