A2 Archaeology AQA Level 3

The Origins of Farming

The change from hunter- gathering to farming happened all over the world but the earliest and best known agricultural region is the ‘Fertile Crescent’ of the Near East. THE FERTILE CRESCENT

 The area covers parts of what is today Turkey, Syria and Iraq  Identified sites include Jericho, Tell Abu Hureyra, Jarmo, Ali Kosh, Hacilar and the slightly later site of Catal Huyuk.  Prior to the development of farming the area provided a natural habitat for wild sheep, goats, wheat, barley and lentils THE FERTILE CRESCENT

Why the Fertile Crescent?  The Mediterranean climate has a long dry season with a short period of rain, which made it suitable for small plants with large seeds, like wheat, rye and barley.  These crops were suitable for domestication because they are easy to harvest and to store.  Other areas with a similar climate were less suitable for agriculture because of the lack of geographic variation within their region and the lack of availability of plants for domestication.

Kermanshah sites with agriculture and animal domestication as early as 7500 BC Samarra sites with irrigation culture as early as 5500 BC Ubaid sites as early as 5200 BC Other sites before 4500 BC SITES OF THE FERTILE CRESCENT

What was involved? The change from hunter-gathering to farming would require people to:-  learn how to domesticate plants and animals  intensify production  specialise their skills  adopt a sedentary way of life  build villages and towns  create storage systems  trade with other groups  develop writing and ……………………………

………….THINK ABOUT PROTECTION FROM ATTACK ……….

JERICHO

 Jericho, or Tel es-Sultan, is the earliest place known where people lived mainly from the cultivation of crops  It is situated on an ancient lake bed plain in what is now the West Bank, Palestine  The oval-shaped tell has between 8 and 12 meters of occupation fill, and it covers an area of about 2.5 hectares  By around 8000 BC this community, occupying a naturally well-watered region, was growing selected forms of wheat, (emmer and einkorn), and later came barley  Though no longer gatherers, people were still hunters. Their source of meat was wild gazelle, cattle, goat and boar.  Jericho is also the first known town with a population of 2000 or more. JERICHO So, a pioneering agricultural community, surrounded by other tribes dependent on gathering food, Jericho offered easy pickings which needed protection. SO……………

………Jericho built walls Schematic cross-section diagram of the fortification system at Jericho based on Kenyon's west trench

 In the middle of the tel is an open area in which a huge round stone tower lies, dated between B.C., possibly the oldest stone structure in the world  Discovered and excavated by Kathleen Kenyon  It is 8m in diameter and stands 8m high  In the middle of the tower is a perfectly preserved stairway.  The building has lasted because it was made from natural stone, not mud brick  It is this tower which gives Jericho its status as the oldest city on earth, because nowhere else has a tower or similar building of such an age Neolithic Tower ………and Jericho built a tower

 Water was provided by Elisha’s spring which can still be seen today  4500 litres of clear water bubbles out of the ground each minute  A sophisticated system of canals and pipes supplied the whole oasis from antiquity until the present day Elisha’s Spring ………. and Jericho had it’s own water supply

 Tel es-Sultan is the result of many habitation layers built on top of each other: people just built a new house on top of an old one  The old houses would become useless after a while due to the rain. Although rain is extremely scarce in Jericho, less than 100 millilitres per year, if it did occur, the mud-brick houses would collapse and turn back into mud.  Layers of mud can clearly be seen in the excavated areas of the tel  Destruction also occurred because of fires which accounts for the black areas that can be seen in the stratigraphy The Tel

 Best known and most accurate information from the Jericho site comes from excavations under Kathleen Kenyan from  Kenyan was able to obtain a cross section of the city through its entire history by digging a narrow deep trench  She used the box section method leaving baulks to allow the stratification to remain visible.  While trenching downward through the site she uncovered the first walled city along with a number of houses and courtyards that had been constructed over 10,000 years ago, during the Neolithic.  From a tomb located near the deepest layers of the city she found a number of skulls covered with clay. The skulls were dated at about the seventh millenium BC and were beautifully decorated with paint.  Kenyan maintained that the walls of Jericho had been repaired and rebuilt at least seventeen times. She suggested the damage may have been caused by earthquakes. Kathleen Kenyan Excavations Dwelling foundations unearthed at Tell es-Sultan in Jericho