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| Levantine Neolithic | |
|---|---|
| Name | Levantine Neolithic |
| Caption | Plaster figurines from Ain Ghazal, an important Neolithic site in the Levant |
| Region | Levant |
| Period | Neolithic |
| Dates | c. 10,000–6,000 BCE |
| Typesite | Jericho / Ain Ghazal |
| Major sites | Jericho, Ain Ghazal, Çatalhöyük, Tell Halula, Tell Abu Hureyra |
Levantine Neolithic. The Levantine Neolithic denotes the sequence of Neolithic developments in the Levant c. 10,000–6,000 BCE, marking transitions in sedentism, plant cultivation, and animal management that influenced neighbouring regions such as Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. Key archaeological investigations at sites like Jericho, Ain Ghazal, Tell Abu Hureyra, and Çatalhöyük have framed debates about local innovation versus diffusion involving peoples associated with Epipalaeolithic forager communities and early farming groups.
The chronological framework for the Levantine Neolithic is anchored by stratigraphic sequences and radiocarbon datasets from sites including Jericho, Ain Ghazal, Wadi al-Jilat, and Tell el-Kerkh, correlated with broader sequences like the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) and Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB), followed by Pottery Neolithic phases and regional Chalcolithic transitions observed in Byblos and Beirut. Debates integrate calibration of radiocarbon dating series from labs associated with institutions such as the British Museum, Peabody Museum, and Smithsonian Institution alongside Bayesian modeling techniques used in projects at University College London and Harvard University.
Archaeologists distinguish cultural phases—Natufian antecedents, Pre-Pottery Neolithic A, Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, and Pottery Neolithic—based on lithic industries, architectural forms, and mortuary variation documented at sites like Shubayqa 1, Jerf el Ahmar, Ain Ghazal, Tell Halula, and Beidha. Artifact assemblages show connections to contemporaneous cultures such as Neolithic groups in Upper Mesopotamia, the Caucasus, and Anatolia, while later links extend to the Chalcolithic expressions at Tell Brak and the burgeoning complex societies of ancient Egypt.
Settlement patterns vary from seasonal campsites identified at Jordan Rift Valley locations to permanent settlements with rectilinear houses at Jericho and planned compounds at Ain Ghazal and Çatalhöyük. Architectural evidence includes mudbrick construction, lime-plastered floors and walls at Jericho and Ain Ghazal, communal buildings interpreted from excavations by teams from the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem and the American School of Oriental Research, mortuary installations, and defensive features reminiscent of later fortifications at Tell es-Sultan.
The Levantine Neolithic marks early cultivation of cereals and pulses—wheat and barley taxa recovered through flotation at Tell Abu Hureyra, Jericho, and Ain Ghazal—and the management of caprines and cattle evidenced by zooarchaeological studies led by researchers affiliated with CNRS and Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. Plant domestication pathways are compared with models from Fertile Crescent cores and dispersal into Europe via Anatolian corridors investigated by teams at University of Cambridge and University of Vienna.
Material culture includes bladelet and lunate industries tied to PPNA/PPNB sequences, plaster and figurine production at Ain Ghazal, clay vessel innovations in Pottery Neolithic phases, and groundstone toolkits for processing domesticated plants found at Tell Halula and Tell Sheikh Hassan. Technological studies incorporate micromorphology, use-wear analysis from laboratories at Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, and provenance work with isotopic techniques developed at ETH Zurich and Columbia University.
Evidence for social organization includes household archaeology from Jericho and neighborhood patterning at Ain Ghazal, craft specialization inferred from figurine workshops, and burial practices ranging from single interments to multiple burials with plastered skulls paralleling finds at Tell Aswad and Çatalhöyük. Ritual behaviors are attested by plastered human figures, possible cultic structures at Jerf el Ahmar, and symbolic material culture that invites comparison with ritual assemblages in Upper Mesopotamia and the Levantine corridor explored by scholars at the University of Oxford and Tel Aviv University.
The Levantine Neolithic functioned within extensive networks linking Anatolia, Upper Mesopotamia, Caucasus, and Egypt, evident in shared typologies, obsidian exchange traced to Göllü Dağ and Nemrut Dağ, and genetic affinities revealed in paleogenomic studies from teams at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, and Harvard Medical School. Models of demic diffusion, cultural transmission, and hybridization are debated through evidence from lithic sourcing, ceramic typology, and ancient DNA comparing populations from Jericho, Çatalhöyük, Tell Halula, and Ain Ghazal, informing broader narratives of Neolithic expansion across the Fertile Crescent.
Category:Neolithic cultures of Asia Category:Archaeology of the Levant