Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents Summary for Volumes 1, 2 and 3
- Contents
- Volume 1 Maps
- Volume 2 Maps
- Volume 3 Maps
- About the Contributors
- Volume 1
- Volume 2
- Volume 3
- VII. Western and Central Asia
- 3.1 The Early Prehistory of Western and Central Asia
- 3.2 Western and Central Asia: DNA
- 3.3 The Upper Palaeolithic and Earlier Epi-Palaeolithic of Western Asia
- 3.4 The Origins of Sedentism and Agriculture in Western Asia
- 3.5 The Levant in the Pottery Neolithic and Chalcolithic Periods
- 3.6 Settlement and Emergent Complexity in Western Syria, c. 7000–2500 bce
- 3.7 Prehistory and the Rise of Cities in Mesopotamia and Iran
- 3.8 Mesopotamia
- 3.9 Anatolia: From the Pre-Pottery Neolithic to the End of the Early Bronze Age (10,500–2000 bce)
- 3.10 Anatolia from 2000 to 550 bce
- 3.11 The Prehistory of the Caucasus: Internal Developments and External Interactions
- 3.12 Arabia
- 3.13 Central Asia before the Silk Road
- 3.14 Southern Siberia during the Bronze and Early Iron Periods
- 3.15 Western Asia after Alexander
- 3.16 Western and Central Asia: Languages
- VIII. Europe and the Mediterranean
- Index
- References
3.6 - Settlement and Emergent Complexity in Western Syria, c. 7000–2500 bce
from VII. - Western and Central Asia
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents Summary for Volumes 1, 2 and 3
- Contents
- Volume 1 Maps
- Volume 2 Maps
- Volume 3 Maps
- About the Contributors
- Volume 1
- Volume 2
- Volume 3
- VII. Western and Central Asia
- 3.1 The Early Prehistory of Western and Central Asia
- 3.2 Western and Central Asia: DNA
- 3.3 The Upper Palaeolithic and Earlier Epi-Palaeolithic of Western Asia
- 3.4 The Origins of Sedentism and Agriculture in Western Asia
- 3.5 The Levant in the Pottery Neolithic and Chalcolithic Periods
- 3.6 Settlement and Emergent Complexity in Western Syria, c. 7000–2500 bce
- 3.7 Prehistory and the Rise of Cities in Mesopotamia and Iran
- 3.8 Mesopotamia
- 3.9 Anatolia: From the Pre-Pottery Neolithic to the End of the Early Bronze Age (10,500–2000 bce)
- 3.10 Anatolia from 2000 to 550 bce
- 3.11 The Prehistory of the Caucasus: Internal Developments and External Interactions
- 3.12 Arabia
- 3.13 Central Asia before the Silk Road
- 3.14 Southern Siberia during the Bronze and Early Iron Periods
- 3.15 Western Asia after Alexander
- 3.16 Western and Central Asia: Languages
- VIII. Europe and the Mediterranean
- Index
- References
Summary
Syria in the 7th Millennium bce
Syria (Map 3.6.1) boasts a long, continuous record of pottery manufacture of almost nine thousand years. The earliest ceramics were found at sites dated c. 7000–6800 bce, such as Tell Sabi Abyad in northeastern Syria and Shir near Hama in western Syria (Fig. 3.6.1) (Nieuwenhuyse et al. 2010). Conventionally the first occurrence of pottery has been understood as a watershed in the prehistory of the region, distinguishing the Early from the Late Neolithic and ushering in a fundamental change in the Neolithic way of life. Current fieldwork, however, indicates that the change may have been much less profound than is usually believed. Excavation at, for example, Tell Sabi Abyad on the Balikh provides proof of many continuities in site distribution, community organisation, material culture, subsistence practices and so on (Akkermans et al. 2006).
Extensive survey and excavation along the Euphrates River and in the plains of the Jezireh to the east of it have produced numerous 7th-millennium occupations, predominantly in the form of settlement mounds with often lengthy sequences, although there were also shallow and short-lived sites. The development of 7th-millennium settlement was different in western Syria (i.e., the land of Syria between the Mediterranean on the one hand and the Euphrates on the other hand), where field reconnaissance suggests a beginning of habitation in some regions that were apparently previously devoid of settled populations (e.g., the Amuq Plain), as well as an increase of sites in other regions (e.g., around Idlib and Homs; Yener et al. 2000; Haïdar-Boustani et al. 2007). However, we cannot assume that the occupations were all contemporary; the number of sites in use at any given moment was probably (very) low, as were regional population densities as a consequence.
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- The Cambridge World Prehistory , pp. 1462 - 1473Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014
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