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58-559: Pre-Pottery Neolithic B ( PPNB ) is part of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic , a Neolithic culture centered in upper Mesopotamia and the Levant , dating to c.  10,800  – c.  8,500 years ago, that is, 8800–6500 BC. It was typed by British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon during her archaeological excavations at Jericho in the West Bank , territory of Palestine . Like

116-450: A bitumen pupil and dioptase highlighting. In all, 32 of those plaster figures were found in two caches, 15 of them full figures, 15 busts, and 2 fragmentary heads. Three of the busts were two-headed. Considerable evidence for mortuary practices during the PPNB period have been described in recent years. Post-mortem skull removal, commonly restricted to the cranium, but on occasion including

174-517: A Circum Arabian Nomadic Pastoral Complex developed in the period from the climatic crisis of 6200 BC, partly as a result of an increasing emphasis in PPNB cultures upon animal domesticates, and a fusion with Harifian hunter gatherers in Southern Palestine, with affiliate connections with the cultures of Fayyum and the Eastern Desert of Egypt . Cultures practicing this lifestyle spread down

232-464: A PPNA Aswadian culture. Instead, they found evidence of a fully established PPNB culture at 8700 BC at Aswad, pushing back the period's generally accepted start date by 1,200 years. Similar sites to Tell Aswad in the Damascus Basin of the same age were found at Tell Ramad and Tell Ghoraifé . How a PPNB culture could spring up in this location, practicing domesticated farming from 8700 BC has been

290-528: A different set of tools, and new architectural styles. Work at the site of 'Ain Ghazal in Jordan has indicated a later Pre-Pottery Neolithic C period. Juris Zarins has proposed that a Circum Arabian Nomadic Pastoral Complex developed in the period from the climatic crisis of 6200 BCE, partly as a result of an increasing emphasis in PPNB cultures upon domesticated animals, and a fusion with Harifian hunter-gatherers in

348-661: A linear relationship between the age of an Early Neolithic site and its distance from the conventional source in the Near East ( Jericho ), thus demonstrating that, on average, the Neolithic spread at a constant speed of about 1 km/yr. More recent studies confirm these results and yield the speed of 0.6–1.3 km/yr at 95% confidence level. Since the original human expansions out of Africa 200,000 years ago, different prehistoric and historic migration events have taken place in Europe. Considering that

406-785: A small amount of wheat. There is good evidence for the local domestication of barley and the zebu cattle at Mehrgarh, but the wheat varieties are suggested to be of Near-Eastern origin, as the modern distribution of wild varieties of wheat is limited to Northern Levant and Southern Turkey. A detailed satellite map study of a few archaeological sites in the Baluchistan and Khybar Pakhtunkhwa regions also suggests similarities in early phases of farming with sites in Western Asia. Pottery prepared by sequential slab construction, circular fire pits filled with burnt pebbles, and large granaries are common to both Mehrgarh and many Mesopotamian sites. The postures of

464-461: A third of adult burials were found in trash pits with their heads intact. Why only some of the inhabitants were properly buried and others simply disposed of remains unresolved. Burials seem to have taken place approximately every 15–20 years, indicating a rate of one burial per generation, though gender and age were not constant in this practice. The site is located at the boundary between Amman's Tariq and Basman districts, next to, and named for,

522-433: Is a topic of much debate. At PPNB Ayn Ghazal goats were a major species, and they were used in a domestic sense, although they may not have been morphologically domestic. Many of the phalanges recovered exhibit pathologies that are suggestive of tethering. An impressive range of wild animal species also were consumed at the site. Over 50 taxa have been identified, including gazelle, Bos, Sus sp., Lepus, and Vulpes. Ayn Ghazal

580-639: Is argued that at its founding at the commencement of the MPPNB Ayn Ghazal was likely about 2 ha in size and grew to 5 ha by the end of the MPPNB. At this point in time their estimated population was 600–750 people or 125–150 people per hectare. The diet of the occupants of PPNB Ayn Ghazal was varied. Domesticated plants included wheat and barley species, but legumes (primarily lentils and peas) appear to have been preferred cultigens. Wild plants also were consumed. The determination of domesticated animals, sensu stricto,

638-403: Is divided into Pre-Pottery Neolithic A ( PPNA 10000–8800 BCE) and the following Pre-Pottery Neolithic B ( PPNB 8800–6500 BCE). These were originally defined by Kathleen Kenyon in the type site of Jericho (Palestine). The Pre-Pottery Neolithic precedes the ceramic Neolithic ( Yarmukian culture , 6400 – 6200 BCE). At 'Ain Ghazal , in Jordan, the culture continued a few more centuries as

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696-430: Is greatly debated. Mitochondrial DNA –a type of maternally inherited DNA located in the cell cytoplasm- was recovered from the remains of Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) farmers in the Near East and then compared to available data from other Neolithic populations in Europe and also to modern populations from South-Eastern Europe and the Near East. The obtained results show that substantial human migrations were involved in

754-648: Is mostly Natufian ancestry, every millennium, starting from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic to the Medieval period. It was replaced by Caucasus -related and Anatolian -related ancestries, from the north and west respectively. However, despite the decline in the Natufian component, this key ancestry source made an important contribution to peoples of later periods, continuing until the present. Ayn Ghazal (archaeological site) The settlement at Ayn Ghazal ('Spring of

812-560: Is plentiful within the site's immediate environs. These variables are atypical of many major Neolithic sites in the Near East, several of which are located in marginal environments. Yet despite its apparent richness, the area of Ayn Ghazal is climatically and environmentally sensitive because of its proximity throughout the Holocene to the fluctuating steppe-forest border. In Ayn Ghazal, the early Pottery Neolithic period starts c. 6,400 BC, and continues to 5,000 BC. As an early farming community,

870-498: Is possible to estimate the impact of these migrations through the genetic analysis of human populations. Agricultural and husbandry practices originated 10,000 years ago in a region of the Near East known as the Fertile Crescent. According to the archaeological record this phenomenon, known as "Neolithic", rapidly expanded from these territories into Europe. However, whether this diffusion was accompanied or not by human migrations

928-725: Is strong evidence for causal connections between the Near-Eastern Neolithic and that further east, up to the Indus Valley. There are several lines of evidence that support the idea of a connection between the Neolithic in the Near East and in the Indian subcontinent. The prehistoric site of Mehrgarh in Baluchistan (modern Pakistan) is the earliest Neolithic site in the north-west Indian subcontinent, dated as early as 8500 BCE. Neolithic domesticated crops in Mehrgarh include more than barley and

986-498: The 8.2 kilo-year event (Köhler-Rollefson 1992). It is situated in a relatively rich environmental setting immediately adjacent to the Zarqa River (Wadi Zarqa), the longest drainage system in highland Jordan. It is located at an elevation of about 720 m within the ecotone between the oak-park woodland to the west and the open steppe-desert to the east. Ayn Ghazal started as a typical aceramic , Neolithic village of modest size. It

1044-549: The Amuq valley , where it influenced the later development of the Ghassulian culture. Around 8000 BC, before the invention of pottery, several early settlements became experts in crafting beautiful and highly sophisticated containers from stone, using materials such as alabaster or granite , and employing sand to shape and polish. Artisans used the veins in the material to maximum visual effect. Such objects have been found in abundance on

1102-684: The Natufian culture of the Epipalaeolithic Near East (also called Mesolithic ), as the domestication of plants and animals was in its formative stages, having possibly been induced by the Younger Dryas . The Pre-Pottery Neolithic culture came to an end around the time of the 8.2-kiloyear event , a cool spell centred on 6200 BCE that lasted several hundred years. It is succeeded by the Pottery Neolithic . The Pre-Pottery Neolithic

1160-565: The Red Sea shoreline and moved east from Syria into southern Iraq . The culture disappeared during the 8.2 kiloyear event , a term that climatologists have adopted for a sudden decrease in global temperatures that occurred approximately 8,200 years before the present, or c. 6200 BC, and which lasted for the next two to four centuries. In the following Munhatta and Yarmukian post-pottery Neolithic cultures that succeeded it, rapid cultural development continues, although PPNB culture continued in

1218-461: The flint tool kit of the period is new and quite disparate from that of the earlier period. One of its major elements is the naviform core. This is the first period in which architectural styles of the southern Levant became primarily rectilinear ; earlier typical dwellings were circular, elliptical and occasionally even octagonal. Pyrotechnology, the expanding capability to control fire, was highly developed in this period. During this period, one of

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1276-513: The Ayn Ghazal Interchange connecting Al-Shahid Street and Army Street (Ayn Ghazal is the name of a minor village just north of the road, now within Tariq district). The site was discovered in 1974 by developers who were building Army St, the road connecting Amman and Zarqa . Excavation began in 1982, however by this time, around 600 meters (1,970 ft) of road ran through the site. Despite

1334-470: The Ayn Ghazal people cultivated cereals (barley and ancient species of wheat), legumes (peas, beans, lentils and chickpeas) in fields above the village, and herded domesticated goats. In addition, they hunted wild animals – deer, gazelle, equids , pigs and smaller mammals such as fox or hare. The estimated population of the MPPNB site from Ayn Ghazal is of 259–1349 individuals with an area of 3.01–4.7 ha. It

1392-580: The Gazelle') first appeared in the Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (MPPNB) and is split into two phases. Phase I starts circa 10,300 Before Present (BP) and ends c. 9,950 BP, while phase II ends c. 9,550 BP. The 9th millennium MPPNB period in the Levant represented a major transformation in prehistoric lifeways from small bands of mobile hunter–gatherers to large settled farming and herding villages in

1450-469: The LPPNB and PPNC. The vast majority of figurines are of cattle, a species that makes up only 8% of the overall number of identified specimens (NISP) count. The importance of hunted cattle to the domestic ritual sphere of Ayn Ghazal is telling. It was seemingly of importance for individual households to have members who participated both the hunting of cattle – likely a group activity – and the subsequent feasting on

1508-437: The Levant utilizing rectangular floor plans and plastered floor techniques were found at Ain Ghazal , Yiftahel (western Galilee ), and Abu Hureyra (Upper Euphrates ). The period is dated to between c. 10,700 and c. 8,000 BP or 8,700–6,000 BC. Plastered human skulls were reconstructed human skulls that were made in the ancient Levant between 9000 and 6000 BC in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period. They represent some of

1566-492: The Mediterranean zone, the process having been initiated some 2–3 millennia earlier. In its prime era, circa 7000 BCE (9000 BP), the site extended over 10–15 hectares (25–37 ac) and was inhabited by ca. 3,000 people (four to five times the population of contemporary Jericho ). After 6500 BC, however, the population dropped sharply to about one sixth within only a few generations, probably due to environmental degradation ,

1624-885: The Mesolithic Natufian culture of the Levant, the Savanna Pastoral Neolithic culture of East Africa, the Early Neolithic Cardium culture of Morocco, and the Ancient Egyptian culture of the Nile Valley, with fossils associated with these early cultures all sharing a common genomic West Eurasian/Near-Eastern component. A paper from 2021 would find that the Mesolithic Natufians cluster the closest with modern Saudi Arabians, Desert Bedouins and Yemenis. The Natufians were also close to, and ancestral to

1682-551: The Neolithic began by 6500 BCE and lasted until around 1400 BCE when the Megalithic transition period began. South Indian Neolithic is characterized by Ash mounds from 2500 BCE in Karnataka region, expanded later to Tamil Nadu . Lazaridis et al. (2022) stated that ancient Levantines (i.e. inhabitants of Jordan , Israel , Syria , Lebanon ) and their descendants exhibit a decrease of ~8% local Neolithic ancestry, which

1740-680: The Neolithic spread and suggest that the first Neolithic farmers entered Europe following a maritime route through Cyprus and the Aegean Islands . [REDACTED] Media related to Pre-Pottery Neolithic B at Wikimedia Commons Pre-Pottery Neolithic The Pre-Pottery Neolithic ( PPN ) represents the early Neolithic in the Levantine and upper Mesopotamian region of the Fertile Crescent , dating to c.  12,000  – c.  8,500 years ago, (10000 – 6500 BCE). It succeeds

1798-598: The Neolithic spread and suggest that the first Neolithic farmers entered Europe following a maritime route through Cyprus and the Aegean Islands . The earliest Neolithic sites in South Asia are Bhirrana in Haryana, dated to 7570–6200 BCE, and Mehrgarh , dated to between 6500 and 5500 BCE, in the Kachi plain of Baluchistan , Pakistan; the site has evidence of farming (wheat and barley) and herding (cattle, sheep and goats). There

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1856-419: The Neolithic spread at a constant speed of about 1 km/yr. More recent studies confirm these results and yield the speed of 0.6–1.3 km/yr at 95% confidence level. Since the original human expansions out of Africa 200,000 years ago, different prehistoric and historic migration events have taken place in Europe. Considering that the movement of the people implies a consequent movement of their genes, it

1914-615: The Pre-Pottery Neolithic B populations at Ayn Ghazal Jordan, were mostly composed of two to three different populations: the members of the early Natufian industries, a population resulting from immigration from Anatolia , and another likely from the Fertile Crescent in Iraq or possibly Iran originating near Ganj Dareh . In the earlier levels at Ayn Ghazal there are small ceramic figures that seem to have been used as personal or familial ritual figures. There are figurines of both animals and people. The animal figures are of horned animals and

1972-545: The Southern Levant, with affiliate connections with the cultures of Fayyum and the Eastern Desert of Egypt . Cultures practicing this lifestyle spread down the Red Sea shoreline and moved east from Syria into southern Iraq . In Israel , PPNC sites are rather rare. By 2008, only four sites had been clearly identified: Ashkelon (Afridar) and  'Atlit Yam on the coast, stratum II at  Tel 'Ali one mile south of the  Sea of Galilee , and Ha-Gosherim in

2030-764: The ancient DNA of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of Mesopotamia and Anatolia, showed that these populations were formed through admixture of pre-Neolithic sources related to Anatolian , Caucasus , and Levantine hunter-gatherers. Altınışık, N Ezgi et al. (2022) studied 13 genomes from the PPNB at Cayonu , Turkey, and found they were formed by an admixture event between western and eastern populations of early Holocene Southwest Asia. In 2023, Xiaoran Wang and team found that their six genetically analyzed PPNB individuals, were having ancestry from Levantine Epipaleolithic, Anatolian Neolithic, Iranian Neolithic , and Caucasus Hunter-Gatherers. The PPNB in general exhibited strong evidence of gene flow from populations related to Anatolia compared to

2088-712: The ancient Levant PPNB/C and the later Levantine Bronze Age samples. Mathieson et al. (2015) & Lazardis et al. (2016), discovered that the Levant Neolithic samples from PPNB to PPNC were a mix of a component related to Natufians, and another lineage related to Anatolian farmers from Barcin and Mentese. In another study from 2021, the populations of the PPNB Levant were modelled as having 60.5% Israel Natufian Epipaleolithic related ancestry, and 39.5% Turkey Barcin Neolithic ancestry. Later, geneticists in 2022 using 1.2 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), discovered that

2146-418: The community or the elite labor as service and to bond laborers together as part of a new community. In addition to the monumental statues, small clay and stone tokens, some incised with geometric or naturalistic shapes, were found at Ayn Ghazal. The 195 figurines (40 human and 155 animal) recovered were from MPPNB contexts; 81% of the figurines have been found to belong to the MPPNB while only 19% belonging to

2204-464: The damage urban expansion brought, what remained of Ayn Ghazal provided a wealth of information and continued to do so until 1989. One of the more notable archaeological finds during these first excavations came to light in 1983. While examining a cross section of earth in a path carved out by a bulldozer, archaeologists came across the edge of a large pit 2.5 meters (8 ft) under the surface containing plaster statues. Another set of excavations, under

2262-575: The earlier PPNA people, the PPNB culture developed from the Mesolithic Natufian culture . However, it shows evidence of having more northerly origins, possibly indicating an influx from the region of northeastern Anatolia . Cultural tendencies of this period differ from that of the earlier Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA), in that people living during this phase began to depend more heavily upon domesticated animals to supplement their earlier mixed agrarian and hunter-gatherer diet. In addition,

2320-529: The earlier Natufian hunter-gatherers. PPN individuals from Ain Ghazal further to the north in Jordan had a stronger genetic affinity with Anatolia than the PPN of Ba'ja, although not significantly so. The spread of the Neolithic in Europe was first studied quantitatively in the 1970s, when a sufficient number of 14C age determinations for early Neolithic sites had become available. Ammerman and Cavalli-Sforza discovered

2378-484: The front part of the animal is the most clearly modeled. They all give the impression of dynamic force. Some of the animal figures have been stabbed in their vital parts; these figures have then been buried in the houses. Other figurines were burned and then discarded with the rest of the fire. They built ritual buildings and used large figurines or statues. The actual building of them is also a way for an elite group to demonstrate and underline its authority over those who owe

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2436-401: The general PPNB populations and in most Natufians. Haplogroup T1a (T-M70) has also been found among the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B inhabitants from Ayn Ghazal, and is currently the oldest known sample ever found at any ancient site. This second haplotype marker wasn't found among the early Levant epipaleolithic populations. It is thought therefore, based on uniparental and autosomal data, that

2494-503: The main features of houses is a thick layer of white clay plaster flooring, highly polished and made of lime produced from limestone . It is believed that the use of clay plaster for floor and wall coverings during PPNB led to the discovery of pottery . The earliest proto-pottery was White Ware vessels, made from lime and gray ash, built up around baskets before firing, for several centuries around 7000 BC at sites such as Tell Neba'a Faour ( Beqaa Valley ). Sites from this period found in

2552-403: The mandible, and apparently following preliminary primary interments of the complete corpse. Such treatment has commonly been interpreted as representing rituals connected with veneration of the dead or some form of "ancestor worship". There is evidence of class in the way the dead were treated. Some people were buried in the floors of their houses. After the flesh had wasted away, often the head

2610-469: The movement of the people implies a consequent movement of their genes, it is possible to estimate the impact of these migrations through the genetic analysis of human populations. Agricultural and husbandry practices originated 10,000 years ago in a region of the Near East known as the Fertile Crescent. According to the archaeological record this phenomenon, known as "Neolithic", rapidly expanded from these territories into Europe. However, whether this diffusion

2668-421: The north. The spread of the Neolithic in Europe was first studied quantitatively in the 1970s, when a sufficient number of 14C age determinations for early Neolithic sites had become available. Ammerman and Cavalli-Sforza discovered a linear relationship between the age of an Early Neolithic site and its distance from the conventional source in the Near East ( Jericho ), thus demonstrating that, on average,

2726-494: The oldest forms of art in the Middle East and demonstrate that the prehistoric population took great care in burying their ancestors below their homes. The skulls denote some of the earliest sculptural examples of portraiture in the history of art . Danielle Stordeur's recent work at Tell Aswad , a large agricultural village between Mount Hermon and Damascus could not validate Henri de Contenson's earlier suggestion of

2784-408: The remains. Ayn Ghazal is renowned for a set of anthropomorphic statues found buried in pits in the vicinity of some special buildings that may have had ritual functions. These statues are half-size human figures modeled in white plaster around a core of bundled twigs. The figures have painted clothes, hair, and in some cases, ornamental tattoos or body paint. The eyes are created using plaster with

2842-623: The skeletal remains in graves at Mehrgarh bear a strong resemblance to those at Ali Kosh in the Zagros Mountains of southern Iran. Despite their scarcity, the 14C and archaeological age determinations for early Neolithic sites in Southern Asia exhibit remarkable continuity across the vast region from the Near East to the Indian Subcontinent, consistent with a systematic eastward spread at a speed of about 0.65 km/yr. In South India,

2900-480: The so-called Pre-Pottery Neolithic C culture. Around 11000 years ago (9000 BCE), during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA), the "world's first town", Jericho , appeared in the Levant , although the adequacy of this title has since been challenged. The Pre-Pottery Neolithic is divided into Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (10000 – 8800 BCE) and the following Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (8800 – 6500 BCE). PPNB differed from PPNA in showing greater use of domesticated animals,

2958-432: The social fabric – new diseases, more people to feed from what was planted and more animals that needed grazing. There are evidences of mining activities as part of a production sequence conducted by craftsmen at the site of Ayn Ghazal, these potential part-time specialists in some way controlled access to such raw materials. Y-DNA haplogroups such as E1b1b1b2 (E-Z830) has been found in remains at Ayn Ghazal, along with

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3016-510: The subject of speculation. Whether it created its own culture or imported traditions from the North East or Southern Levant has been considered an important question for a site that poses a problem for the scientific community. Work at the site of 'Ain Ghazal in Jordan has indicated a later Pre-Pottery Neolithic C period, which existed between 8,200 and 7,900 BP. Juris Zarins has proposed that

3074-527: The upper Euphrates river , in what is today eastern Syria, especially at the site of Bouqras . These form the early stages of the development of the art of Mesopotamia . Pre-Pottery Neolithic B fossils that were analysed for uniparentals via ancient DNA, were found to carry the Y-DNA (paternal) haplogroups E1b1b (2/7; ~29%), CT (2/7; ~29%), E(xE2,E1a,E1b1a1a1c2c3b1,E1b1b1b1a1,E1b1b1b2b) (1/7; ~14%), T(xT1a1,T1a2a) (1/7; ~14%), and H2 (1/7; ~14%). The CT clade

3132-472: Was accompanied or not by human migrations is greatly debated. Mitochondrial DNA – a type of maternally inherited DNA located in the cell cytoplasm- was recovered from the remains of Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) farmers in the Near East and then compared to available data from other Neolithic populations in Europe and also to modern populations from South Eastern Europe and the Near East. The obtained results show that substantial human migrations were involved in

3190-480: Was also observed in a Pre-Pottery Neolithic C specimen (1/1; 100%). Maternally, the rare basal haplogroup N* has been found among skeletal remains belonging to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, as have the mtDNA clades L3 and K . DNA analysis has also confirmed ancestral ties between the Pre-Pottery Neolithic culture bearers and the makers of the Epipaleolithic Iberomaurusian culture of North Africa,

3248-619: Was in an area that was suitable for agriculture. Archaeologists think that throughout the mid east much of the land was exhausted after some 700 years of planting and so became unsuitable for agriculture. The people from those small villages abandoned their unproductive fields and migrated, with their domestic animals, to places with better ecological conditions, like Ayn Ghazal that could support larger populations. As opposed to other sites as new people migrated to Ayn Ghazal, probably with few possessions and possibly starving, class distinctions began to develop. The influx of new people placed stresses on

3306-431: Was later retrieved and the skull buried in a separate shallow pit beneath the house floor, and some of the skulls were decorated. This could have been either a form of respect or so that they could impart their power to the house and the people in it. However, some people were thrown on trash heaps and their bodies remain intact, indicating that not every deceased was ceremoniously put to rest. Scholars have estimated that

3364-445: Was set on terraced ground in a valley-side, and was built with rectangular mud-brick houses that accommodated a square main room and a smaller anteroom. Walls were plastered with mud on the outside, and with lime plaster inside that was renewed every few years. Evidence recovered from the excavations suggests that much of the surrounding countryside was forested and offered the inhabitants a wide variety of economic resources. Arable land

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