Abu Hureyra

Tell site on the Euphrates River in Syria, 120 km east of Aleppo. The site was excavated in 1972-3, as a rescue excavation in advance of flooding by the Tabqua Dam. Two major phases of occupation are documented: the first, labelled either Epi-Palaeolithic or Mesolithic, dates to the 9th millennium be; it was later reoccupied after a long period of abandonment in the 7th millennium by a settlement of the Pre-poitery Neolithic B culture. It was finally abandoned c5800 be. The earlier settlement is particularly important because of the light it sheds on the early development of farming in the Levant. A very large amount of plant material was collected by froth flotation and preliminary results available in 1983 already indicate some very interesting developments. The plant remains include large quantities of einkorn wheat and some grains of barley and rye; there were also pulses such as lentils and vetches, and a wide range of other edible fruits, nuts and seeds. The plant remains were all morphologically wild, but it seems likely that the einkorn at least was being deliberately cultivated: many seeds of weed species were found, typical of cultivated fields in the area today. Most of the meat food came from gazelle and onager and it is suggested that these animals were being either selectively hunted or perhaps herded. It is clear that the 9th-millennium be community at Abu Hureyra was already involved in incipient farming activities. The Neolithic settlement of the 7th millennium be is also of great importance, in this case because of its enormous size: 15 hectares, larger than any other recorded site of this period (even Qatal HOyOk). Rectangular houses of pisé were built up into a mound c5 metres high; both floors and walls were sometimes plastered and some wall plaster bears traces of painting. Most of the Neolithic levels were aceramic, but in the uppermost levels after c6000 be a dark burnished pottery appears.