Jerf el Ahmar
Jerf el Ahmar located in the Fertile Crescent, circa 7500 BC
Jerf el Ahmar is located in Near East
Jerf el Ahmar
Shown within Near East
Jerf el Ahmar is located in Syria
Jerf el Ahmar
Jerf el Ahmar (Syria)
LocationSyria
RegionAleppo Governorate
Coordinates36°23′0″N 38°10′50″E / 36.38333°N 38.18056°E / 36.38333; 38.18056
Site notes
Excavation dates1995–1999
ArchaeologistsDanielle Stordeur

Jerf el Ahmar (Arabic: الجرف الأحمر)[a] is a Neolithic site in northern Syria, which dated back between 9,200 and 8,700 BC.

History

Jerf el Ahmar contained a sequence of round and rectangular buildings, which is currently flooded by the Lake Assad following the construction of the Tishrin Dam.[1] For five centuries, the site was shaped by the Mureybet culture, which had artifacts such as flint weapons and decorated small stones. The first transitions to agriculture in the region could be observed by the discovery of wild barley and einkorn.[2][3][4] The first evidence of lentil domestication appears in the early Neolithic at Jerf el Ahmar.[5]

Notes

  1. ^ Jerf el Ahmar means "red cliff".

References

  1. ^ del Olmo Lete, Gregorio; Montero Fenollós, Juan Luis, eds. (1999), Archaeology of the Upper Syrian Euphrates, the Tishrin Dam area: Proceedings of the International Symposium held at Barcelona, January 28th–30th, 1998, Barcelona: AUSA, ISBN 978-84-88810-43-4
  2. ^ George Willcox (2005). "The distribution, natural habitats and availability of wild cereals in relation to their domestication in the Near East: multiple events, multiple centres" (PDF). Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. 14 (4): 534–541. doi:10.1007/s00334-005-0075-x.
  3. ^ Stordeur, Danielle (2019). Le village de Jerf el Ahmar (Syrie, 9500-8700 av. J.-C.): L'architecture, miroir d'une société néolithique complexe (in French). CNRS Éditions. ISBN 9782271130488.
  4. ^ Damania, Ardeshir B.; Qualset, Calvin O.; Harlan, Jack Rodney; McGuire, Patrick E.; Gepts, Paul; Bettinger, Robert L.; Brush, Stephen B.; Famula, Thomas R. (2012). Biodiversity in Agriculture: Domestication, Evolution, and Sustainability. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521764599.
  5. ^ Weiss, Ehud; Kislev, Mordechai E.; Hartmann, Anat (2006). "Autonomous Cultivation Before Domestication". Science. 312 (5780): 1608–1610. doi:10.1126/science.1127235. PMID 16778044. S2CID 83125044.
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