The Middle East (6813–6670 BCE): Agricultural Innovations at Jarmo

The Settlement at Jarmo

Between 6813 and 6670 BCE, approximately one hundred and fifty inhabitants settled at Jarmo, an archaeological site named after the Kurdish village Qallat Jarmo, situated in the foothills of northern Iraq, approximately fifty-five kilometers (thirty-five miles) east of Kirkuk. By 6750 BCE, the community cultivated two varieties of domesticated wheat and managed flocks of sheep and goats.

Pioneering Agricultural Community

Jarmo holds distinction as one of the world's earliest agricultural settlements. It emerged contemporaneously with significant Neolithic sites such as Jericho in the southern Levant and Çatalhöyük in Anatolia. Covering an area of roughly twelve thousand to sixteen thousand square meters (approximately three to four acres), Jarmo was located at an elevation of eight hundred meters above sea level, nestled in a rich belt of oak and pistachio woodlands.

Archaeological Excavations and Theoretical Contributions

The site of Jarmo was excavated extensively by American archaeologist Robert Braidwood between 1948 and 1955. These excavations provided critical support for Braidwood’s influential hypothesis, which posited that plant domestication and early agricultural practices in the Near East originated in the hilly regions flanking northern Iraq's Zagros Mountains. The discoveries at Jarmo significantly shaped subsequent understandings of agricultural origins and Neolithic cultural developments.

This period highlights the transformative impact of agricultural innovations, marking Jarmo as a cornerstone site in the narrative of early human settlement and the progression toward increasingly complex societies.

The original site of Jericho, following an apparent break in occupation, is abandoned after a few centuries for a second settlement, established in 6800 BCE, perhaps by an invading people who absorbed the original inhabitants into their dominant culture, known as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B.

Their houses are rectangular and have beaten earth floors.

That the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B is a different group from the Aceramic, or Pre-Pottery Neolithic A, culture is evidenced by significant changes both in the architectural tradition and in the flint tools.

The current culture, which constructs two possible shrines, places, beneath the floors of their houses, plastered skulls with shells replacing the eyes.

Artifacts dating from this period include ten skulls, plastered and painted to reconstitute the individuals' features.

These represent the first example of portraiture in art history, and it is thought that these were kept in people's homes while the bodies were buried.

The Middle East (6669–6526 BCE): Growth of Agricultural and Settled Communities

Expansion and Stability of Settlements

Between 6669 and 6526 BCE, the established agricultural communities across the Middle East, such as Jarmo, Çatalhöyük, and emerging settlements in the Levant, continued to experience growth and stability. The expansion of these settlements was fueled by consistent agricultural productivity, improved resource management, and strengthened social structures.

Agricultural Practices and Livestock Management

During this period, agricultural techniques continued to advance, ensuring reliable harvests of staple crops, including wheat and barley. Communities refined animal husbandry practices, increasingly relying on domesticated sheep, goats, and cattle, supporting both dietary needs and agricultural labor.

Enhanced Social Structures

As settlements grew in size and complexity, social structures became more sophisticated, necessitating improved organizational systems. This era saw the establishment of clearer divisions of labor, increased cooperation in communal projects, and possibly the early emergence of leadership roles and social stratification.

Cultural and Ritual Developments

Archaeological evidence from sites across the region indicates continued growth in cultural practices. The presence of ritual artifacts, figurative art, and ceremonial spaces highlights the communities' deepening engagement with religious or spiritual practices, underscoring the cultural richness of Neolithic society.

This age reflects a period of notable stability and development, marked by advances in agricultural practices, community organization, and cultural expression, laying a crucial foundation for further societal evolution in the ancient Middle East.

An early Neolithic culture that inhabits caves near Aq Kupruk, in present north central Afghanistan, evidently keeps domestic animals.

Archaeological finds include an extensive and sophisticated stone tool industry, very early stone sculpture, domesticated sheep and goat remains, fragments of beaten copper from the ceramic Neolithic, many projectile points, terra cotta and simple jewelry.

Food crops such as wheat and maize become standardized in this age.

The domestication of maize is of particular interest to researchers—archaeologists, geneticists, ethnobotanists, geographers, etc.

The process is thought by some to have started twelve thousand to seven thousand five hundred years ago.

Research from the 1950s to 1970s originally focused on the hypothesis that maize domestication occurred in the highlands between Oaxaca and Jalisco, because the oldest archaeological remains of maize known at the time were found there.

Genetic studies led by John Doebley identified Zea mays ssp. parviglumis, native to the Balsas River valley and known as Balsas teosinte, as being the crop wild relative teosinte genetically most similar to modern maize.

However, archaeobotanical studies published in 2009 now point to the lowlands of the Balsas River valley, where stone milling tools with maize residue have been found in an eighty-seven hundred-year-old layer of deposits.

A volcano on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, today one of the most various and active volcanic areas in the world, had a VEI 7 eruption around 6440±25 BCE, one of the largest of the Holocene epoch.

It forms a crater known today as Kurile Lake, which is today the largest spawning ground for sockeye salmon in Eurasia (if not in the world).

The Houli culture, a Neolithic culture in Shandong, China, begins around 6500 BCE.

The people of the culture live in square, semi-subterranean houses.

Archaeological evidence shows that domesticated dogs and pigs were used.

The type-site at Houli was discovered in the Linzi District of Shandong.

Human settlement in Estonia became possible eleven thousand to thirteen thousand years ago, when the ice from the last glacial era melted away.

The oldest known settlement in Estonia is the Pulli settlement, which was located on the banks of the river Pärnu, near the town of Sindi, in southwestern Estonia.

According to radiocarbon dating, it was settled around eleven thousand years ago, at the beginning of the ninth millennium BCE.

Evidence has been found of hunting and fishing communities existing around 6500 BCE near the town of Kunda in northern Estonia.

Bone and stone artifacts similar to those found at Kunda have been discovered elsewhere in Estonia, as well as in Latvia, northern Lithuania and in southern Finland.

The Kunda culture belongs to the middle stone age, or Mesolithic period.

Two breeds of non-wolf dogs appear at sites in Scandinavia dated to around 6500 BCE.

The Middle East (6525–6382 BCE): Trade and Domestication Developments

Lead Beads and Trade at Çatalhöyük

During 6525 to 6382 BCE, communities in Anatolia, specifically at Çatalhöyük, made notable advancements in trade and craftsmanship. Archaeological findings include lead beads from this period, dated to around 6500 BCE, highlighting early experimentation with metalworking. Additionally, the roughly five thousand inhabitants of Çatalhöyük actively participated in the obsidian trade, illustrating significant regional economic interactions and the settlement's prominent role in early trade networks.

Domestication of Hogs in Jarmo

In Jarmo, a prominent settlement in northern Iraq, evidence from around 6500 BCE indicates the domestication of hogs. This development represents a significant step in animal husbandry, complementing the existing management of sheep, goats, and cattle. The inclusion of domestic hogs further diversified agricultural and dietary resources, reinforcing the community’s stability and self-sufficiency.

Continued Cultural and Economic Expansion

The period witnessed continued expansion in cultural, economic, and social complexities. The presence of trade networks facilitated the spread of materials and ideas, supporting the emergence of more interconnected and culturally vibrant communities.

This era underscores significant developments in early trade practices, metalworking experimentation, and diversification in animal domestication, marking essential steps towards increasingly complex Neolithic societies in the Middle East.