Domestication, Agriculture and Horticulture in the Levant
Written by Levi Clancy
First published
May 13, 2009
Last modified
August 17, 2011
Trade presumedly drove much of the movement of domesticated animals and plants.
| Paleolithic Period | Many goat bones have been found in Paleolithic strata of Syria and Lebanon. Sheep and goats spread from the Zagros to the Levantine interior first (modern=day Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan and Israel) and then to Anatolia. | |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-Pottery Neolithic B | Sheep bones are extremely rare in the Epipaleolithic; thus, the sudden appearance in PPNB of sheep bones must have been of a domesticated breed brought from elsewhere. This elsewhere is likely the 9,000-8,500 BC Zagros and Taurus zones, where many bones of young sheep have been found. | |
| Pre-Pottery Neolithic B | ~7,000 BC | Goat and sheep bones exceed 50% of all bones after 7,000 BC at ‘Ain Ghazal and Jericho. |
| Pre-Pottery Neolithic B | 7th millenium BC | Domesticated pigs are first found in 7th millenium Pottery Neolithic layers at Jarmo (in northern Mesopotamia). |
| Pre-Pottery Neolithic B | ~6,200-5,800 BC | The first evidence of domesticated cattle is in Anatolia, and they may have followed a similar path as sheep and goats. |
| Pottery Neolithic | Domesticated pigs existed at Sha’ar Ha-Golan in the Pottery Neolithic, although this is an isolated case. | |
| Chalcolithic Period | ~4,000 BC | Domestic cattle had made their way into the Near East by the end of 5th millenium, based on finds from Anatolia and Khuzistan. The first Levantine orchards finally develop. |
| Chalcolithic Period | 4th millenium BC | Cattle only were involved with the secondary products revolution in Mesopotamia and Egypt no earlier than the 4th millium BC. |
| Chalcolithic Period | Domesticated pigs are common in sedentary villages. |
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