Domestication, agriculture and horticulture in the Levant
Trade presumedly drove much of the movement of domesticated animals and plants.
| Era | Time | Overview |
|---|---|---|
| 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 millennium BC | Domesticated pigs are first found in 7th millennium 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 millennium, based on finds from Anatolia and Khuzistan. The first Levantine orchards finally develop. |
| Chalcolithic Period | 4th millennium BC | Cattle only were involved with the secondary products revolution in Mesopotamia and Egypt no earlier than the 4th millennium BC. |
| Chalcolithic Period | Domesticated pigs are common in sedentary villages. |