Qal'at Jarmo

 archaeological site, neolithic age, pottery, agriculture, interesting place

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At the time it was discovered, Jarmo was the earliest archaeological site with evidence for agricultural and pastoral activities. Excavated in 1948-55 by Dr. Robert J. Braidwood from the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute, it was inhabited from ca. 6750-5000 BCE, spanning the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B and Pottery Neolithic periods. Located in the foothills of the Zagros Mountains in northeastern Iraq, Jarmo would have been situated in an oak and pistachio woodland belt with moderate rainfall levels. Evidence for the domestication of goats and dogs was found, as were domesticated versions of emmer, einkorn wheat, barley, and lentils. Obsidian tools at the site indicate the practice of long-distance trade, as the closest source of obsidian at the time was located in Anatolia. Milling stones and flint sickle blades indicate advances in agricultural technology. Painted pottery shards and figurines of animals and humans appear in the higher levels of the site. A collection of 20-25 houses made of tauf, or beaten mud, were present. The houses were rectilinear with complex division of space, such as hearths with chimneys and ovens, residential spaces, and courtyards. The population is estimated to have been at most around 100 to 150 people. This site and its contemporaries Jericho and Catal Hoyuk make up the primary type sites of this period.

For more information, please visit:
Encyclopedia Brittanica online
www.britannica.com/eb/article-9043385

Minnesota State University Archaeology Department
www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/archaeology/sites/middle_east/jarm...

or see The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, edited by Eric Meyers.