Jerf el Ahmar ( ar, الجرف الأحمر) is a

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several part ...

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 Lake Assad ( ar, بحيرة الأسد, ''Buhayrat al-Assad'') is a reservoir on the Euphrates in Raqqa Governorate, Syria. It was created in 1974 when construction of the Tabqa Dam was completed. Lake Assad is Syria's largest lake, with a maxim ...

following the construction of the

Tishrin Dam The Tishrin Dam ( ar, سد تشرين, Sadd Tišrīn, lit=October Dam, ku, بەنداڤا تشرین, Bendava Tişrîn, syc, ܣܟܪܐ ܕܬܫܪܝܢ, Sekro d'Teshrin) is a dam on the Euphrates, located east of Aleppo in Aleppo Governorate, Sy ...

. For five centuries, the site was shaped by the

Mureybet Mureybet ( ar, مريبط, muribit, lit=covered) is a tell, or ancient settlement mound, located on the west bank of the Euphrates in Raqqa Governorate, northern Syria. The site was excavated between 1964 and 1974 and has since disappeared unde ...

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 Einkorn wheat (from German ''Einkorn'', literally "single grain") can refer either to a wild species of wheat (''Triticum'') or to its domesticated form. The wild form is '' T. boeoticum'' (syn. ''T. m.'' ssp. ''boeoticum''), the domesticated ...

. The first evidence of

lentil The lentil (''Lens culinaris'' or ''Lens esculenta'') is an edible legume. It is an annual plant known for its lens-shaped seeds. It is about tall, and the seeds grow in pods, usually with two seeds in each. As a food crop, the largest produ ...

domestication appears in the early Neolithic at Jerf el Ahmar.

Notes

References

{{Neolithic Southwest Asia Archaeological sites in Aleppo Governorate Tells (archaeology) Upper Mesopotamia Pre-Pottery Neolithic