The Yarmukian culture was a

Pottery Neolithic In the archaeology of Southwest Asia, the Late Neolithic, also known as the Ceramic Neolithic or Pottery Neolithic, is the final part of the Neolithic period, following on from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic and preceding the Chalcolithic. It is som ...

A (PNA)

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

of the ancient

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

. It was the first culture in

prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

and one of the oldest in the

to make use of pottery. The Yarmukian derives its name from the Yarmuk River, which flows near its

type site In archaeology, a type site (American English) or type-site (British English) is the site used to define a particular archaeological culture or other typological unit, which is often named after it. For example, discoveries at La Tène and H ...

of Sha'ar Hagolan at the foot of the

Golan Heights The Golan Heights, or simply the Golan, is a basaltic plateau at the southwest corner of Syria. It is bordered by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley in the west, the Anti-Lebanon mountains with Mount Hermon in t ...

. This culture existed alongside the Lodian, or Jericho IX culture and the Nizzanim culture to the south.

Recent theory

In 2015, a salvage excavation brought to light a prehistoric site near Beit Hilkia and the

Revivim Revivim () is a kibbutz in the Negev desert in southern Israel. Located around half an hour south of Beersheba, it falls under the jurisdiction of Ramat HaNegev Regional Council. In it had a population of . History 1943 establishment The commu ...

quarry, with findings from the Yarmukian, Late

Chalcolithic The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in di ...

, and the Middle Bronze Age IIA–IIB. Somewhat surprising was the discovery of a typical Yarmukian-style fired clay figurine of a

fertility goddess A fertility deity is a god or goddess associated with fertility, sex, pregnancy, childbirth, and crops. In some cases these deities are directly associated with these experiences; in others they are more abstract symbols. Fertility rites may a ...

, the southernmost such finding. Of 163 sites found up to that date, the vast majority had been discovered in the main area known for its Yarmukian settlements, in and around the northern type-site of Sha'ar Hagolan, with just two exceptions further to the south. This new finding led to speculations that much of the

Southern Levant The Southern Levant is a geographical region that corresponds approximately to present-day Israel, Palestine, and Jordan; some definitions also include southern Lebanon, southern Syria and the Sinai Peninsula. As a strictly geographical descript ...

might have been inhabited by a contiguous civilization during the time (c. 6400–6000 BCE), with differences in pottery types being more significant to today's archaeologists than to people living back then.

Related sites

Distribution_of_pottery_Neolithic_sites_in_southern_Levant-en

Although the Yarmukian culture occupied limited regions of northern Israel and northern Jordan, Yarmukian pottery has been found elsewhere in the region, including the Habashan Street excavations in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

and as far north as

Byblos Byblos ( ; ), also known as Jebeil, Jbeil or Jubayl (, Lebanese Arabic, locally ), is an ancient city in the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. The area is believed to have been first settled between 8800 and 7000BC and continuously inhabited ...

, Lebanon. Besides the site at Sha'ar Hagolan, by 1999, 20 other Yarmukian sites have been identified in Israel,

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

and

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

.Garfinkel, Y. 1999. These include, alphabetically:

Israel

* Baysamun,

Hula Valley The Hula Valley () is a valley and fertile agricultural region in northern Israel with abundant fresh water that used to be Lake Hula before it was drained. It is a major stopover for birds migrating along the Great Rift Valley between Africa ...

* HaZore'a (Jezreel Valley, Israel) * HaBashan Street,

, 500 m south of the

Yarkon River The Yarkon River, also Yarqon River or Jarkon River (, ''Nahal HaYarkon''; , ''Nahr al-Auja''), is a river in central Israel. The source of the Yarkon ("Greenish" in Hebrew) is at Tel Afek (Antipatris), north of Petah Tikva. It flows west throu ...

(Coastal Plain, Israel) * Hamadiya (central Jordan Valley, Israel) * Munhata (central Jordan Valley, Israel) * Nahal Betzet II settlement (northern

Israeli coastal plain The Israeli coastal plain () is the State of Israel, Israeli segment of the Levantine coastal plain of the Mediterranean Sea, extending north to south. It is a geographical region defined Geomorphology, morphologically by the sea, in terms of to ...

) * Nahal Zehora II settlement (southern Jezreel Valley, Menashe Hills, Israel)Avi Gopher and Estelle Orrelle
Preliminary Report on Excavations of Nahal Zehora II — Seasons of 1990 and 1991
''Mitekufat Haeven - Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society'', 1991, pp. 169-172, accessed 27 December 2019 * Nahal Sephoris 3 settlement (Western Galilee, Israel) *

Tel Kabri Tel Kabri (), or Tell al-Qahweh (), is an archaeological Tell (archaeology), tell (mound created by accumulation of remains) containing one of the largest Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age (2,100–1,550 Common Era, BCE) Canaanite palaces in Israel ...

(Northern Coastal Plain, Israel) *

Tel Megiddo Tel Megiddo (from ) is the site of the ancient city of Megiddo (; ), the remains of which form a tell or archaeological mound, situated in northern Israel at the western edge of the Jezreel Valley about southeast of Haifa near the depopulate ...

(Jezreel Valley, Israel) - Yarmukian settlement at the base of the tell * Tel Qishyon/Qishion/Kishion (wrongly spelled as Tel Kishon by the press) near Mount Tabor (Lower Galilee, Israel)

Jordan

* Ain Ghazal (Jordan) * 'Ain Rahub (Jordan) * Jebel Abu Thawwab (Jordan) * Wadi Shueib (Jordan)Yorke M. Rowan, Jonathan Golden
The Chalcolithic Period of the Southern Levant: A Synthetic Review
Journal of World Prehistory, April 2009, 22:1–92, DOI 10.1007/s10963-009-9016-4, accessed 27 December 2019

Lebanon

(Lebanon)

Palestine

* Tirzah (Tell el-Farah North) (Samaria Hills,

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

) * Wadi Murabba'at Cave (

Judaean Desert The Judaean Desert or Judean Desert (, ) is a desert in the West Bank and Israel that stretches east of the ridge of the Judaean Mountains and in their rain shadow, so east of Jerusalem, and descends to the Dead Sea. Under the name El-Bariyah, ...

, West Bank) * Wadi Qanah Cave (western Samaria Hills, West Bank)

References

External links

* {{Syria topics 7th-millennium BC establishments 6th-millennium BC disestablishments Archaeological cultures in Palestine Archaeological cultures in Lebanon Archaeological cultures in Jordan Prehistoric sites in Israel Archaeological cultures in Israel Late Neolithic