Archaeological culture · c. 10,000–8800 BCE
Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA)
The first stage of the Neolithic in the Levant and Upper Mesopotamia, before pottery was invented. People lived in small round houses of mudbrick and stone, began cultivating crops while still hunting wild animals, and buried their dead beneath their floors.
Kathleen Kenyon defined it at Jericho, with its wall and tower; the great pillar enclosures of Göbekli Tepe were built in this time.
See Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) on the map in 10,000 BCE
- On the map
- 10,000–8800 BCE
How we know
No writing existed; everything comes from excavated sites, their tools and pottery, and radiocarbon dates.
Sites
- Jericho (Tell es-Sultan) c. 10,000 BCE – Persian period; tower and wall c. 8000 BCE
- Karahan Tepe c. 9750–9400 BCE (dates still being refined)
- Göbekli Tepe c. 9500–8000 BCE