Archaeological culture · c. 8800–6500 BCE
Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB)
The second stage of the aceramic Neolithic, when farming villages spread across the Fertile Crescent and to Cyprus. Houses became rectangular, often with polished lime-plaster floors.
Goats, sheep, pigs and cattle were domesticated in northern Mesopotamia during this time. Large villages such as ʿAin Ghazal, Çayönü and Abu Hureyra grew to thousands of people before many were abandoned around 6500 BCE.
See Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) on the map in 8800 BCE
- On the map
- 8800–6500 BCE
How we know
No writing existed; everything comes from excavated sites, their tools and pottery, and radiocarbon dates.
Sites
- Çayönü c. 8630–6800 BCE
- ʿAin Ghazal c. 7250–5000 BCE