Ancient site · Settlement
Tell Abu Hureyra
A mound on the Euphrates in Syria that records the switch from foraging to farming in one place. The first village belonged to hunter-gatherers; plant remains suggest they began cultivating rye around 13,000 years ago, possibly the earliest cereal farming known.
A later, much larger farming village of mudbrick houses followed. The site was excavated in a hurry before the Tabqa Dam flooded it, and it now lies under Lake Assad.
- Dates
- c. 11,300–5800 BCE
- Still standing
- No, or only traces
- Location
- 35.87° N, 38.40° E
How we know
No writing existed; everything comes from a rescue dig in 1972–73 and radiocarbon dates on seeds and bones.
Nearby sites
- Ebla (Tell Mardikh) c. 3500 BCE – 7th century CE; archives c. 2400–2300 BCE
- Palmyra early 2nd millennium BCE – 1932 CE; height 1st–3rd century CE
- Göbekli Tepe c. 9500–8000 BCE
- Karahan Tepe c. 9750–9400 BCE (dates still being refined)
- Tell Halaf c. 6100–5400 BCE (Halaf village); later the Aramaean city of Guzana
- Ugarit (Ras Shamra) c. 7000–1185 BCE; golden age c. 1500–1200 BCE
Related
- Natufian culture archaeological culture