Ancient site · Settlement
Jeitun
Also known as Djeitun
The oldest known farming village in Central Asia, in the foothills of the Kopet Dag mountains north of Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. About thirty one-room houses of sun-dried clay blocks, each with a hearth and plastered floor, housed perhaps 150–200 people.
They grew barley and wheat and kept goats and sheep, much like the first farmers of Iran. Radiocarbon dates from British–Turkmen excavations show it was settled around 6000 BCE and used for only a few centuries.
- Dates
- c. 6000 BCE, for a few centuries
- Still standing
- No, or only traces
- Location
- 38.19° N, 58.35° E
How we know
No writing existed; the dates come from eleven radiocarbon samples taken in excavations in the 1990s.
Nearby sites
- Altyn-Depe c. 3200–2000 BCE; urban c. 2400–2000 BCE
- Gonur Depe c. 2400–1600 BCE
- Merv city c. 550 BCE–18th century CE
- Tillya Tepe graves c. 1st century BCE–1st century CE
- Sarazm c. 3500–2000 BCE (radiocarbon range 3900–2100 BCE)
- Ai-Khanoum c. 290–145 BCE
Related
- Jeitun culture archaeological culture