Pre History - the archaeology of the ancient Near East

As we finish off the Neolithic we must first go backwards to one of the less well known but vastly important cultures of the Neolithic Near East - the Samarra. As the first known Neolithic culture of Southern Mesopotamia the Samarra gave rise to many developments which underpinned the later civilisations of this part of the ancient Near East. It is also an ancient culture for which we have perhaps as many questions as answers. Hopefully more answers will come in time as more sites are excavated and studied. Even today, though, there is still a fair bit which we do know about the Samarra.

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In the east of Anatolia and off to the north of Mesopotamia is the southern Caucasus, which is also known as Transcaucasia. This region combines being one of the last parts of the Near East to have mobile hunter-gatherers, and one of the first regions of the Near East to practice copper metallurgy. In between we have the sixth millennium cal BCE, when Transcaucasia has its own unique Neolithic.

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After all of the arguments that we saw for the Wadi Rabah as to whether it was part of the Late Neolithic or part of the Early Chalcolithic, this time we shall have a look at Anatolia in the first half of the sixth millennium cal BCE - which is widely agreed here to the Early Chalcolithic. Unlike the more widespread cultures of the Halaf or the Wadi Rabah, each of which spanned multiple modern-day countries, Anatolia in the Early Chalcolithic is home to multiple smaller cultures across its different regions.

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In this episode we head south to look at one of the major cultures of the Southern Levant during the sixth millennium BCE - the Wadi Rabah. While there is a lot that we know about the Wadi Rabah culture, there is also a lot that we argue about. 

Really, a lot.  

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The Halaf culture was first discovered on the eve of the first world war at Tell Halaf in eastern Syria. The beautifully made and elaborately decorated pottery of this culture made it a sensation in the archaeology of the ancient Near East in the early twentieth century, as no one had previously imagined that small and simple farming villages could have produced such beautiful vessels, nor in such large numbers. What is equally impressive today at the beginning of the twenty-first century is that the Halaf not only produced pretty things, but that this culture reversed the trend of small, regional cultural groups that we saw in the seventh millennium and grew to cover all of northern Mesopotamia, most of central Mesopotamia, and heavily influenced or even incorporated groups of people in south-eastern Anatolia and the northern Levant.

If you have any questions or comments you can email me at [email protected] or reach me on the website at prehistorypodcast.com. 

After having a look at the seventh millennium BCE across Anatolia, the Levant and Mesopotamia, it is time to come back to Cyprus and see how life changed here after 7000 cal BCE. After the end of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic on Cyprus we see the development of the Khirokitia culture. Unlike with the regions which we have talked about on the mainland, the Khirokitia culture lasts not only until 6000 cal BCE but until at least 5300 or 5200 cal BCE, giving us a two thousand year view of life on Cyprus after the end of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. Or rather, after 7000 cal BCE - because Cyprus goes its own way over the course of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, and never more so than during the Khirokitia culture.

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Now that we have seen how societies changed over the seventh millennium BCE in Anatolia, the Levant and Mesopotamia it is time to have a look at a couple of important and common developments that we see in these regions during this later part of the Neolithic. While groups of people across these regions seem to drift apart during the seventh millennium, there are a couple of things that archaeological cultures across these parts of the Near East - and others - seem to have in common, developing across all of them during this critical but often neglected thousand years just after the end of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic.

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Now that we have had a look at the seventh millennium BCE in Anatolia and the Levant, this time I want to have a look at the change from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic to the Pottery (or Late) Neolithic across the large area of Mesopotamia - the land between the rivers.

Following our look at the change into the Pottery (or Ceramic) Neolithic in Anatolia, this time we are having a look at the Pottery Neolithic (also the Late Neolithic) in the Levant. Actually, this is the Pottery Neolithic of two Levants - the northern and southern Levant. Here we have two different sets of changes after 7000 cal BCE, happening in two regions right next to one another where some things are surprisingly similar despite major differences to the timing of changes and the fashions, techniques and structures of daily life.

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With the end of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic the Near East moved into the Pottery Neolithic - also called the Ceramic Neolithic or Late Neolithic depending on the region. Today we can have a look at this change into the Ceramic Neolithic across Anatolia.

If you have any questions or comments you can email me at [email protected] or reach me on the website at prehistorypodcast.com.