Pre-Pottery Neolithic A

Long ago, the world grew warmer.

This helped people live in new ways. They built small, round homes. These homes had floors made of stone.

People also grew grains like barley. They kept food in bins to eat later. Some people lived in a big town called Jericho. It had a very large stone tower. People even buried their dead under their floors. It was a very busy time for them.

Long ago, the world began to warm up.

This was a new time called the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A. People lived in a place called the Fertile Crescent. They did not use clay pots yet.

Instead, they built round homes. These homes had stone floors and walls made of mud-bricks.

People in this time grew grains like barley and oats. They used special bins to store food. These bins had air moving under them. This kept the food safe from pests. Some bins were in shared areas. Later, families kept them inside their own homes.

One very big place was Jericho. It might be the first town in the world. It had a huge stone wall and a tower.

Some think the tower caught mountain shadows. People also had unique ways to honor the dead. They buried them under their house floors. This helped them live close to their families. Another site called Gesher is very old. It may be where this new way of life began.

The Pre-Pottery Neolithic A was a very important time in history.

It happened between 10,000 and 8800 BCE. This era took place in the Fertile Crescent. This area includes the Levant and Upper Mesopotamia. People lived through a time of warming called the Holocene. They did not use pottery yet. Instead, they lived in ways that changed how humans used the land. This period came after the Natufian culture. It happened before the Yarmukian culture began.

Life in these early settlements followed a new pattern.

People lived in round houses that were partly underground. These homes had stone foundations and special terrazzo floors. The upper walls were made of unbaked mud-bricks. Inside, people used small hearths covered with cobbles. They used heated rocks to help with cooking. Almost every home had storage bins made of stone or mud-brick. These bins often had floors that allowed air to move underneath. This kept the food safe from small animals like rodents.

Archaeologists have found many important sites from this era.

One site is Gesher in modern Israel. It is known as the earliest known Neolithic site. It dates back to about 10,459 BCE. Another famous place is Jericho in the State of Palestine. Jericho might be the world's first town. It had up to 3,000 people living there. The town had a massive stone wall and a large tower. Some think the tower caught mountain shadows on the summer solstice.

People during this time were very busy with new tasks.

They grew local grains like barley and wild oats. They also hunted wild game for food. They made tools by striking blades from stone cores. They used sickle-blades and arrowheads for their work. New tools like polished adzes also appeared. People even had unique ways to honor their families. They buried their dead under the floors of their homes. This meant they were literally living with their dead.

This era shows how humans began to stay in one place.

As they grew more food, they built more permanent homes. They moved from sharing food to keeping it in private rooms. This change might show how people started to own things. Sites like Göbekli Tepe show very old ritual places. Other sites like Mureybet are in modern Syria. These different places show how many ways people lived. All these changes helped lead to the world we know today.

Pre-Pottery Neolithic A, often called PPNA, was a vital era in human history.

It occurred between 10,000 and 8800 BCE. This period is part of the early Neolithic culture in the Levant and Anatolia. These regions are located within the Fertile Crescent. The PPNA was a time of significant change for human societies. It succeeded the Natufian culture of the Epipalaeolithic Near East. This era also occurred during the warming of the Holocene period.

Because people had not yet developed pottery, it is called the Pre-Pottery Neolithic.

Settlement life during the PPNA involved specific building techniques.

People lived in round, semi-subterranean houses. These homes were built partially underground for stability. They featured stone foundations and smooth terrazzo floors. The upper walls were made of unbaked clay mudbricks. These bricks had a shape known as plano-convex. Inside the homes, people used small hearths covered with cobbles. They used heated rocks for cooking purposes. This process left behind fire-cracked rocks throughout the buildings. Most settlements also included storage bins made of stone or mudbrick.

Food storage was a highly sophisticated part of PPNA life. People practiced a form of pre-domestication by cultivating local grains. These grains included barley and wild oats. To keep food safe, they used suspended floors. These floors allowed for air circulation and protection from rodents. This technology was a very early development in human history. Initially, granaries were placed in open spaces between buildings. Around 10,500 BP, people began moving them inside houses. By 9,500 BP, storage was kept in specialized rooms. This shift might show a change in how people viewed property. It suggests a move from communal ownership to individual or household control.

Archaeologists have identified several key sites that define this era.

One of the earliest known sites is Gesher in modern Israel. It has a calibrated Carbon 14 date of 10,459 BCE. This site may mark the starting point of the Neolithic Revolution. Another major site is Jericho in the State of Palestine. Jericho is thought to be the world's first town. It could have held a population of 2,000 to 3,000 people. The town was protected by a massive stone wall and a tower. Some researchers believe the tower caught mountain shadows during the summer solstice. This may have been used to demonstrate power or hierarchy.

Stone tool technology, or the lithic industry, also evolved during this time. Workers created blades by striking them from regular stone cores. They continued using sickle-blades and arrowheads from the Natufian tradition. However, new tools like transverse-blow axes and polished adzes appeared. These tools helped with the tasks of a growing sedentary life. People also maintained a hunting lifestyle alongside their grain cultivation. This combination allowed for year-round occupation of settlements. The ability to stay in one place was a major shift from earlier hunter-gatherer cultures.

Burial customs in the PPNA were very distinct.

The archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon described this as "living with their dead." She excavated the PPNA level at Jericho and found many burials. There were at least 279 burials located beneath house floors. Some bodies were placed under household foundations or between walls. This practice shows a deep connection between the living and the deceased. In the later PPNB period, these customs changed. People began to move skulls or treat them with clay for display.

Different regions showed unique variations of PPNA culture. In the Damascus Basin, the Aswad site was once linked to a specific variant. In the Northern Levant, the Mureybetian variant was defined by specific tool types. Upper Mesopotamia contained sites like Çayönü and the famous Göbekli Tepe. Göbekli Tepe may be the oldest ritual complex ever discovered. In central Anatolia, sites like Aşıklı Höyük rivaled Jericho in age. In the Jordan River valley, the Sultanian variant was found at Jericho. These diverse sites show how the Neolithic way of life spread across the landscape.