One of the most significant prepottery Neolithic sites is Abu Hureyra, located on the south side of the Euphrates River Valley of northern Syria.
Persian Goitered Gazelle - Gazella subgutturosa. photo by Alistair Rae
First excavated in the 1970s by Andrew Moore and colleagues as a salvage operation prior to the construction of the dam, which eventually flooded the area, Abu Hureyra contained a massive quantity of artifacts, including evidence on the development of agriculture, particularly the domestication process of emmer and einkorn wheat, lentils, barley, chickpeas, and field beans. Over the 5000 years of its occupation, beginning about 13,000 years ago, Abu Hureyra's residents grew wild crops and hunted Persian gazelle and eventually depended on domestic crops and domestic sheep and goats.
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