The Neolithic heartland--where the first plants and animals were domesticated--lies in western Asia. Here are a handful of important sites in the region.
This list of Neolithic sites in Western Asia was assembled for the About.com Guide to the Neolithic.
'Ain Ghazal (Jordan)
The site of 'Ain Ghazal is an early Neolithic village site located along the banks of the Zarqa River near Amman, Jordan. The name means "Spring of the Gazelles", and the site has major occupations during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) period, about 7200 and 6000 BC; the PPNC period (ca. 6000-5500 BC) and during the early pottery Neolithic, between ca 5500-5000 BC.
Çatalhöyük (Turkey)
Catalhoyuk (c) 2006
On the yellow plains of central Anatolia lie the remains of one of the oldest civilizations on earth. Called Çatalhöyük (which has been spelled Catal Hoyuk, Catal Huyuk, and many other ways), the site ruins represent a village of 300 mud brick and plaster residences, one of the earliest villages found to date. The site was occupied from about 6300-5500 BC,
Cayönü Tepesi (Turkey)
Cayönü (also called Çayönü Tepesi) is an Early Neolithic site (Pre-Pottery Neolithic B) in the upper Tigris valley of southeastern Turkey, near the town of Ergani. The site is a village site, occupied between 9400 and 8800 years ago.
Ganj Dareh (Iran)
Ganj Dareh is an Early Neolithic site in the Kermanshah district of southwestern Iran. The site was occupied about 8400-7000 BC. Ganj Dareh (which translates to "Treasure Valley") is a small mound, representing an early highland village with evidence for domestication of the goat, and some of the earliest ceramics in the Near East as well.
Hagoshrim (Israel)
Hagoshrim is the name of an important Neolithic site, located in the Hula Valley of northern Israel. Occupied at least six times between 6500 and 7560 years ago, Hagoshrim has three major cultural components: Pre-Pottery Neolithic C, and two Neolithic occupations.
Jericho (Palestine)
Jericho (also called Tell es-Sultan) is the name of a tell situated on an ancient lake bed plain in what is known as the West Bank, Palestine. The oval tell has between 8 and 12 meters of occupation fill, and it covers an area of about 2.5 hectares. The city that the tell represents is one of oldest continuously occupied (more or less) locations on the planet.
Jebel Thans I (Sharjah, UAE)
Jebel Thanais I is a small Late Neolithic site located on the western foot of the low mountain ridge of Jebel Thanais, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The site consists of a series of small fireplaces occupied by herders between the early and mid-fifth millennium cal BC.
