Mureybet Tell neolithic site, 12,200 years old

The site of Mureybet is the last in the series of tells that are associated by time and geography with the more famous Gobelki Tepe. The site lied along the middle Euphrates in Syria and is now covered by the lake Assad. The site was occupied from the 12th to the 8th millennium BCE. It is one of the earliest known agriculture settlements from the Neolithic. In 1971, a French team lead by Jacques Cauvin began the excavation at Mureybet and identified 4 archeological levels, beginning with the Natufian pre-pottery, pre-agricultural culture. They lived in round houses made of limestone bricks, with a clay mortar. In later strata, houses became rectangular.



Drawing



Later houses



In its early levels, Mureybet was a small village occupied by hunter-gatherers. Hunting was important and crops were first gathered and later cultivated, but they remained wild. During its final stages, domesticated animals were also present at the site.

When Mureybet was first occupied around 10,200 BC, the climate was colder and more humid than today, an effect of the onset of the Younger Dryas climate change event. The vegetation consisted of an open forest steppe with species like terebinth, almond and wild cereals

Important artifacts include counting tokens one of the earliest systems for transmitting information, predating writing by millennia and a number of ‘mother goddess’ carving and






The excavation of Mureybet has produced an abundance of lithic material. During all periods, flint was the main raw material from which tools were made. It was procured from local sources. Obsidian was much less common. Natufian tools include points, burins, scrapers, borers and herminettes, a kind of tool that was primarily used for woodwork.

Apart from the lithics, other artifact categories were also present in Mureybet in smaller quantities. Personal ornaments in the Natufian period consisted of pierced shells and small stone and shell discs. Among the three figurines from this phase was one with clear anthropomorphic characteristics. Other artifact categories include limestone vessels, stone querns, beads, pendants, including one from ivory and eight anthropomorphic figurines made from limestone and baked earth. Seven of these figurines could be identified as women.

Conclusions from the excavation, three languages in this report, the first is French, but starting on page 17 it repeats in English and later Arabic

Report conclusions on the site in three languages, English starts on page 17

Pisé (daub or building earth) from Jerf el Ahmar and Mureybet was examined and found to contain plant impressions made by the fine fraction of cereal chaff which had been added to the pisé as a tempering medium. Four wild grasses were identified from impressions, while over fifty taxa were identified from charred remains. Chaff tempering was present in all samples examined and was composed of spikelet bases and fragments of spikelets. Several aspects of these findings complement results obtained from charred remains. The sheer quantity of building material with chaff implies that cereals were widely available. De-husking and winnowing appear to have been carried out on a large scale, probably near the site. Firm evidence for wild rye confirms previous identifications for this period in the middle Euphrates, rye being difficult to distinguish from wild einkorn if only grain is available for identification. The quality of the chaff provides some evidence of crop processing.
Report on the radio-carbon dates of the levels

Link to the report on grains

Location of Mureybet



Additional report on Mureybet


Wikipedia summary report on Mureybet

This completed the series on sites near in time and geography with Gobelki Tepe

Nevali Cori
Cayonu
Jerf al Ahram
Djade
Qaramel
Tell Aswad

I have not reported on Cafer Hoyuk which is also in the area

reply to post by Hanslune
Nice OP Hans.

I like reading about the evidence that shows humans slowly generating all the things that drive our modern societies. Mureybet Tell long predates the City States and yet we can see the awakenings of economies in the tokens.

Some folk like to imagine a 'golden age' and there was never such a time.

In that link I sent you, there's an article about Tell Brak. The article focuses on a time much later (~3500BC), but it's interesting as a sign-post of how the region developed.

reply to post by Kandinsky


It was there that our modern world comes from, villages, agriculture, social organization, specialization, etc

Now I also think that even earlier there were bits and pieces of the same - but we haven't found them yet!

reply to post by Hanslune
Agreed. Sophistication came about by necessity as more people were gathered in concentrated areas and shared ideas with their neighbours.

As ever, *shared* would often involve a lot of conflict.

Yes I was trying to find my travel book of that period

I believe I went to Tell Brak in the summer of 1997 and met Helen Mac Donald and later went onto Tell Mozan, which you might find interesting also

One thing that comes a bit later on - defensive walls and the switching from hunting weapons to man killing equipment and the necessity of body armour

reply to post by Kandinsky


The golden age of Humanity lasted around 190,000 years. It ended with the birth of our culture.

Originally posted by Buddha1098
reply to post by Kandinsky

 

The golden age of Humanity lasted around 190,000 years. It ended with the birth of our culture.

Nah, hunted by animals, killed by infections, early death, nah ah take an improved version of what we got.

A true 'golden' age' might be found in some of the Polynesian cultures or amongst certain tribes in but they were small affairs

reply to post by Hanslune


It's an improved version for us... It's far far worse for most other forms of life.

So you're argument is basically that human life is somehow more valuable than other forms of life. And that is the insanity of our culture. We believe we're more valuable than other forms of life. We're not.

Originally posted by Buddha1098
reply to post by Hanslune

 

It's an improved version for us... It's far far worse for most other forms of life.

So you're argument is basically that human life is somehow more valuable than other forms of life. And that is the insanity of our culture. We believe we're more valuable than other forms of life. We're not.

No that is the argument you assigned to me so you could make your statement

Unfortunately we have a need for food, as do all other living creatures, like them we dip into the cycle of life and kill both plants and animals - as they do too

reply to post by Hanslune


Yes we need to have food... We managed to eat for those 190,000 years though so I'm missing your point. Life should be easier for us at the expense of others? I'm still not getting it.

reply to post by Buddha1098


No idea what your point is or what it has to do with the Mureybet Tell Neolithic site. Care to clarify?

reply to post by Hanslune


I was refuting a post which said there was no Golden age of Humanity.

Humanity lived in equilibrium with their environment for 190,000 years. If that wasn't a golden age then I don't know what is.

reply to post by Buddha1098


Thanks for the clarification. I'd go with, 'You don't know' IMHO

Originally posted by Buddha1098
reply to post by Hanslune

 

It's an improved version for us... It's far far worse for most other forms of life.

So you're argument is basically that human life is somehow more valuable than other forms of life. And that is the insanity of our culture. We believe we're more valuable than other forms of life. We're not.

Hi bud
Many creatures would agree with you.
A lion, perhaps a polar bear umm a 20 foot croc throw in a momba for good luck.
cobra in your case ???
watch it out there it's a jungle
ljb
ps forgot cows

reply to post by Hanslune


Very nice presentation. The material is fascinating. Those are pretty nicely designed houses. Looks pretty similar to how we layout our modern rooms. I wonder if their rooms were open, had doors, or perhaps animal hide? It puts me in awe to think that those people were living with such a level of creative-intelligence so far back. This is a great find. This last decade has been been filled with many remarkable finds and discoveries. I love it

reply to post by Hanslune


I didn't realize we were competing.. I was presenting my opinion which you are free to disagree with. If you want to refute my opinion than give me some facts to support yours or a logical philosophical argument to support it.

Otherwise we are each entitled to our opinions, and neither one is more or less correct than the other.

Originally posted by Sahabi
reply to post by Hanslune

 

Very nice presentation. The material is fascinating. Those are pretty nicely designed houses. Looks pretty similar to how we layout our modern rooms. I wonder if their rooms were open, had doors, or perhaps animal hide? It puts me in awe to think that those people were living with such a level of creative-intelligence so far back. This is a great find. This last decade has been been filled with many remarkable finds and discoveries. I love it

It was a nice site - about fourty years old now but flooded over now. They had lintels but AFAIR no 'doors'. Thanks for your attention!

Originally posted by Kandinsky
reply to post by Hanslune

 

Nice OP Hans.

I like reading about the evidence that shows humans slowly generating all the things that drive our modern societies. Mureybet Tell long predates the City States and yet we can see the awakenings of economies in the tokens.

Some folk like to imagine a 'golden age' and there was never such a time.

In that link I sent you, there's an article about Tell Brak. The article focuses on a time much later (~3500BC), but it's interesting as a sign-post of how the region developed.

I think it depends entirely upon how you define "Golden Age". For me, there certainly was a golden age and it was during this Neolithic period, possibly extending to the Bronze Age.

For me, it was a "golden age" because of the advances made in architecture, agriculture, the arts, etc. Rather than a technological flying craft type of golden age! In other words, for me, the golden age was, effectively, the creation of society.

I totally get your point though. There does tend to be a lot misty eyed talk of the golden age of civilization......