Before Cities
In short: Long before Uruk and Babylon, archaeology shows foragers in the Levant fishing, grinding wild cereals and settling into year-round hamlets, with settled life arriving before farming.
A 2:06 short film in the series “Before Babylon”, narrated by intellect_voice_01.
Sources used in this film: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), via PubMed Central, US National Library of Medicine, “Climate change, adaptive cycles, and the persistence of foraging economies during the late Pleistocene/Holocene transition in the Levant”; Springer Nature (chapter by Aaron Jonas Stutz in the book 'Under Pressure?', Human-Environment Interactions series), “Hidden Hazards and the Long-Term Robusticity of Foraging Societies in the Levantine Epipalaeolithic (25–12 ka)”; Bar-Ilan University (research portal record of an article in the Journal of Archaeological Science, Elsevier, 2015; authors Ainit Snir, Dani Nadel, Ehud Weiss), “Plant-food preparation on two consecutive floors at Upper Paleolithic Ohalo II, Israel”; Journal of Lithic Studies (University of Edinburgh journals); article by Polina Spivak (Israel Antiquities Authority) and Dani Nadel (University of Haifa), “The use of stone at Ohalo II, a 23,000 year old site in the Jordan Valley, Israel”; Columbia University course site, hosting Ofer Bar-Yosef's article 'The Natufian Culture in the Levant, Threshold to the Origins of Agriculture' (Evolutionary Anthropology), “baryo.pdf”; Springer (chapter by Anna Belfer-Cohen and Ofer Bar-Yosef in 'Life in Neolithic Farming Communities', ed. Ian Kuijt, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2000), “0-306-47166-3_2”; Functional Ecology (British Ecological Society, published by John Wiley & Sons), hosted on PubMed Central (US National Library of Medicine), “How did the domestication of Fertile Crescent grain crops increase their yields?”; Cambridge University Press (Antiquity journal, Antiquity Publications Ltd.), “The role of cult and feasting in the emergence of Neolithic communities. New evidence from Göbekli Tepe, south-eastern Turkey | Antiquity | Cambridge Core”; UNESCO World Heritage Centre, “Göbekli Tepe”; Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Berlin State Museums), “Uruk”; Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Vorderasiatisches Museum), “Uruk – 5,000 Years of the Megacity”; The British Museum, “Babylon_Teachers_Resource.pdf”; The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art, Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History), “Art of the First Cities in the Third Millennium B.C.”.
Sources used in this film
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), via PubMed Central, US National Library of Medicine — Climate change, adaptive cycles, and the persistence of foraging economies during the late Pleistocene/Holocene transition in the Levant · View →
- Springer Nature (chapter by Aaron Jonas Stutz in the book 'Under Pressure?', Human-Environment Interactions series) — Hidden Hazards and the Long-Term Robusticity of Foraging Societies in the Levantine Epipalaeolithic (25–12 ka) · View →
- Bar-Ilan University (research portal record of an article in the Journal of Archaeological Science, Elsevier, 2015; authors Ainit Snir, Dani Nadel, Ehud Weiss) — Plant-food preparation on two consecutive floors at Upper Paleolithic Ohalo II, Israel · View →
- Journal of Lithic Studies (University of Edinburgh journals); article by Polina Spivak (Israel Antiquities Authority) and Dani Nadel (University of Haifa) — The use of stone at Ohalo II, a 23,000 year old site in the Jordan Valley, Israel · View →
- Columbia University course site, hosting Ofer Bar-Yosef's article 'The Natufian Culture in the Levant, Threshold to the Origins of Agriculture' (Evolutionary Anthropology) — baryo.pdf · View →
- Springer (chapter by Anna Belfer-Cohen and Ofer Bar-Yosef in 'Life in Neolithic Farming Communities', ed. Ian Kuijt, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2000) — 0-306-47166-3_2 · View →
- Functional Ecology (British Ecological Society, published by John Wiley & Sons), hosted on PubMed Central (US National Library of Medicine) — How did the domestication of Fertile Crescent grain crops increase their yields? · View →
- Cambridge University Press (Antiquity journal, Antiquity Publications Ltd.) — The role of cult and feasting in the emergence of Neolithic communities. New evidence from Göbekli Tepe, south-eastern Turkey | Antiquity | Cambridge Core · View →
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Göbekli Tepe · View →
- Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Berlin State Museums) — Uruk · View →
- Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Vorderasiatisches Museum) — Uruk – 5,000 Years of the Megacity · View →
- The British Museum — Babylon_Teachers_Resource.pdf · View →
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art, Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History) — Art of the First Cities in the Third Millennium B.C. · View →
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), via PubMed Central (US National Library of Medicine); authors Ar: Climate change, adaptive cycles, and the persistence of foraging economies during the late Pleistocene/Holocene transition in the Levant
- Also: Springer Nature (chapter by Aaron Jonas Stutz in the book 'Under Pressure?', Human-Environment Interactions series): Hidden Hazards and the Long-Term Robusticity of Foraging Societies in the Levantine Epipalaeolithic (25–12 ka)
- Also: Bar-Ilan University (research portal record of an article in the Journal of Archaeological Science, Elsevier, 2015; auth: Plant-food preparation on two consecutive floors at Upper Paleolithic Ohalo II, Israel
- Also: Journal of Lithic Studies (University of Edinburgh journals); article by Polina Spivak (Israel Antiquities Authority) an: The use of stone at Ohalo II, a 23,000 year old site in the Jordan Valley, Israel
- Also: Columbia University course site, hosting Ofer Bar-Yosef's article 'The Natufian Culture in the Levant, Threshold to the : baryo.pdf
- Also: Springer (chapter by Anna Belfer-Cohen and Ofer Bar-Yosef in 'Life in Neolithic Farming Communities', ed. Ian Kuijt, Klu: 0-306-47166-3_2
- Also: Functional Ecology (British Ecological Society, published by John Wiley & Sons), via PubMed Central (US National Library: How did the domestication of Fertile Crescent grain crops increase their yields?
- Also: Cambridge University Press (Antiquity journal, Antiquity Publications Ltd.): The role of cult and feasting in the emergence of Neolithic communities. New evidence from Göbekli Tepe, south-eastern Turkey | Antiquity | Cambridge Core
- Also: UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Göbekli Tepe
- Also: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Berlin State Museums): Uruk
- Also: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Vorderasiatisches Museum): Uruk – 5,000 Years of the Megacity
- Also: The British Museum: Babylon_Teachers_Resource.pdf
- Also: The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art, Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History): Art of the First Cities in the Third Millennium B.C.
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