The Neolithic Origins (An Old & Rare Book)

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About the Book The food gathering economy of the Paleolithic and Mesolithic stages of culture was gradually supplemented and eventually replaced by one of food production in the Neolithic stage, beg inning at least by the eighth millennium B.C. in south western Asia. This biologically important change in human economy from hunting to farming and domestication of animals without the aid of metals was named the 'Neo lithic Revolution' which laid the foundations of civilization. The centre of this 'Revolution' lay between 30'N and 40 N latitude stretching over a thousand miles from western Iran to Greece, including parts of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the Anatolian plateau in Turkey. In this area wheat and barley grew wild, which led to the beginnings of agriculture; here too lived the wild ancestors of goats and sheep, which were first domesticated in the Middle East. However, this 'Revolution' was not confined to a particular period of time, its duration varied in different areas. The present monograph examines all these and other related issues based on the most up-to-date data on the subject.

About the Author Recipient of the Dayaram Sahni Gold Medal for securing first division in the First Class in the M.A. examination of the Banaras Hindu University, Purushottam Singh obtained his Post Graduate Diploma in Archaeology of the Archaeological Survey of India in 1962; Ph.D. from the B.H.U. in 1968 and did two-year post-doctoral research at the Institute of Archaeology. University of London during 1970-72 as a Commonwealth Scholar. Dr. Singh has attended several conferences within the country as well as outside and is associated with several learned societies. He lectured at the Concordia University, Montreal in 1988. Author of four books and more than two dozen research papers, he is currently engaged since 1984 in the archaeological investigations in the Sarayupar plains of eastern U.P. Professor Singh is presently the Chairman of the Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology of the Banaras Hindu University.

Foreword In the long march of Prehistoric Man on the road to Civilization, the Neolithic stage was a decisive step aptly described as a 'Revolution'. This revolution was based on the cultivation of cereal plants like wheat, barley and some types of pulses and the domestication of animals like sheep/goat, cattle and pig. The earliest evidence of these activities are found in South Western Asia in the 9th-8th millennia B.C. In this monograph, Prof. Purushottam Singh examines the problem of Neolithic origins on the basis of the latest data on this subject and covers a wide canvas spreading from the east coast of the Mediterranean to south east Asia and China. This monograph written during 1988-89 when Prof. Singh was on sabbatical leave from the University, is being published during the Platinum Jubilee Year of the Banaras Hindu University. I am certain the monograph would be welcomed by the discerning public and the scholars working in the field.

Preface The early fifties witnessed a phenomenal increase in our knowledge regarding the problems of Neolithic cultures when a number of sites were excavated in the Fertile Crescent, notable amongst them being Jericho and Jarmo. In the subsequent decade, a number of sites in Anatolia (Hacilar, Çatal Hüyük) were excavated. The excavation of several sites on the eastern flanks of the Zagros (Tape Sarab, Alikosh, Ganj Dareh), Levant and Anatolia (Beidha, Çayönü) filled many details in the picture. The position as obtained till the end of 1972 was summarised by the author in his Neolithic Cultures of Western Asia (Seminar Press, London-New York, 1974). Since then a number of new sites have been excavated and some important studies on earlier material have been published. The data ob tained from the excavations of Tell Abu Hureyra in northern Syria has demonstrated that perhaps cereal cultivation started as early as the late Epipalaeolithic datable to about 8500 B.C. Similarly the excavations of Ain Ghazal on the outskirts of the capital city of Amman, Jordan, has furnished new data regarding the religious beliefs and practices of the Neolithic people. The excavations carried out for four seasons (1981 1984) at Gritille on the right bank of the Euphrates river in southeastern Turkey have brought to light remains or settlements of early Neolithic period (circa 7000 B.C.). Similarly, excavation conducted during 1974 1978 at Gilgal in the lower Jordan valley have yielded remains of pre-pot tery Neolithic A period. In the north central Jazira of northern Iraq, excavations at Umm Dabaghiyah during 1971-1974 have brought to light a hitherto unknown culture which can be placed between the Jarmo and Hassuna cultures. The new field work at Ganj Darch (1974) has brought forth new data regarding subsistence pattern of the mid-eighth millennium B.C. and exploration carried out in the vicinity of this site in 1980 located three new sites of this culture. The archaeobotanical study of samples from Ganj Darch shows that the earliest settlers had already domesticated barley. The radiocarbon dates from Asiab largely confirm the dating proposed by Braidwood that this settlement flourished between 9000 and 7000 B.C. and the osteological evidence shows that domestic goat was present at Asiab at such an early date.

The period under review witnessed the publication of the long awaited Jarmo report in 1983 and in the same year the first farming cultures of Zagros range were reviewed by several scholars in The Hilly Flanks and Beyond. The early village-farming cultures of western Iran were discussed in several seminars and colloquia held at Susa (1977), Santa Fe (1977) and Bellevaux, France in 1985 and the latest thinking on the subject is reflected in a number of papers published in the Archaeology of Western Iran (edited by Frank Hole). A brief survey of these cultures has been presented by Andrew Moore in the fourth volume of Advances in World Archaeology (1985).

The present monograph takes stock of the situation as obtained till today and tries to view the problem of Neolithic origins on a broader canvas spreading from the east coast of the Mediterranean to southeast Asia and China. Research on the Neolithic of China has made tremendous strides since 1949 as more than 7000 Neolithic sites have been discovered and more than 400 of them excavated; the most intensive work having been carried out in the Huanghe Valley and the middle and lower reaches of Changjiang. The chronology of prehistoric China has been laid on solid footing by over 1000 C-14 dates published so far.

**Contents and Sample Pages**