Village on the Euphrates

Tel Abu Hureyra, a settlement by the Euphrates River in Syria, was excavated in 1972-73 by an international team of archaeologists that included the authors of the book and scientists from English, American, and Australian universities. The excavation uncovered two successive villages: in the first village (c. 11,500-10,000 BP), inhabitants foraged vegetation and hunted local wildlife, the Persian gazelle, in particular. In the second village (c 9700-7000 BP), inhabitants employed a more sophisticated method of food production, the cultivation of grain crops and the pasturing of sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs. Documented first hand in this book, these findings capture the transition in human history from the hunting-and-gathering to the farming way of life.

About the Authors

A. M. T. Moore is Associate Dean for the Social Sciences in the Graduate School at Yale University.

G. C. Hillman is Reader in the Archaeology Department at the University of London.

A. J. Legge is Director at the Centre for Extramural Studies and Reader in the Archaeology Department at Birkbeck College, University of London.