Athabasca University, Athabasca
ANTH 277
Investigating Life in the Neolithic:
Dwelling at Jarmo
Monica A, Student ID xxxxxxx
Athabasca University
ANTH 277: The Archaeology of Us
Assignment #2
Tutor: Laurie Milne
Submitted July 31, 2021 – final grade on assignment 80%
2
JARMO: NEOLITHIC DWELLING
Introduction
The Neolithic is a very important
...[Show More]
Investigating Life in the Neolithic:
Dwelling at Jarmo
Monica A, Student ID xxxxxxx
Athabasca University
ANTH 277: The Archaeology of Us
Assignment #2
Tutor: Laurie Milne
Submitted July 31, 2021 – final grade on assignment 80%
2
JARMO: NEOLITHIC DWELLING
Introduction
The Neolithic is a very important era for human civilizations. One can think of it as the
birth of modern societies and way of life. It is defined by humans developing crop cultivation,
animal domestication, pottery, extended trade routes, and sedentism (Gangal et al., 2014). One
site that spans the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) through the Pottery Neolithic (PN), giving
evidence of the changing way of life is Jarmo in the Zagros mountains.
The Jarmo excavation site is located in modern Iraq. It was partially excavated over three
field seasons between 1948 and 1955, including a series of test pits to determine the extent of the
site. The dig team was led by Robert J. Braidwood and Bruce Howe (Braidwood et al., 1960, p.
19). This paper will discuss the geography, biological resources, and weather patterns at the site
and take an in depth look into the finds of one dwelling excavated by the Braidwood-Howe team.
It will analyze the type and location of the artifacts uncovered to draw conclusions about life in
the Neolithic and the development of technologies over time at Jarmo.
3
JARMO: NEOLITHIC DWELLING
Site Background Information
Geography
The Zagros Mountains annotated with historic sites as shown in Asouti et al, 2020
The Zagros Mountains extend from the border areas of eastern Turkey southeast toward
the Straight of Hormuz. The range is 1,600 km long and more than 240 km wide. It was formed
by the Arabian Plate moving under the Eurasian Plate during the Miocene and Pliocene eras,
roughly 23 million to 2.6 million years ago. The range has numerous fertile intermontane plains
used for agriculture and grazing which sit at elevations above 1,500 metres. (Zagros mountains
2019 Encyclopedia Britannica)
The Jarmo site is located in the Chemchemal intermontane plain between the ridges of
Kani Domlan-Jabal Tasak and the Kani Shaitan Hasan-Sagirma Dagh. The site is 760-800 m
above sea level and lies above the Cham-Gawra wadi (seasonal stream bed). Erosion of the wadi
during the winter rainy season may have reduced the size of the site considerably. (Braidwood et
al., 1960)
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