Not so coarse, nor always plain — the earliest pottery of Syria

The site of Tell Sabi Abyad in Syria offers a superb stratified sequence passing from the aceramic (pre-pottery) to pottery-using Neolithic around 7000 BC. Surprisingly the first pottery arrives fully developed with mineral tempering, burnishing and stripey decoration in painted slip. The expected, more experimental-looking, plant-tempered coarse wares shaped by baskets arrive about 300 years later. Did the first ceramic impetus come from elsewhere?

Cultural Transformation and the 8.2.ka event in Upper Mesopotamia

Many of the cultural transformations observed in the archaeological record for the later seventh to early sixth millennium BC can be interpreted as adapting to climatic stresses. However, a closer look at the emerging data suggests a more complex picture. At Tell Sabi Abyad, several key “adaptations” may in fact trace their roots to stratigraphic levels preceding those synchronizing with the climate event. For example, the development of ceramic bulk storage containers was an innovation that gave a significant benefit in times of enhanced aridity; this container’s development occurred long before the 8.2 ka climate event. Rather than causing these cultural changes, the climate anomaly appears to have accelerated already existing trends that were entirely unrelated to climate change

Earliest date for milk use in the Near East and southeastern Europe linked to cattle herding

Near Eastern Archaeolog