Editing History of the ancient Levant (section)

==Stone Age==
{{main|Prehistory of the Levant}}

===Paleolithic===
Anatomically modern [[Homo sapiens]] are demonstrated at the area of [[Mount Carmel]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1393/|title=Sites of Human Evolution at Mount Carmel: The Nahal Me'arot / Wadi el-Mughara Caves|website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717141629/https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1393/|archive-date=2019-07-17|url-status=live|access-date=2019-08-06}}</ref> in Canaan during the [[Middle Paleolithic]] dating from {{circa|90,000&nbsp;BC|lk=on}}. These migrants [[Recent African origin of modern humans|out of Africa]] seem to have been unsuccessful,<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Beyin|first=Amanuel|date=2011|title=Upper Pleistocene Human Dispersals out of Africa: A Review of the Current State of the Debate|journal=International Journal of Evolutionary Biology|language=en|volume=2011|pages=615094|doi=10.4061/2011/615094|issn=2090-052X|pmc=3119552|pmid=21716744 |doi-access=free }}</ref> and by {{circa|60,000&nbsp;BC}} in the Levant, [[Neanderthal]] groups seem to have benefited from the worsening climate and replaced Homo sapiens, who were possibly confined once more to Africa.<ref name=amud>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9007286/Amud|title=Amud|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=2007-10-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011213723/http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9007286/Amud|archive-date=2007-10-11|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

A second move out of Africa is demonstrated by the Boker Tachtit Upper Paleolithic culture, from 52,000 to 50,000&nbsp;BC, with humans at [[Ksar Akil]] XXV level being modern humans.<ref>Marks, Anthony (1983)"Prehistory and Paleoenvironments in the Central Negev, Israel" (Institute for the Study of Earth and Man, Dallas)</ref> This culture bears close resemblance to the Badoshan Aurignacian culture of Iran, and the later [[Sebilian]] I Egyptian culture of {{circa|50,000&nbsp;BC}}. [[Stephen Oppenheimer]]<ref>Oppemheiomer, Stephen (2004), "Out of Eden", (Constable and Robinson)</ref> suggests that this reflects a movement of modern human groups back into North Africa, at this time.

It would appear this sets the date by which Homo sapiens Upper Paleolithic cultures begin replacing Neanderthal [[Levallois-Perret|Levalo]]-[[Mousterian]], and by {{circa|40,000&nbsp;BC}} the region was occupied by the [[Levantine Aurignacian|Levanto-Aurignacian]] [[Ahmarian culture]], lasting from 39,000 to 24,000&nbsp;BC.<ref>Gladfelter, Bruce G. (1997) "The Ahmarian tradition of the Levantine Upper Paleolithic: the environment of the archaeology" (Vol 12, 4 ''Geoarchaeology'')</ref> This culture was quite successful spreading as the [[Antelian culture]] (late Aurignacian), as far as Southern Anatolia, with the Atlitan culture.

===Epi-Palaeolithic===
After the [[Late Glacial Maxima]], a new [[Epipaleolithic (Levant)|Epipaleolithic]] culture appears. The appearance of the [[Kebaran culture]], of [[microlithic culture|microlithic type]] implies a significant rupture in the cultural continuity of Levantine Upper Paleolithic. The Kebaran culture, with its use of microliths, is associated with the use of the bow and arrow and the domestication of the dog.<ref>Dayan, Tamar (1994), "Early Domesticated Dogs of the Near East" (Journal of Archaeological Science Volume 21, Issue 5, September 1994, Pages 633–640)</ref> Extending from 18,000 to 10,500&nbsp;BC, the Kebaran culture<ref>Ronen, Avram, "Climate, sea level, and culture in the Eastern Mediterranean 20 ky to the present" in Valentina Yanko-Hombach, Allan S. Gilbert, Nicolae Panin and Pavel M. Dolukhanov (2007), ''The Black Sea Flood Question: Changes in Coastline, Climate, and Human Settlement'' (Springer)</ref> shows clear connections to the earlier microlithic cultures using the bow and arrow, and using grinding stones to harvest wild grains, that developed from the {{circa|24,000|17,000&nbsp;BC}} [[Halfan culture]] of [[Egypt]], that came from the still earlier [[Aterian]] tradition of the Sahara. Some linguists see this as the earliest arrival of [[Nostratic languages]] in the Middle East.

Kebaran culture was quite successful, and was ancestral to the later [[Natufian culture]] (12,500–9,500&nbsp;BC), which extended throughout the whole of the Levantine region. These people pioneered the first sedentary settlements, and may have supported themselves from fishing and the harvest of wild grains plentiful in the region at that time. {{As of|2018|7|post=,}} the oldest remains of bread were discovered {{circa|12,400&nbsp;BC}} at the archaeological site of Shubayqa 1, once home of the Natufian hunter-gatherers, roughly 4,000 years before the advent of agriculture.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Mejia|first=Paula|date=16 July 2018|title=Found: 14,400-Year-Old Flatbread Remains That Predate Agriculture|url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/worlds-oldest-bread|url-status=live|department=Gastro Obscura|work=[[Atlas Obscura]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180717191316/https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/worlds-oldest-bread|archive-date=17 July 2018|access-date=17 July 2018}}</ref>

Natufian culture also demonstrates the earliest domestication of the [[dog]], and the assistance of this animal in hunting and guarding human settlements may have contributed to the successful spread of this culture. In the northern Syrian, eastern Anatolian region of the Levant, Natufian culture at [[Cayonu]] and [[Mureybet]] developed the first fully agricultural culture with the addition of wild grains, later being supplemented with domesticated sheep and goats, which were probably domesticated first by the [[Zarzian culture]] of Northern Iraq and Iran (which like the Natufian culture may have also developed from Kebaran).

===Neolithic and Chalcolithic===
By 8500–7500&nbsp;BC, the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A ([[PPNA]]) culture developed out of the earlier local tradition of Natufian, dwelling in round houses, and building the first defensive site at [[Tell es-Sultan]] (ancient Jericho) (guarding a valuable fresh water spring). This was replaced in 7500&nbsp;BC by Pre-Pottery Neolithic B ([[PPNB]]), dwelling in square houses, coming from Northern Syria and the Euphrates bend.

During the period of 8500–7500&nbsp;BC, another hunter-gatherer group, showing clear affinities with the cultures of Egypt (particularly the Outacha retouch technique for working stone) was in Sinai. This [[Harifian]] culture<ref>Belfer-Cohen, Anna and Bar-Yosef, Ofer "Early Sedentism in the Near East: A Bumpy Ride to Village Life" (''Fundamental Issues in Archaeology'', 2002, Part II, 19–38)</ref> may have adopted the use of pottery from the Isnan culture and [[Helwan culture]] of Egypt {{Citation needed|date=February 2024}} (which lasted from 9000 to 4500&nbsp;BC), and subsequently fused with elements from the PPNB culture during the climatic crisis of 6000&nbsp;BC to form what [[Juris Zarins]] calls the Syro-Arabian pastoral technocomplex,<ref>Zarins, Yuris "Early Pastoral Nomadiism and the Settlement of Lower Mesopotamia" (# ''Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research'' No. 280, November, 1990)</ref> which saw the spread of the first [[Nomadic pastoralists]] in the Ancient Near East. These extended southwards along the [[Red Sea]] coast and penetrating the Arabian bifacial cultures, which became progressively more Neolithic and pastoral, and extending north and eastwards, to lay the foundations for the tent-dwelling [[Amorite|Martu]] and [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] peoples of Mesopotamia.

In the [[Amuq valley]] of Syria, [[PPNB culture]] seems to have survived, influencing further cultural developments further south. Nomadic elements fused with PPNB to form the Minhata Culture and [[Yarmukian Culture]], which were to spread southwards, beginning the development of the classic mixed farming Mediterranean culture, and from 5600&nbsp;BC were associated with the [[Ghassulian culture]] of the region, the first [[Chalcolithic]] culture of the Levant. This period{{which|date=October 2021}} also witnessed the development of megalithic structures, which continued into the Bronze Age.<ref>Scheltema, H.G. (2008). ''Megalithic Jordan: An Introduction and Field Guide''. Amman, Jordan: The American Center of Oriental Research. {{ISBN|978-9957-8543-3-1}} No Google Books access.</ref>{{dubious|The Scheltema book has no online access, and is written by a diplomat. RS? Usrful it's certainly not. How much of the paragraph is it supposed to cover? Which period does it refer to, Neolithic (PPN, PN?), or Chalcolithic? Altogether: the Chalcolithic is not considered by all to be part of the Neolithic, deserves separate treatment.|date=October 2021}}

Historically, the [[Bedouin]] engaged in nomadic herding, agriculture and sometimes fishing in the Syrian [[steppe]] since 6000 BCE. By about 850 BCE, a complex network of settlements and camps were established. The earliest Arab tribes emerged from Bedouins.<ref name=":03">{{Cite book |last=Chatty |first=Dawn |url=https://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu/document?id=mj04-000 |title=Culture Summary: Bedouin |date=2009 |publisher=Human Relations Area Files}}</ref>