Editing Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (section)

== Artifacts ==
Around 8000 BC, before the invention of pottery, several early settlements became experts in crafting beautiful and highly sophisticated containers from stone, using materials such as [[alabaster]] or [[granite]], and employing sand to shape and polish. Artisans used the veins in the material to maximum visual effect. Such objects have been found in abundance on the upper [[Euphrates river]], in what is today eastern Syria, especially at the site of [[Bouqras]].<ref>{{Cite web |title= Metropolitan Museum of Art |website= metmuseum.org |url= https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/327124}}</ref> These form the early stages of the development of the [[art of Mesopotamia]].
<gallery widths="150" heights="150">
File:Jar MET VS1985 356 16.jpg|Jar in [[Alabaster#Calcite alabaster|calcite alabaster]], Syria, late 8th millennium BC.
File:Footed bowl MET vs1985 356 20.jpg|Footed bowl in [[granite]], Syria, end of 8th millennium BC.
File:Green aragonite tripod vase Mid-Euphrates 6000 BCE Louvre Museum AO 28386.jpg|Green [[aragonite]] tripod vase Mid-Euphrates 6000 BC Louvre Museum AO 28386
File:Calcite tripod vase, mid-Euphrates probably from Tell Buqras, 6000 BCE, Louvre Museum AO 31551.jpg|[[Calcite]] tripod vase, mid-Euphrates, probably from Tell Buqras, 6000 BC, Louvre Museum AO 31551
File:Alabaster pot with handles, Buqras region 6500 BCE Louvre Museum AO 28519.jpg|Alabaster pot with handles, Buqras region, 6500 BC Louvre Museum AO 28519
File:Alabaster pot Mid-Euphrates region 6500 BCE Louvre Museum.jpg|Alabaster pot Mid-Euphrates region, 6500 BC, Louvre Museum
File:Alabaster pot, Mid-Euphrates region 6500 BCE Louvre Museum.jpg|Alabaster pot, Mid-Euphrates region, 6500 BC, Louvre Museum
File:Plastered face modeled on a human skull. From Ain Ghazal, Jordan. Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, c. 6500 BCE. The Jordan Archaeological Museum, Amman.jpg|Plastered face mold from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, Amman, Jordan
</gallery>