Editing Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (section)

==Regional variants==
{{anchor|Sultanian}}
[[File:Gobeklitepe animal sculpture, circa 9000 BCE.jpg|thumb|[[Göbekli Tepe]] animal sculpture, {{circa|9000&nbsp;BCE}}]]
With more sites becoming known, archaeologists have defined a number of regional variants of Pre-Pottery Neolithic A:
* ('''Aswadian''') in the Damascus Basin, defined by finds from [[Tell Aswad]] IA; typical: bipolar cores, big sickle blades, [[Aswad point]]s. The 'Aswadian' variant recently was abolished by the work of [[Danielle Stordeur]] in her initial report from further investigations in 2001–2006. The PPNB horizon was moved back at this site, to around 10,700 BP.<ref>{{Cite web |title=La Néolithisation du Proche-Orient |lang=fr |website=Archéorient Laboratory - [[Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée]] - Lyon |url=http://www.archeorient.mom.fr/FICHES/fiches_actuelles/STORDEUR.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721012137/http://www.archeorient.mom.fr/FICHES/fiches_actuelles/STORDEUR.html |archive-date=21 July 2011 |access-date=6 March 2011 |first=Daneille |last=Stordeur |publisher=CNRS - [[French National Centre for Scientific Research]] }}</ref>
* '''Mureybetian''' in the Northern Levant, defined by the finds from [[Mureybet]] IIIA, IIIB, typical: [[Helwan point]]s, sickle-blades with base amenagée or short stem and terminal retouch.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Young |first1=Theodore Cuyler Jr |title=The hilly flanks and beyond: essays on the prehistory of Southwestern Asia presented to Robert J. Braidwood, November l5, l982 |last2=Smith |first2=Philip E. L. |last3=Mortensen |first3=Peder |date=1983 |publisher=Oriental institute of the University of Chicago |isbn=978-0-918986-37-5 |series=Studies in ancient Oriental civilization |location=Chicago (Ill.) |pages=44–45 |language=fr}}</ref> Other sites include Sheyk Hasan and [[Jerf el Ahmar]].
* Sites in "[[Upper Mesopotamia]]" include [[Çayönü]] and [[Göbekli Tepe]], with the latter possibly being the oldest ritual complex yet discovered.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Curry |first=Andrew |date=November 2008 |title=Göbekli Tepe: The World's First Temple? |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/30706129.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216020356/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/30706129.html/ |archive-date=2008-12-16 |access-date=14 March 2009 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}} Directrice de la mission permanente El Kowm-Mureybet (Syrie) du Ministère des Affaires Étrangères – Recherches sur le Levant central/sud : Premiers résultats.</ref>
* Sites in [[central Anatolia]] that include the 'mother city' [[Çatalhöyük]] and the smaller, but older site, rivaling even Jericho in age, [[Aşıklı Höyük]].
* '''Sultanian''' in the [[Jordan River]] valley and southern Levant, with the type site of Jericho. Other sites include [[Netiv HaGdud]], [[Khiamian|El-Khiam]], Hatoula, and [[Nahal Oren, archeological site|Nahal Oren]].