Description : Jerf el Ahmar ( Arabic الجرف الأحمر al-dscharf al-ahmar "red cliffs") is a Neolithic site in Syria ; it lies on the left bank of the central Euphrates , was between 9,600 and 8,500 BC. Inhabited, is about the same age as the Göbekli Tepe and is one of the oldest settlements of the Neolithic . Jerf el Ahmar lies on two mounds of earth that are separated from each other by a small wadi . In the "east hill" that was first populated, nine building layers lie one above the other. During the fifth settlement of the "east hill", five construction shifts were started on the "west hill". For five centuries Jerf el Ahmar was shaped by the Mureybet culture ( PPNA ). The last settlement on both hills shows a transition to the PPNB culture. In addition to weapons made of flint , the finds include pictograms and messages in picture writing on small stones. Jerf el Ahmar shows typical features of the Mureybet culture : architecture, tools, weapons made of flint and some objects made of rock. After the villages were destroyed, they were always rebuilt. Each excavation layer shows its own development, which, however, began in the 8th millennium BC. Chr. Gives way to a uniform structure. The first transitions to agriculture can be seen, as is shown by the findings of wild barley and einkorn .
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