Cultural Origins

  One of the earliest known human settlements is at Jericho. According to Wikipedia the site was a popular camping ground for Natufian hunter-gatherers due to the proximity of a spring; they left behind a scattering of crescent-shaped microlith tools as evidence of their presence there. The first permanent settlement on the site developed began around 9600 BC as weather conditions improved. The first settlers seem to have been pre-agricultural. According to Ancient at around 9400 BCE the settlement comprised around 70 homes: circular dwellings about 5 meters across, built with clay and straw. Evidence of grain cultivation begins between 8500 and 7500 BC, but it was carried out alongside the hunting of wild game. The famous “walls of Jericho” first appeared around 7000 BC, but far from being built for defensive purposes, evidence suggests they were built to prevent the low-lying city from being flooded by a nearby river during the rainy season. Excavations from t...

  According to Haaretz there is growing evidence that the transition from hunting and gathering to herding and cultivation took place gradually as a result of experimentation in a time of relative plenty as the last age waned 20000 to 10000 years ago. Haaretz describes evidence of wild grain cultivation in a village near the Sea of Galilee as early as 23000 years ago, and the domestication of plants and animals in various locations at various times from 11000 years ago. Lumen Learning describes the Halfan culture developing in Nile Valley between 20000 and 17000 year ago and the subsequent Qadan culture harvesting wild-grain with sickles and processing it with grinding stones. Britannica places the dawn of agriculture between 15000 and 10000 years ago. The New York Times reports that “evidence for full-blown agriculture — crops, livestock, tools for food preparation, and villages — dates back about 11000 years”. I’d like to speculate about the personality ...