Before the Lake Rose: Abu Hureyra by the Numbers

Racing the Water at Abu Hureyra

1In 1972 and 1973, a team of archaeologists led by Andrew Moore worked against the clock beside the Euphrates River in northern Syria. A dam was being built downstream, and the lake behind it would soon cover the ancient mound of Abu Hureyra. In two short digging seasons, the team cut trenches into the mound and washed bags of soil in water so that tiny burned seeds floated to the top. Today the site lies under Lake Assad.

2The diggers found two villages, one built on top of the other. The first was begun about 11,500 BCE by people who hunted and gathered all their food. They lived all year in round huts dug partly into the ground. They gathered the seeds and fruits of more than 100 kinds of wild plants, including wild wheat, rye and lentils. Each spring, huge herds of Persian gazelles passed close to the village on their yearly migration, and hunters killed many of them.

3Several centuries later, the climate turned colder and drier for more than 1,000 years. Woods near the village shrank, and many wild food plants became scarce. Some archaeologists think the villagers began to plant rye during this time, which would make it one of the earliest known attempts at farming. Others say the evidence is not strong enough. Later, the first village was left empty.

4By about 8000 BCE, a new village rose on the same mound. Its people were farmers. They grew domesticated wheat, barley, rye, lentils and chickpeas. Their houses were rectangular and built of mud brick, with several rooms, and some small rooms seem to have been used to store grain. Houses stood close together along narrow lanes, and the village was rebuilt on the same spot again and again over many centuries. For a long time the farmers still hunted gazelles each spring. Later, flocks of sheep and goats took the gazelles' place.

5Skeletons from the farming village tell another part of the story. Many of them, especially women's, show bent toe bones, worn knees and strong upper arms. Scientists link this damage to long hours of kneeling at flat stones to grind grain into flour.