Trade presumedly drove much of the movement of domesticated animals and plants.
| Period or Event | Time-Frame | Overview |
| Paleolithic Period | Many goat bones have been found in Paleolithic strata of Syria and Lebanon. Sheep and goats spread from the Zagros to the Levantine interior first (modern=day Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan and Israel) and then to Anatolia. | |
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| Pre-Pottery Neolithic B | Sheep bones are extremely rare in the Epipaleolithic; thus, the sudden appearance in PPNB of sheep bones must have been of a domesticated breed brought from elsewhere. This elsewhere is likely the 9,000-8,500 BC Zagros and Taurus zones, where many bones of young sheep have been found. | |
| Pre-Pottery Neolithic B | ~7,000 BC | Goat and sheep bones exceed 50% of all bones after 7,000 BC at ‘Ain Ghazal and Jericho. |
| Pre-Pottery Neolithic B | 7th millenium BC | Domesticated pigs are first found in 7th millenium Pottery Neolithic layers at Jarmo (north of the Levant). |
| Pre-Pottery Neolithic B | ~6,200-5,800 BC | The first evidence of domesticated cattle is in Anatolia, and they may have followed a similar path as sheep and goats. |
| Pottery Neolithic | Domesticated pigs existed at Sha’ar Ha-Golan in the Pottery Neolithic, although this is an isolated case. | |
| Chalcolithic Period | ~4,000 BC | Domestic cattle had made their way into the Near East by the end of 5th millenium, based on finds from Anatolia and Khuzistan. The first Levantine orchards finally develop. |
| Chalcolithic Period | 4th millenium BC | Cattle only were involved with the secondary products revolution in Mesopotamia and Egypt no earlier than the 4th millium BC. |
| Chalcolithic Period | Domesticated pigs are common in sedentary villages. |
Wadi Rabah is a Pottery Neolithic assemblage (culture) whose sites are on plains or alluvial terraces and max out at 2-4 ha. It was first discovered beneath Wadi Rabah’s Ghassulian Chalcolithic layer. Floorplans are rectilinear, with round grain silos installed in the floor. Pottery vessels resembles north Syrian dark-faced burnished ware and includes both red and black slipped vessels with a high burnish. Forms include carinated bowls, platter and closed vessels (primarily bow-rimmed type). Chalices and pedestal bowls are considered successors of white ware. Handles are often ledges and loops. Decorations are generally incisions, stipples or combs, as well as ropes or snakes. Wadi Rabah’s lithic assemblage grows to domainte the Chalcolithic period, including plano-convex cross-sections of adzes and finer serrated edges. There was mild interaction with Anatolia and Egypt, as indicated by finds in a burial tomb.
| Period or Event | Time-Frame | Overview | ||||||||||
| Chalcolithic Period | 4,300-3,500 BC | The Chalcolithic Period was marked by endogenous change, meaning the change was from intercultural influence. Chalcolithic sites have bigger and more numerous farming villages than Neolythic sites. Also, there are regional and unique Chalcolithic cultures:
The variety and detail of Chalcolithic materials indicate specialized skills passed across generations:
Although plants and animals were domesticated during the Neolithic (agriculture), the Chalcolithic is marked by horticulture and the secondary products revolution. Fig (ficus carica) domestication was Neolithic, but during the Chalcolithic there was a horticultural explosion and olives (olea europaea), grapes (vitis vinifera), pistachio nuts (pistacia atlantica) and dates (phoenix dactylifera l.) were all domesticated. Golan contains olive pits; Ghassulian likely had irrigated olive crops; olives grown on the western flanks of the Judean hills and Mount Carmel were likely not cultivated; and in Nahal Mishmar and Ghassul, grapes were grown. In addition to horticulture, the Chalcolithic is marked by the secondary products revolution whereby animals were being used in secondary ways. The Chalcolithic Levant was at the level of chiefdom:
The Chalcolithic Period in Ancient Israel overlaps with end of Predynastic culture in Northern Egypt (End of Badarian (6000-4000 BC) and beginning of Amratian/Naqada I (4000-3600 BC)). Subdivisions are not particularly relaible: region assemblages, no overlpa between assemblages to provide subdivide phases; dates relative to earlier (Neolythic) and later (EB) phases. Northern culture replaced before southern culture complicating chronology. Climate Change? The climate region was likely changing, but this is uncertain. Intensive settlement in arid regions (along Wadi Beersehba in Negev, for exmaple) is suggestive of water management, increased humidity or both. Wadi is the arabic word for creek. Ayn is spring. Chalcolithc Sites — classic neolithic sites abandoned (ie, Jericho). marginal areas occupied (Negev). Regional cultures (Golan & Galilee, Ghassulian, Beersheba, Coast). Also, Gilat and Shiqmin. Wadi Rabah was notable. |
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Shiqmin dates as far back as the early Chalcolithic. Phase III (4,520-4,400 BC) has subterranean houses and 2 semicircular alters). Phase II (4,240-3,990 BC) shifts to an open-air village (as opposed to subterranean). Shiqmin was mostly destroyed at the end of Phase II, with Phase I (3,940-3,700) indicated uneven site oocupation followed by abandonment.
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