Jarmo

A small aceramic Neolithic to ceramic Neolithic village site in the foothills of the Zagros mountains of northern Iraq. Jarmo was used to explain the origins of food production by Robert Braidwood, as the site dates to the later 7th millennium BC and there was carbonized wheat and barley. Its radiocarbon dates place it amongst the world's earliest food-producing settlements. Goat and dog bones show domestication. The first 11 of its 16 levels had no pottery, though clay-lined pits were baked in situ. Square houses of pisé were built with clay ovens and grain pits which included flint and obsidian chipped stone tools, stone bowls, and clay figurines. Flaked and ground stone were freely used for tools and utensils. It is the type site of the Jarmoan culture.

The type site of the Jarmoan culture, situated in the Zagros mountains in Iraqi Kurdistan. The settlement, of the Aceramic Neolithic, has a range of radiocarbon dates, of which the earliest is c6500 be, and has produced important evidence for early farming in this area. The population cultivated barley, emmer and einkom wheats and pulses and kept domesticated goats and, at a slightly later date, pigs as well. Hunting of small game and gathering of snails, nuts, fruit and wild grain were also important. Domesticated dogs were kept. Up to 150 people lived in about 25 rectangular houses made of mud-brick or pisé. Clay ovens and grain pits were found and artefacts included flint and obsidian chipped stone tools, stone bowls, clay figurines and — in the upper levels from ¿5950 be — also pottery.