Jordan: The mysterious Stone Age village | 42:26
DW Documentary | 6.11M subscribers | 2,706,845 views | October 20, 2022
Posted on 06/23/2025 8:58:53 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Jordan: The mysterious Stone Age village | 42:26
DW Documentary | 6.11M subscribers | 2,706,845 views | October 20, 2022
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The Neolithic village of Ba'ja in Jordan is a famous archaeological site. It was one of the world's first known settlements, founded some 9,000 years ago. The site has produced magnificent finds including an ancient necklace made of 2,500 beads.
What prompted our Neolithic ancestors to settle down? Why did they change their nomadic, hunter-gatherer lives so radically? As is so often the case in archaeology, it is tombs that tell us the most, while also raising new questions.
One of the most magnificent finds at the Ba'ja archaeological site is the richly furnished tomb of a young girl. In 2018, as the excavation team was about to depart, beads emerged from beneath the slab of a nondescript tomb. The team kept working until they finally recovered around 2,500 beads. Further research showed the beads belonged to an elaborately crafted necklace that had been buried with the girl. The team affectionately christened her Jamila, "the beautiful one."
Jamila's necklace is a sensation, and has been put on display at the new Petra Museum. There, the entire history of the country is presented, beginning with Ba'ja and humankind's decision to leave behind the hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
Along with other finds from Ba'ja, Jamila's finely wrought necklace calls into question much of what we thought we knew about the Stone Age. In recent decades, the burial site in Jordan has helped us see Neolithic people through different eyes. One thing seems clear: They were able to invest time in aesthetics, jewelry and furnishings because their food supply was secure.
https://search.brave.com/search?q=neolithic+jordan+ba%27ja
Neolithic Ba’ja
Ba’ja is a Neolithic village located 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) north of Petra, Jordan, and was built around 7000 BC during the PPNB (Pre-Pottery Neolithic B) period.
It is one of the largest Neolithic villages in the Jordan area, situated at an altitude of approximately 1,160 metres (3,810 ft) and accessible only through a narrow, steep canyon.
The site has been the focus of archaeological studies, including research on the timing of the deposition of rubble layers using luminescence dating, which aims to understand the cultural changes and destruction of Neolithic settlements in the region.
AI-generated answer. Please verify critical facts.
These archaeologists appear to be stupid. These ancient people probably built their structures out of wood before they used blocks of stone. The arches only find the stone so they think that the only type of construction ..Are they really this dumb? American Easyly Coast Indians hardly used stone block villages . They used wood..duuuhh ..my cat is smarter than these arch s.
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Why did they change their nomadic, hunter-gatherer lives so radically?
I surmise that it wasn’t so radically. It probably took thousands of years from the discovery that you could save and plant seeds from one year to the next. Meanwhile, they hunted and gathered returning to discover the same grains had grown back. Someone had to be paying attention so that they began to deliberately hold back some seeds and plant them.
More impressive to me is the swift division of labor and specialization that arose because of agriculture. Potters, artisans, even traders could exist because food was available readily and a home did not have to be dismantled and moved.
All speculation on my part...but fascinating stuff...
Thanks for the post.
Since women did more of the gathering while the men were hunting, it is likely they made a significant contribution to the invention of basic gardening/agriculture. This differences in role I believe several things I have noticed in modern male/female behavior and skills.
Women tend to chatter more, likely from millennia of siting and working together in caves while the men were off hunting and keeping quiet to not scare the game.
Men are better at algebra which is abstract as is hunting moving quarry. women may be better at geometry which deals with fixed shapes and comparisons.
Women do better at night work as women always had to wake up several times a night to nurse their infants. In the first months an infant wants to nurse every 3 or 4 hours. Failure to wake quickly and feed the fussing infant can lead to loud crying which would attract dangerous animals, not to mention waking the men and ruining their next day’s hunt.
Have you noticed these tendencies in your relationships?
Women wove and that means geometry and counting skills.
First to go beyond fingers and toes.
I wonder which came first, knotted nets or woven bags and cloth? Also such items made of reeds and pine needles as mats and containers. Surely a lot of soft materials made by women did not survive ss well as stone items like arrows and club heads which were more likely made and used by men.
Looking for such perishable materials has been one of James Adovasio’s focuses, uh, foci. D*** it, it’s been an important focus of James Adovasio.
https://search.brave.com/search?q=adovasio+archaeology
a related oldie (2006):
https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1689685/posts
It’s likely that noticing that seeds were edible, and that undigested seeds would spring up in waste piles, took less than one year. Observation of wild critters’ choice of plants probably helped expand the menu a great deal. The one drawback would have been the first vegans. ;^)
Multirow barley, which resulted from prehistoric plant breeding, was in use at least 14,000 years ago — an example of the survival of perishable materials and also of the usefulness of RC dating.
Trade with neighbors seems to have been around a long time, Colin Renfrew studied the obsidian trade, which on land and sea, and can be linked to specific ancient mines thanks to analysis of the obsidian artifacts.
We humans, we’re quite remarkable. :^)
Relationships, heh, good one. I just put the stepladder away after changing my bare lightbulb. ;^)
Women are naturally more alert to higher pitched sounds, which helps wake them when the baby cries. Men tend to catnap, and tend to be nocturnal snackers. Socially, in the modern world, this causes problems, because men don’t need to keep watch at the mouth of the cave all night, everyone tends to be up during daylight hours. This leads to men wanting sex in the morning and women wanting sex at bedtime.
I think a lot of important early practices, discoveries, inventions, and arts (including cave paintings, sculpture, watercraft, the wheel, and fire) came from the kids, who had the most free time on their hands, natural curiousity, and the dirty-double-dog-dare.
The most complicated common and very ancient food may be leavened bread. That had to have resulted from the observation of accidental or naturally occurring events.
My pleasure.
It’s likely that noticing that seeds were edible, and that undigested seeds would spring up in waste piles, took less than one year.
Well I sorta disagree...they would have seen that even when hunting and gathering, as camps would be around for weeks and months before moving on. [I am envisioning plains Indian tribes following herds.]
Someone would have to have had an “A-ha!!” moment sow seeds. Then return to find grains where they were sown. That had to take some “faith” because you were casting away perfectly good food.
Then they would have to to infer that breaking the ground and sowing made the crop bigger.
I think it was a slower process and it happened over a lot of time.
[Sorry...I clicked post too soon]
Yes trading was around for millennia as different groups would meet up either by accident or design. I am sure goods were swapped and techniques shared [or copied].
Sounds like a very Jane Auull version of prehistoric folk, I know. But in the end, they still hunted and gathered their butts off.
By settling in villages and cities, specialization [such as trading and, I don’t know, pottery, weaving, etc. could be supported and expanded. [I realize some of this existed before but if you are settled, you an build a better more permanent kiln and a more substantial loom.]
Now, I wonder, did Native Americans come with the knowledge of “farming” 22,000 years ago or did they develop it once here independently?
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