'Ain Ghazal (Spring of the Gazelle)

This Neolithic archaeological site is located in metropolitan Amman, Jordan, adjacent to the Zarqa River (Wadi Zarqa), the longest drainage system in highland Jordan, the site was richly forested, and surrounded by arable land. At 30 acres, It is the largest known Neolithic village site in southwest Asia and during its 2000 year inhabitation, it passed through four stages of development from Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (MPPNB) through the Yarmukian period. The settlement was built in two phases: and is split into two phases. Phase I starts circa 8,300 BCE and ends c.7,950 BCE, while phase II ends c. 7,550 BCE, before Mesopotamia was populated by humans.

After wandering for wild food sources for milleniia, the people began to settle into village built with rectangular stone and mud-brick houses, the backs of which were partially submerged into the banks of terraces. Walls were plastered with mud on the outside, and with lime plaster inside that was renewed every few years.

Phase 1, Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period (MPPNB), humans in the Levant were undergoing a major transformation in prehistoric lifeways from small bands of wandering hunter-gatherers to large settled farming and herding villages, the process having been initiated earlier in the tenth and eleventh millennia. 'Ain Ghazal began its early Pottery Neolithic period c. 6400 BCE which continued to 5000 BCE. The farming population of 600-750 cultivated barley and ancient wheat, legumes, chick peas and herded and domesticated goats. They also continued to hunt wild species of deer, gazelle, equids, pigs, fox and hare.

Excavations uncovered the partially preserved rectangular 'pier" building modeled here, (see megaton pier buildings page ) where some of the rooms were used for grain storage and cooking. This discovery has redefined the known use of many of the Neolithic "houses". The architecture of grain and food storage was essential for the development of neolithic sedentarism and agriculture. One theory posits that the houses may have been multi-level with living spaces upstairs and grain/food storage in the level below.

Elevation above sea level is 720m (2360 ft).

Construction materials consisted of stone and mud brick walls, tree log roof beams supporting reed and clay flat roofs. The interior walls and floor were lime plastered.

Sources of data for CG model:
1.Kuijt, Ian, 2011; Home is where we keep out food: The origins of agriculture and Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic food storage; (journal) Paléorient, 2011, vol. 37, number https://www.persee.fr/doc/paleo_0153-9345_2011_num_37_1_5444
2. Rollefson, Gary O., 1983; Ritual and Ceremony at Neolithic Ain Ghazal (Jordan), (journal) Paléorient, Vol. 9, No. 2 (1983), pp. 29-38, published by: Paleorient and CNRS Editions and CNRS Editions.
https://www.persee.fr/doc/paleo_0153-9345_1983_num_9_2_4339
3. Rollefson, Gary O.; Simmons, Alan H.; Kafafi, Zeiden, 1992; Neolithic Cultures at 'Ain Ghazal, Jordan; Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol 19, No. 4., Winter, 1992.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233619156_Neolithic_Cultures_at_%27Ain_Ghazal_Jordan