The Early Prehistory of Mesopotamia

Book excerpt: The early prehistory of Mesopotamia provides a uniquely rich and significant contribution to the study of the human past. Within the geographic bounds of Mesopotamia many major developments took place. Early forms of hominid, probably Homo erectus and definitely Neandertal, passed countless millennia here, to be succeeded by anatomically modern humans. After the end of the last Ice Age the pace of human activity increased. Settled communities appeared for the first time, followed by the extensive and intensive exploitation and domestication of plants and animals. By 4,500 bc settled human communities were practising a full spectrum of agricultural techniques, cultivating a range of crops and husbanding domesticated animals for a variety of purposes, while maintaining an involvement in traditional hunting strategies. Firmly based on site by site examination, this volume contains detailed analyses of all evidence relevant to these and other major concerns of the early Mesopotamian past.