Origins and development of the earliest farming societies in North Mesopotamia

Tell Seker al-Aheimar是一个史前定居点，拥有从前新石器时代B （PPNB）到新石器时代陶器（PN）的完整序列，是迄今为止在叙利亚东北部Khabur盆地系统调查的唯一一个定居点。2001年至2003年的发掘工作使我们能够讨论新石器时代社会是如何在美索不达米亚北部的西部边缘发展起来的。该序列由几个阶段组成，可能从该地区以前未知的PPNB中间开始。这些阶段包括一个非常早期的PN，它连接了最新的PPNB和PN的Proto-Hassuna。我们对建筑、剥落的石头文物和陶器的分析表明，这一时期的过渡是一个连续的过程。与此同时，每个时期的考古遗迹都显示了与邻近地区（如金牛座南部和叙利亚北部）复杂的文化互动的证据。虽然它们原则上属于东耶济勒延伸到伊拉克的一个特殊文化实体，但PPNB阶段显示出与北部更明显的联系。这使我们对美索不达米亚北部新石器时代的背景有了深入的了解，在那里，原哈苏纳人在PN后期广泛分布。

Tell Seker al-Aheimar is a prehistoric settlement with a complete sequence from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) to the Pottery Neolithic (PN), the only one so far systematically investigated in the Khabur basin, northeast Syria. The excavations in 2001 to 2003 allowed us to discuss how the Neolithic society developed at the western edge of North Mesopotamia. The sequence consists of several phases, probably starting from the middle PPNB that had been previously unknown in this region. These phases include a very early PN, which bridges the latest PPNB and the Proto-Hassuna of the PN. Our analysis of the architecture, flaked stone artifacts as well as pottery suggests that the transition over this period was a continuous process. At the same time, the archaeological remains from each phase show evidence of a complex cultural interaction with the neighboring regions such as the southern Taurus and the northern Syria. While they belong to, in principle, a particular cultural entity of the east Jezireh stretching to Iraq, the PPNB phases show more evident ties with the north. This gives us an insight into the background of Neolithization processes of the northern Mesopotamia, where the Proto-Hassuna became widely distributed during the later PN period.