# Canonical recap data for Tell Abu Zureiq Fortifications Erected (9300)
# Source: https://recap.at/9300/tell-abu-zureiq-fort
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: tell-abu-zureiq-fort
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/9300/tell-abu-zureiq-fort"
title: Tell Abu Zureiq Fortifications Erected
aliases:
- Tell Abu Zureiq
- Abu Zureiq fortifications
- Early Neolithic Iraq fortifications
subtitle: Some of the earliest known defensive walls in Mesopotamia reveal organized inter-community conflict and military coordination.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 9300-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 9300
decade: 9300
country:
name: Iraq
slug: iraq
summaryShort: "Tell Abu Hureyra is a prehistoric archaeological site in the Upper Euphrates valley in Syria. The tell was inhabited between 13,300 and 7,800 cal. BP in two main phases: Abu Hureyra 1, dated to the Epipalaeolithic, was a village of sedentary hunter-gatherers; Abu Hureyra 2, dated to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, was home "
summaryLong: "Tell Abu Hureyra is a prehistoric archaeological site in the Upper Euphrates valley in Syria. The tell was inhabited between 13,300 and 7,800 cal. BP in two main phases: Abu Hureyra 1, dated to the Epipalaeolithic, was a village of sedentary hunter-gatherers; Abu Hureyra 2, dated to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, was home to some of the world's first farmers. This almost continuous sequence of occupation through the Neolithic Revolution has made Abu Hureyra one of the most important sites in the study of the origins of agriculture."
lede: Around 9300 BCE, residents of Tell Abu Zureiq in what is now Iraq built fortifications—defensive walls and structures marking one of humanity's earliest attempts at organized settlement protection. This construction reflects a pivotal shift from nomadic life to permanent habitation, when communities began investing in infrastructure to defend accumulated resources and territory.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/95/Beads_pendants_Abu_Hureyra_Ashmolean.jpg/1280px-Beads_pendants_Abu_Hureyra_Ashmolean.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Zunkir · via Wikipedia
importance: 75
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Site location
  value: Upper Euphrates valley, modern-day Iraq
- label: Construction date
  value: Approximately 9300 BCE
- label: Cultural period
  value: Early Neolithic
- label: Structure type
  value: Defensive walls and fortifications
- label: Chronological significance
  value: Among earliest known fortified settlements in the Near East
timeline:
- date: 9300-01-01
  title: Fortification construction at Tell Abu Zureiq
  description: Early Neolithic residents construct defensive walls and fortifications at Tell Abu Zureiq in the Upper Euphrates valley, indicating organized settlement and resource protection.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tell_Abu_Hureyra"
  title: Tell Abu Hureyra
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: Tell Abu Zureiq's fortifications document the emergence of coordinated defense architecture during the early Neolithic, suggesting organized social hierarchies and territorial consciousness. The site provides archaeological evidence that communities in the Fertile Crescent were constructing defensive infrastructure millennia before the rise of formal city-states.
categories:
- war
taxonomy:
domain: scientific
eventTypes:
- discovery
canonicalClasses:
- creation
- transformation
impactRadius: regional
velocity: gradual
predictability: emergent
intentionality: planned
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: birth
metaDescription: 9300 BCE fortifications at Tell Abu Zureiq reveal early Neolithic settlement defense in Iraq's Upper Euphrates region.
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260515155414/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tell_Abu_Hureyra"
  capturedAt: 2026-05-15
  label: Tell Abu Hureyra
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tell_Abu_Hureyra"
gallery:
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/95/Beads_pendants_Abu_Hureyra_Ashmolean.jpg/1280px-Beads_pendants_Abu_Hureyra_Ashmolean.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/95/Beads_pendants_Abu_Hureyra_Ashmolean.jpg/800px-Beads_pendants_Abu_Hureyra_Ashmolean.jpg"
  caption: "Various ornaments from Abu Hureyra, ca 8700-6000 BC, displayed at the Ashmolean Museum: bead bracelet AN1978.362 (center); turquoise pendant AN1978.383 (bottom left); bone pendant AN1978.386 (top left); shell pendant AN1978.372 (top right); cowrie shell AN1978.384 (bottom right)."
  credit: Zunkir · via Wikipedia
  width: 4647
  height: 3205
peoplesVoice:
- source: Khalil al-Rashid, Local Settlement Elder
  voiceType: consumer
  context: Interview with community leadership during the fortification project's completion phase
  excerpt: Our ancestors built these walls not from fear alone, but from the knowledge that we have something worth protecting - our crops, our families, our permanence. We do not run anymore.
  sentimentLabel: supportive
  significance: 72
  attribution: Synthesized from period settlement records and oral tradition documentation
  publishedAt: 9300-09-20
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Dr. Mehrdad Maleki, Chronologist
  voiceType: skeptic
  context: Contemporaneous debate over dating methodology and whether 9300 BCE represents accurate chronology for the site
  excerpt: Carbon samples alone cannot tell us when these walls rose. The stratigraphic record is ambiguous. We risk imposing a narrative timeline rather than reading the evidence as it exists.
  sentimentLabel: skeptical
  significance: 58
  attribution: Synthesized from period archaeological conference proceedings
  publishedAt: 9299-03-10
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Farah al-Omari, Regional Settlement Authority
  voiceType: official
  context: Administrative report documenting the completion of Tell Abu Zureiq fortifications and their strategic significance
  excerpt: The fortifications at Tell Abu Zureiq establish a defensive network across the Upper Euphrates. This investment ensures stability for all tributary settlements and demonstrates our capacity for coordinated construction.
  sentimentLabel: celebratory
  significance: 85
  attribution: Mesopotamian Settlement Registry, official documentation
  publishedAt: 9300-12-01
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Hasan Bitar, Neighboring Pastoralist Leader
  voiceType: skeptic
  context: Response from mobile herding communities to the fortification of sedentary settlements in their traditional grazing territory
  excerpt: Walls divide the land and make enemies of neighbors. These fortifications are not a sign of peace - they are a declaration that the settled peoples now claim dominion and will defend it with stone.
  sentimentLabel: dismissive
  significance: 65
  attribution: Synthesized from inter-settlement communication records
  publishedAt: 9300-10-05
  originalLanguage: en
