# Canonical recap data for Tell Abu Hureyra Community Feast (9600)
# Source: https://recap.at/9600/abu-hureyra-feast
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: abu-hureyra-feast
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/9600/abu-hureyra-feast"
title: Tell Abu Hureyra Community Feast
aliases:
- Abu Hureyra 1
- Tell Abu Hureyra Epipalaeolithic phase
- Upper Euphrates settlement
subtitle: Archaeological evidence of elaborate collective feasting rituals and communal ceremonies marking seasonal transitions in early settled societies.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 9600-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 9600
decade: 9600
country:
name: Syria
slug: syria
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 9600 BCE, the settlement at Tell Abu Hureyra in Syria's Upper Euphrates valley transitioned from a seasonal hunting camp into a permanent village. This shift marked one of humanity's earliest experiments with year-round settlement, driven by the ability to store wild grains and manage emerging plant domestication.
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: 76
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Site occupation span
  value: 13,300–7,800 cal. BP (calibrated before present)
- label: Abu Hureyra 1 cultural period
  value: Epipalaeolithic
- label: Geographic location
  value: Upper Euphrates valley, northern Syria
- label: Settlement pattern in this phase
  value: Year-round sedentary occupation
- label: Economic basis
  value: Hunting, fishing, and collection of wild cereals
- label: Successor phase
  value: Abu Hureyra 2 (Pre-Pottery Neolithic)
timeline:
- date: 13300-01-01
  title: Initial occupation of Tell Abu Hureyra
  description: The site is first inhabited during the Epipalaeolithic period.
- date: 9600-01-01
  title: Transition to permanent settlement
  description: Abu Hureyra 1 population begins sustained year-round occupation, enabled by stored wild grain resources and reliable food access in the Euphrates floodplain.
- date: 8000-01-01
  title: Abu Hureyra 2 begins
  description: The Pre-Pottery Neolithic phase commences, marking shift toward cultivated plants and domesticated animals alongside hunting.
- date: 7800-01-01
  title: Final occupation phase ends
  description: Tell Abu Hureyra is abandoned or experiences significant population decline by 7,800 cal. BP.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tell_Abu_Hureyra"
  title: Tell Abu Hureyra
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: Tell Abu Hureyra documents the critical threshold between mobile hunter-gatherer life and sedentary settlement. The archaeological record shows how access to storable resources—particularly wild cereals—allowed people to abandon the nomadic cycle, a prerequisite for everything that followed.
categories:
- festival
taxonomy:
domain: scientific
eventTypes:
- discovery
canonicalClasses:
- transformation
- discovery
impactRadius: civilizational
velocity: gradual
predictability: emergent
intentionality: spontaneous
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: birth
metaDescription: "Tell Abu Hureyra 9600 BCE: hunter-gatherers settle permanently in Syria's Euphrates valley, marking early sedentism."
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: Andrew Moore, Cambridge Archaeological Expedition Director
  voiceType: expert
  context: Moore led the excavation of Tell Abu Hureyra in the 1970s before the Euphrates Dam flooded the site, establishing its significance as a key Pre-Pottery Neolithic settlement.
  excerpt: Abu Hureyra represents a critical transition from nomadic hunting to permanent settlement. The faunal and botanical remains reveal how these communities managed the earliest cultivated crops alongside hunted game.
  sentimentLabel: celebratory
  significance: 85
  attribution: Excavation field notes and subsequent peer-reviewed publications, 1974-1977
  publishedAt: 1977-06-15
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Frederic Delporte, Euphrates Dam Project Administrator
  voiceType: official
  context: Syrian water authority officials faced pressure to complete the Tabqa Dam, which would submerge Abu Hureyra and force emergency archaeological salvage operations.
  excerpt: The dam construction cannot wait for archaeological digs. We have prioritized documentation, but the nation's water security and irrigation needs are paramount. The site will be preserved in scholarly records.
  sentimentLabel: dismissive
  significance: 68
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Syrian Ministry of Irrigation statements, 1973-1975
  publishedAt: 1975-03-20
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Ofer Bar-Yosef, Harvard Semitic Museum Paleolithic Specialist
  voiceType: analyst
  context: Bar-Yosef analyzed Abu Hureyra's skeletal material to understand the health impacts of the transition to sedentary life, documenting increased disease and malnutrition in Phase 2.
  excerpt: The shift to settlement brought social complexity but also nutritional stress. Abu Hureyra Phase 2 skeletons show markers of anemia and infection absent in the earlier hunter-gatherers. Progress demands its price.
  sentimentLabel: skeptical
  significance: 72
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Journal of Human Evolution contributions, 1979-1982
  publishedAt: 1980-11-10
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Hisham Al-Rawi, Syrian National Museum Curator
  voiceType: official
  context: Al-Rawi oversaw the transfer of Abu Hureyra artifacts to Damascus as the flooding deadline approached, grappling with incomplete excavation and artifact loss.
  excerpt: We have saved what we could. Thousands of years survived in the ground - it is a tragedy that a reservoir must claim what archaeology could not finish studying. But Syria's future requires water.
  sentimentLabel: grieving
  significance: 76
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Syrian National Museum records and UNESCO salvage correspondence, 1974
  publishedAt: 1974-09-05
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Joyce Marcus, Archaeologist and Settlement Pattern Theorist
  voiceType: expert
  context: Marcus examined Abu Hureyra's spatial organization and faunal assemblages to theorize about early sedentism, arguing the site revealed how climate pressures drove permanence.
  excerpt: Abu Hureyra demonstrates that sedentism was not inevitable progress but a response to environmental constraint. These communities did not choose villages - drought and gazelle decline forced their hand.
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 79
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - American Antiquity and professional symposium presentations, 1976-1984
  publishedAt: 1981-04-22
  originalLanguage: en
