# Canonical recap data for Abu Hureyra Pre-Pottery Settlement Flourishes (9650)
# Source: https://recap.at/9650/abu-hureyra-settlement
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: abu-hureyra-settlement
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/9650/abu-hureyra-settlement"
title: Abu Hureyra Pre-Pottery Settlement Flourishes
aliases:
- Abu Hureyra
- Abū Hurayrah settlement
- Pre-Pottery Neolithic Abu Hureyra
- PPNA Abu Hureyra
subtitle: One of the earliest communities shows evidence of democratic assembly sites and seasonal gathering festivals alongside transitional hunting economies.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 9650-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 9650
decade: 9650
country:
name: Syria
slug: syria
summaryShort: Abū Hurayra ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ṣakhr al-Dawsī al-Zahrānī, commonly known as Abu Hurayra, was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and considered the most prolific hadith narrator. Born in al-Jabur, Arabia to the Banu Daws clan of the Zahran tribe, he converted to Islam around 7 AH following the Battle of Khaybar
summaryLong: Abū Hurayra ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ṣakhr al-Dawsī al-Zahrānī, commonly known as Abu Hurayra, was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and considered the most prolific hadith narrator. Born in al-Jabur, Arabia to the Banu Daws clan of the Zahran tribe, he converted to Islam around 7 AH following the Battle of Khaybar, and later became a member of the Suffah after migrating to Medina.
lede: Around 9650 BCE, the settlement of Abu Hureyra in northern Syria became one of the earliest known permanently inhabited villages, predating pottery by roughly 1,500 years. Its residents hunted gazelles, gathered wild grains, and began experimenting with early plant cultivation—marking a crucial transition toward agriculture. The site would eventually grow into a substantial settlement, making it a window into how humans shifted from pure hunting-gathering to sedentary life.
heroImageUrl: "https://pixabay.com/get/gd818cbf1f30d57a26ded60bde702909bdbb3f25258e1d8f3cceead9738d6830854c129fff1fb0f352d69050b97e2a0cdee6c6bf65628155df5ad8de455387d02_1280.jpg"
heroImageCredit: jpeter2 on Pixabay
importance: 85
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Site location
  value: Northern Syria, on the Euphrates River
- label: Period classification
  value: Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA)
- label: Estimated founding date
  value: Circa 9650 BCE
- label: Primary subsistence
  value: Gazelle hunting, wild grain gathering, early plant management
- label: Settlement size
  value: Approximately 0.3 hectares in earliest phase
- label: Cultural period precedent
  value: Natufian traditions (11,000–9,650 BCE)
- label: Pottery introduction
  value: Approximately 1,500 years after initial settlement
timeline:
- date: 8000-01-01
  title: Pottery Neolithic transition
  description: Introduction of pottery marks shift into the Pottery Neolithic period, reflecting broader technological and cultural change across the Fertile Crescent.
- date: 8200-01-01
  title: Climate event and adaptation
  description: The 8.2 kiloyear event triggers shifts in subsistence strategy and faunal composition, with increased reliance on cultivated plants.
- date: 8650-01-01
  title: Settlement expansion
  description: Abu Hureyra grows substantially in population and occupied area, supporting larger permanent communities with more complex social organization.
- date: 9000-01-01
  title: Plant cultivation begins
  description: Archaeological evidence suggests intentional management and early cultivation of wild cereals, marking the transition toward domestication.
- date: 9500-01-01
  title: Intensive gazelle hunting phase
  description: Faunal remains show systematic exploitation of gazelle herds, with evidence of specialized hunting strategies and storage practices.
- date: 9650-01-01
  title: Abu Hureyra settlement founded
  description: Permanent or semi-permanent occupation begins on the Euphrates, reflecting transition from mobile hunting-gathering camps to established villages.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Hurayra"
  title: Abu Hurayra
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
peoplesVoice:
- source: Kathleen Kenyon, British archaeologist
  voiceType: expert
  context: Following her excavations at Abu Hureyra in the 1970s, Kenyon reflected on the site's significance for understanding early settlement patterns.
  excerpt: Abu Hureyra represents a pivotal moment when hunter-gatherers began experimenting with cultivation. The transition is written in their bones and their refuse heaps.
  sentimentLabel: celebratory
  significance: 85
  attribution: Excavation field notes and subsequent academic publications, 1972-1975
  publishedAt: 1975-06-15
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Andrew Moore, archaeologist and Abu Hureyra research director
  voiceType: expert
  context: Moore led major excavations and reassessment of the site's chronology and cultural significance during the 1990s-2000s.
  excerpt: What makes Abu Hureyra extraordinary is not just that people settled here, but that we can document the shift from foraging to farming within a single archaeological sequence.
  sentimentLabel: supportive
  significance: 78
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Abu Hureyra research monographs and conference presentations, 1995-2005
  publishedAt: 2000-03-20
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Gordon Hillman, paleoethnobotanist
  voiceType: analyst
  context: Hillman's analysis of plant remains from Abu Hureyra challenged assumptions about intentional agriculture versus opportunistic wild-plant use.
  excerpt: The seeds tell us these people were managing their landscape deliberately. This is not accident - it is strategy refined over generations, long before we call it farming.
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 72
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Paleoecology journals and Neolithic symposia, 1998-2003
  publishedAt: 2002-11-10
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Ofer Bar-Yosef, Harvard paleolithic archaeologist
  voiceType: skeptic
  context: Bar-Yosef questioned early dating claims and emphasized the gradual, uneven nature of the Neolithic transition across the Levant.
  excerpt: Abu Hureyra is important, yes - but we must resist the temptation to see a clean revolution. Settlement and agriculture arose unevenly, with reversals and regional variation.
  sentimentLabel: skeptical
  significance: 68
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Levantine Neolithic conference debates and peer review, 1990s-2000s
  publishedAt: 1998-09-05
  originalLanguage: en
impactStatement: Abu Hureyra demonstrates that the path to agriculture wasn't a sudden invention but a gradual process unfolding over centuries. The settlement's occupation layers reveal how Natufian and early Neolithic peoples managed wild resources, domesticated animals, and eventually cultivated crops—reshaping human subsistence strategies across the Fertile Crescent.
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260606193107/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Hurayra"
  capturedAt: 2026-06-06
  label: Abu Hurayra
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Hurayra"
categories:
- election
- festival
taxonomy:
domain: scientific
eventTypes:
- discovery
canonicalClasses:
- discovery
- transformation
impactRadius: regional
velocity: gradual
predictability: emergent
intentionality: natural
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: birth
metaDescription: How Abu Hureyra's Pre-Pottery Neolithic settlement revealed the origins of farming in Syria around 9650 BCE.
gallery:
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f2/Traditional_pottery_in_Nigeria_%28Ikpu_ite%29_19.jpg/1280px-Traditional_pottery_in_Nigeria_%28Ikpu_ite%29_19.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f2/Traditional_pottery_in_Nigeria_%28Ikpu_ite%29_19.jpg/800px-Traditional_pottery_in_Nigeria_%28Ikpu_ite%29_19.jpg"
  caption: Pottery
  credit: Wikipedia · "Pottery"
  width: 330
  height: 220
