{{Short description|Late Neolithic archaeological culture of the Southern Levant}} {{Infobox archaeological culture |name = Yarmukian culture |map = {{Location map+ |Levant |float=center |border=infobox |caption= |places= {{Location map~ |Levant |lat=32.6865 |long=35.603297 |mark=Cercle rouge 100%.svg |marksize=20 |label=Sha'ar HaGolan}} }} |mapcaption= Map showing the region of Sha'ar HaGolan, type site of the Yarmukian culture. |region = Levant |period = Late Neolithic |dates = 6400–6000 BC |typesite = Sha'ar HaGolan, Israel |majorsites=Tel Tsaf |precededby=Khiamian |followedby=Wadi Rabah }} [[File:Distribution of pottery Neolithic sites in southern Levant-en.svg|thumb|upright=0.8|Map of the Yarmukian culture and other Pottery Neolithic cultures in the Southern Levant.
{{legend|#55ff55|Yarmukian culture}} {{legend|#ffe680|Lodian (Jericho IX) culture}} {{legend|#9955ff|Nizzanim culture}}]]
The '''Yarmukian culture''' was a Pottery Neolithic A (PNA) culture of the ancient Levant. It was the first culture in prehistoric Syria and one of the oldest in the Levant to make use of pottery. The Yarmukian derives its name from the Yarmuk River, which flows near its type site of Sha'ar Hagolan at the foot of the Golan Heights. This culture existed alongside the Lodian, or Jericho IX culture and the Nizzanim culture to the south.
==Recent theory== thumb|Shaar Hagolan figurines In 2015, a salvage excavation brought to light a prehistoric site near Beit Hilkia and the Revivim quarry, with findings from the Yarmukian, Late Chalcolithic, and the Middle Bronze Age IIA–IIB.<ref name= Arkh>{{cite journal |last1= Marmelstein |first1= Yitzhak |last2= van den Brink |first2= Edwin C.M. |title= Bet Hilqiya: Preliminary report |publisher=Israel Antiquities Authority |location= Jerusalem |journal=Hadashot Arkheologiyot |volume= 132 |date= 26 July 2020 |url= http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=25754&mag_id=128 |access-date= 26 May 2021}}</ref> Somewhat surprising was the discovery of a typical Yarmukian-style fired clay figurine of a fertility goddess, the southernmost such finding.<ref name= Arkh/>
Of 163 sites found up to that date, the vast majority had been discovered in the main area known for its Yarmukian settlements, in and around the northern type-site of Sha'ar Hagolan, with just two exceptions further to the south.<ref name=Arkh/> This new finding led to speculations that much of the Southern Levant might have been inhabited by a contiguous civilization during the time (c. 6400–6000 BCE), with differences in pottery types being more significant to today's archaeologists than to people living back then.<ref name= Arkh/>
==Related sites== [[File:Shaar Hagolan pottery vessel.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Yarmukian pottery vessel, Sha'ar HaGolan.]] Although the Yarmukian culture occupied limited regions of northern Israel and northern Jordan, Yarmukian pottery has been found elsewhere in the region, including the Habashan Street excavations in Tel Aviv and as far north as Byblos, Lebanon. Besides the site at Sha'ar Hagolan, by 1999, 20 other Yarmukian sites have been identified in Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon.<ref name=biblelands>Garfinkel, Y. 1999.</ref> These include, alphabetically:
===Israel=== * Baysamun, Hula Valley * HaZore'a (Jezreel Valley, Israel)<ref name=Rowan/><ref name=Garfinkel93/> * HaBashan Street, Tel Aviv, 500 m south of the Yarkon River (Coastal Plain, Israel)<ref name=Garfinkel93/> * Hamadiya (central Jordan Valley, Israel)<ref name=Rowan/><ref name=Garfinkel93/> * Munhata (central Jordan Valley, Israel)<ref name=Rowan/><ref name=Garfinkel93/> * Nahal Betzet II settlement (northern Israeli coastal plain)<ref name=Garfinke2016/> * Nahal Zehora II settlement (southern Jezreel Valley, Menashe Hills, Israel)<ref name=Garfinke2016/><ref name=Zehora91>Avi Gopher and Estelle Orrelle, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23373367 Preliminary Report on Excavations of Nahal Zehora II — Seasons of 1990 and 1991], ''Mitekufat Haeven - Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society'', 1991, pp. 169-172, accessed 27 December 2019</ref> * Nahal Sephoris 3 settlement (Western Galilee, Israel)<ref name=Garfinke2016>{{cite journal |first1= Julien |last1= Vieugué |first2= Yosef |last2= Garfinkel |first3= Omry |last3= Barzilai |first4= Edwin C. M. |last4= van den Brink |title= Pottery function and culinary practices of Yarmukian societies in the late 7th millennium cal. BC: First results |journal= Paléorient |issue= 42–2 |year= 2016 |volume= 42 |pages= 97–115 |doi= 10.3406/paleo.2016.5722 |url= https://www.persee.fr/doc/paleo_0153-9345_2016_num_42_2_5722 |access-date=27 December 2019 }}</ref> * Tel Kabri (Northern Coastal Plain, Israel)<ref name=Kempinski2002>{{cite book |chapter= 7 |title= Tel Kabri: The 1986-1993 Excavations Seasons |publisher= Emery and Claire Yass Publications in Archaeology |author1= Kempinski, A. |editor= Scheftelowitz, N. |editor2= Oren, R. |year= 2002 |location= Tel Aviv |page= 305 |isbn= 965-266-015-9 |author2= Marder, O. |author3= Prausnitz, M.W. |author4= Khalaily, H.M. |author5= Bankirer, R.Y.}}</ref> * Tel Megiddo (Jezreel Valley, Israel) - Yarmukian settlement at the base of the tell<ref name=Garfinkel93/> * Tel Qishyon/Qishion/Kishion (wrongly spelled as Tel Kishon by the press) near Mount Tabor (Lower Galilee, Israel)<ref name=Rowan/><ref name=Garfinkel93/>
===Jordan=== * Ain Ghazal (Jordan)<ref name=Rowan/> * 'Ain Rahub (Jordan)<ref name=Rowan/> * Jebel Abu Thawwab (Jordan)<ref name=Rowan/> * Wadi Shueib (Jordan)<ref name=Rowan>Yorke M. Rowan, Jonathan Golden, [https://is.muni.cz/el/1421/jaro2011/PAPVA_31/um/Rowan___Golden__2009__Chalcolithic_southern_Levant.pdf The Chalcolithic Period of the Southern Levant: A Synthetic Review], Journal of World Prehistory, April 2009, 22:1–92, DOI 10.1007/s10963-009-9016-4, accessed 27 December 2019</ref>
===Lebanon=== * Byblos (Lebanon)<ref name=Garfinkel93>{{cite journal |first= Yosef |last= Garfinkel |title= The Yarmukian Culture in Israel |journal= Paléorient |issue= 19–1 |year= 1993 |volume= 19 |pages= 115–134 |doi= 10.3406/paleo.1993.4587 |url= https://www.persee.fr/doc/paleo_0153-9345_1993_num_19_1_4587 |access-date=27 December 2019 }}</ref>
===Palestine=== * Tirzah (Tell el-Farah North) (Samaria Hills, West Bank)<ref name=Garfinkel93/> * Wadi Murabba'at Cave (Judaean Desert, West Bank)<ref name=Garfinkel93/> * Wadi Qanah Cave (western Samaria Hills, West Bank)<ref name=Garfinkel93/>
==See also== * Lodian culture * Wadi Raba culture
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * Stekelis M. 1972. ''The Yarmukian Culture''. Jerusalem: Magnes Press. * Garfinkel Y. 1993. ''The Yarmukian Culture in Israel''. Paléorient, Vol 19, No. 1, pp. 115 – 134. * Garfinkel Y. 1999. ''The Yarmukians, Neolithic Art from Sha'ar Hagolan''. Jerusalem: Bible Lands Museum (Exhibition Catalogue). * Garfinkel Y. and Miller M. 2002. ''Sha'ar Hagolan Vol 1. Neolithic Art in Context''. Oxford: Oxbow. * Garfinkel Y. 2004. ''The Goddess of Sha'ar Hagolan. Excavations at a Neolithic Site in Israel''. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society (Hebrew version published in 2002 as: Sha'ar Hagolan. Neolithic Art in the Jordan Valley. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society). * Garfinkel Y. and Ben Shlomo D. In press. ''Sha'ar Hagolan Vol. 2''. Qedem. Jerusalem: Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University. * Garfinkel Y., Vered A. and Bar-Yosef O. 2006. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316981633_2006_Y_Garfinkel_A_Vered_and_O_Bar-Yosef_The_Domestication_of_Water_The_Neolithic_Well_of_Sha'ar_Hagolan_Jordan_Valley_Israel_Antiquity_80_686-696 ''The Domestication of Water: The Neolithic Well of Sha'ar Hagolan, Jordan Valley, Israel'']. Antiquity 80: 686–696. * Obaidat Daifallah 1995. "Die neolithische Keramik aus Abu Thawwab/Jordanien". Berlin, ex Oriente.
==External links== * {{Commons category-inline|Yarmukian culture|Yarmukian Culture}}
{{Neolithic Southwest Asia}} {{Syria topics}}
Category:Yarmukian culture Category:7th-millennium BC establishments Category:6th-millennium BC disestablishments Category:Archaeological cultures in Palestine Category:Archaeological cultures in Lebanon Category:Archaeological cultures in Jordan Category:Prehistoric sites in Israel Category:Archaeological cultures in Israel Category:Late Neolithic