The life of men and women in the Neolithic village of Abu Hureyra

Abu Hureyra is a place now buried under Lake Assad in Syria. Before the waters invaded the place, there was a mound, and, as usual, where there is a mound, there is digging; a team of archeologists came to unearth the remains of a Neolithic village. 

After digging, washing, brushing, cleaning, classifying, and annalizing, they came to some conclusions about how people lived in the Neolithic, especially in the period when they settled to live in one place, cultivating plants and raising livestock versus migrating from place to place, following the animal herds and crop seasons. 

According to the book The Early Human World by Peter Robertshaw and Jill Rubalcaba, which follows the discoveries at Abu Hureyra, the life of Neolithic people was very hard: hours and hours of long physical work, repetitive (and boring, according to modern standards) daily jobs, and enduring, alienating illnesses. 

Archeologists' conclusions after digging and analyzing the site suggest a heartbreaking, hard-to-believe picture of a small society trying to survive by farming and raising sheep and goats. 

Archeologists have uncovered seeds of wheat and barley and the remains of sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle. 

The Neolithic villagers used to carry their crop from the field to their houses on their heads, so the neck bones grew larger. Also, their upper arms got stronger from heavy lifting, causing the bones to bulge. 

They used to grind the grains between two rocks for hours, with their toes curled under their feet until their big toe bones would wear off. They often used their teeth as tools. The archaeologists think they held canes so they could have free hands for other tasks and/or chewed plants to make strings. They used their teeth so much that they carved deep grooves, which must have hurt a lot since they were down to the roots. 

One particular bone deformity speaks about their health. The eye sockets were pitted, and this condition was attributed to the parasites eroding the bone. 

The book mentioned above is full of surprises about the life of Neolithic men and women. The picture is often very different than what we may think after learning from our textbooks. The style is vivid and entertaining. I find it fascinating.  

Fire and cooking; we are what we eat

Fire, like air, water, and earth, is a transformative element in our lives. Its significance has been underscored since the dawn of our civilization. It has shaped our humanity, transitioning us from a primitive state by altering our diet from raw to cooked food, providing warmth, and enabling the acquisition of new skills. Fire has been instrumental in the creation of the first metal tools and the firing of ceramics.

Feeding the baby
Rudolf Epp, German painter, 1834 - 1910

Aside from being such an indispensable element in our lives and because it is so vital, fire has been integrated into religious and philosophical systems around the world: the four, five, or sometimes seven elements (the four of them are water, air, fire, earth).

The oldest records of a fire date back 420 million years ago. But it is said that humans started to make fire some 500.000 to 400.000 years ago.  This domesticated fire wasn’t used for cooking immediately; it was more likely used to keep them warm. But the wildfires provided them with already cooked meat: the meat of the animals caught and burned in the fire. It must have tasted delicious. Then they started grilling. I imagine it wasn’t only meat that got cooked by wildfires but also some vegetables and fruits, along with the edible parts of some plant roots.

Later, in the late Paleolithic, they may have also started to heat water by putting hot stones in a pot or heating the water in animal bladders over an open fire. That was the beginning of cooking.

In the Neolithic, people started using earthenware pottery, and historians and archaeologists today see this as a food revolution. Using pottery for cooking allowed our ancestors to cook in boiling water, which changed the tests, the nutrition balance, and the eating habits. They would also grill, bake, and braise.

There are many ways to start a fire, and the primitive man must have known a few. As they advanced and settled, they also preserved fire, which was much easier than starting it.
From this point, the cooking process and the food we ate only got better.