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.