PPNA Wall of Jericho

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PPNA Wall of Jericho

The Pre-Pottery Neolithic A
Pre-Pottery Neolithic A

The Pre-Pottery Neolithic A represents the early Neolithic in the Levantine and upper Mesopotamian region of the Fertile Crescent. It succeeds the Natufian culture of the Epipaleolithic as the domestication of plants and animals was in its beginnings and triggered by the Younger Dryas....
(PPNA) wall of Jericho
Jericho

Jericho is a city located near the Jordan River in the West Bank of the Palestinian territories. It is the capital of the Jericho Governorate, and has a population of over 20,000 Arabs....
dates to approximately 8000 BC and is thought to be the first city wall ever built. It surrounded and protected a Neolithic

Neolithic

The Neolithic period was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 Before the Christian Era in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age....
settlement which contained anywhere from 2000 to 3000 people. The wall was complemented by a stone tower

Tower

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Encyclopedia

Neolithic

Tower

Towers are tall human-made structures that are always taller than they are wide, usually by a significant margin. Towers are generally built to take advantage of their height, and can stand alone or as part of a larger structure....
built into it. The tower had stairways and is thought to have reached a height of ten meters. The wall is thought to have been built in order to prevent floods but the height of the wall (approximately thick and 12 to high) as well as that of the tower suggests a defensive purpose as well. Furthermore, the construction of such a project implies some sort of social organization, division of labour

Division of labour

Division of labour or specialization is the specialization of cooperative Labour in specific, circumscribed tasks and roles, intended to increase the productivity of labour....
, and classes.

The town of Jericho, which was about six acres (2.5 hectares) in size, preceded the wall by about 500 years. In fact, evidence suggests that construction started prior to the agricultural revolution

Neolithic Revolution

The Neolithic Revolution was the first agricultural revolution—the transition from hunter-gatherer communities and bands, to agriculture and settlement ....
. The town contained round mud-brick houses, yet no street planning. Despite the existence of the wall and tower, Jericho is still a proto-city

Proto-city

Proto-city is a term usually used to describe large villages of the Neolithic Period such as PPNA Wall of Jericho and Catal Huyuk, but also any Prehistory settlement which has both rural and urban features....
, much like Çatalhöyük

Çatalhöyük

?atalh?y?k was a very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlement in southern Anatolia, c 7500-5700 BCE. It is the largest and best preserved Neolithic site found to date....
.