A History of Agriculture in India v1.c14.9

v1.c14.9

The oldest Neolithic settlement sites known are Ali Kosh, Bus Mordeh phase (7500 B.C.) in Iran, Jericho in Jordan (7000 B.C.), Jarmo in Iraq (6750 B.C.) and Belt Cave below the Caspian (6500 B.C.) in northern Iran. Between them, they more or less embrace the region called the Fertile Crescent, which saw the rise of Neolithic culture. Ali Kosh, Jericho, Jarmo and other ecologically similar localities witnessed the first attempts at agriculture. These are mountainous areas where adequate rainfall for non-irrigation agriculture exists. The Ali Kosh villagers harvested their cereals with flint sickles, which were set into hafts by means of asphalt. They ground up wheat, barley, and crop weeds on saddle-shaped or shallow-basin grinding-slabs, using simple discoidal handstones of pitted limestone. An innovation was the use of the stone mortar and pestle.