Yarmukian culture


The Yarmukian culture was a Pottery Neolithic A culture of the ancient Levant. It was the first culture in prehistoric Israel and one of the oldest in the Levant to make use of pottery. The Yarmukian derives its name from the Yarmouk River, which flows near its type site of Sha'ar HaGolan, near Kibbutz Sha'ar HaGolan at the foot of the Golan Heights. This culture existed alongside the Lodian and the Nizzanim cultures to the north.

Related sites

Besides the site at Sha'ar HaGolan, 20 other Yarmukian sites have been identified in Israel, Jordan and Lebanon. These include:
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.