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Settlement from Ain Ghazal, Jordan 9573 ybp
The 9th millennium Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) period in the Levant represents a major transformation in prehistoric lifeways from small bands of mobile hunter–gatherers to large settled farming and herding villages in the Mediterranean zone, the process having been initiated some 2–3 millennia earlier.

'Ain Ghazal (" Spring of the Gazelles") is situated in a relatively rich environmental setting immediately adjacent to the Wadi Zarqa, the longest drainage system in highland Jordan. It is located at an elevation of about 720m within the ecotone between the oak-park woodland to the west and the open steppe-desert to the east.

Evidence recovered from the excavations suggests that much of the surrounding countryside was forested and offered the inhabitants a wide variety of economic resources. Arable land is plentifull within the site's immediate environs. These variables are atypical of many major neolithic sites in the Near East, several of which are located in marginal environments. Yet despite its apparent richness, the area of 'Ain Ghazal is climatically and environmentally sensitive because of its proximity throughout the Holocene to the fluctuating steppe-forest border.

The Ain Ghazal settlement first appear in the MPPNB and is splitted in 2 MPPNB phases. Phase 1 starts 10300 yBP and ends 9950 yBP, phase 2 ends 9550 yBP.

The estimated population of the MPPNB site from ‘Ain Ghazal is of 259-1349 individuals with an area of 3.01-4.7 ha. Is argued that at its founding at the commencement of the MPPNB ‘Ain Ghazal was likely 2 ha in size and grew to 5 ha by the end of the MPPNB. At this point in time their estimated population was 600-750 people or 125-150 people per hectare.

The diet of the occupants of PPNB 'Ain Ghazal was remarkably varied. Domesticated plants included wheat and barley species, but legumes (primarily lentils and peas) appear to have been preferred cultigens. A wide suite of wild plants also were consumed. The determination of domesticated animals, sensu stricto, is a topic of much debate. At PPNB 'Ain Ghazal goats were a major species, and they were used in a domestic sense, although they may not have been morphologically domestic. Many of the phalanges recovered exhibit pathologies that are suggestive of tethering. An impressive range of wild animal species also were consumed at the site. Over 50 taxa have been identified, including gazelle, Bos, Sus sp., Lepus, and Vulpes.

Considerable evidence for mortuary practices during the PPNB period have been described in recent years. Post-mortem skull removal, commonly restricted to the cranium, but on occasion including the mandible, and apparently following preliminary primary interments of the complete corpse. Such treatment has commonly been interpreted as representing rituals connected with veneration of the dead or some form of ‘‘ancestor worship’’

‘Ain Ghazal was in an area that was suitable for agriculture and then grew as a result of the same dynamic. Archaeologists think that throughout the mid east much of the land was exhausted after some 700 years of planting and so became unsuitable for agriculture. The people from those small villages abandoned their unproductive fields and migrated, with their domestic animals, to places with better ecological conditions, like ‘Ain Ghazal that could support larger populations. As opposed to other sites as new people migrated to ‘Ain Ghazal, probably with few possessions and possibly starving, class distinctions began to develop. The influx of new people placed stresses on the social fabric – new diseases, more people to feed from what was planted and more animals that needed grazing. There is evidence of class in the way the dead are treated. Some people are buried in the floors of their houses as they would be at other Neolithic sites. After the flesh had wasted away some of the skulls were disinterred and decorated. This was either a form of respect or so that they could impart their power to the house and the people in it. However, unlike other Neolithic sites, some people were thrown on trash heaps and their bodies remain intact. Scholars have estimated that a third of adult burials were found in trash pits with their heads intact. They may have seen the new comers as a lower class.

In the earlier levels at ‘Ain Ghazhal there are small ceramic figures that seem to have been used as personal or familial ritual figures. There are figurines of both animals and people. The animal figures are of horned animals and the front part of the animal is the most clearly modeled. They all give the impression of dynamic force. Some of the animal figures have been stabbed in their vital parts these figures have then been buried in the houses. Other figurines were burned and then discarded with the rest of the fire. They built ritual building and used large figurines or statues. The actual building of them is also a way for an elite group to demonstrate and reify its authority over those who owe the community or the elite labor as service and to bond laborers together as part of a new community. In addition to the monumental statues small, clay and stone tokens, some with incised with geometric or naturalistic shapes were found at ‘Ain Ghazal. The 195 figurines (40 human and 155 animal) he recovered were from MPPNB contexts The 81% of the figurines have been found to belong to the MPPNB while only 19% belonging to the LPPNB and PPNC. The vast majority of figurines are of cattle. A species that makes up only 8% of the overall number of identified specimens (NISP) count. The importance of hunted cattle to the domestic ritual sphere of ‘Ain Ghazal is telling. it was seemingly of importance for individual households to have members who participated both the hunting of cattle – likely a group activity – and the subsequent feasting on the remains.

There are evidences of mining activities as part of a production sequence conducted by craftspersons at the site of ‘Ain Ghazal, these potential part-time specialists in some way controlled access to such raw materials.

Haplogroup T is found among the Late MPPNB inhabitants from 'Ain Ghazal but was not found among the early and middle MPPNB populations. Is thought that the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B population is mostly composed of two different populations, the Natufians which trace their origins to the Earlier Natufian and a second population coming through a northerly influx from the region of northeastern Anatolia. Natufians have been found to belong mostly to the E1b1b1b2 lineage, which is found among 60% of the whole PPNB population and 75% of the 'Ain Ghazal population, being present in all three MPPNB stages. The complete absence of T-PF7466 among Natufians and the earlier MPPNB stages could mean that haplogroup T arrived later with the northerly influx.

As previously found in the early Neolithic settlement from Karsdorf, a mtDNA R0 descendant have been found together with Y-DNA T.

LPPNB populations in the Southern Levant were already witnessing severe changes in climate that would have been exacerbated by large population demands on local resources. Beginning at 8.9 cal ka BP we see a significant decrease in population in highland Jordan, ultimately leading to the complete abandonment of almost all central settlements in this region.