Aleppo, northern Syria (SANA) – Excavations began in the various archeological sites that once housed farming communities, including Tel al-Abar 3 site on the left bank of the Euphrates River which dates back to the 10th millennium BC.

Assistant Director of the Department of Archeology and Museums Thaer Yerte said excavations at the site revealed information about the communities that settled on the banks of the Euphrates, uncovering two different areas that include three communal buildings and dozens of circular houses built from limestone and paved with pebbles from the river.

The structures contained various flint tools such as blades, knives, sickles, arrow tips and hatchets, tools used for leatherwork and crafting straw mats, stone mills and pestles, pottery fragments and animal bones and horns, Yerte added.

He pointed out that the first communal building in the site contains a circular hole 15 meters deep in the ground with a diameter of 12 meters, with a clay terrace inside the building containing limestone blocks decorated with engravings of animals, geometrical shapes and the Sun. The floor is made of clay tiles painted with lime, while the ceiling is supported by wooden pillars.

The second communal building is circular with a diameter of 7 meters, consisting of five chambers with a square stone support pillar in its center. It contained flint and stone tools, stone pottery, a flint figurine representing a mother goddess, a clay figurine representing a half-human half-animal creature, and ox horns.

The findings indicate that the two communal buildings had a social and ritualistic role, Yerte noted.

He also said the site plays an important role in answering questions regarding the emergence of farming in ancient times, as it clearly shows the characteristics of an organized village with a multitude of structures serving various purposes where people worked in farming, hunting and the manufacture of flint and stone tools.

H. Sabbagh / Mazen