The World’s First Cultivated Orchards May Have Been Planted in the Jordan Valley https://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/history-ideas/2022/06/the-worlds-first-cultivated-orchards-may-have-been-planted-in-the-jordan-valley/

June 17, 2022 | Sue Surkes
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A joint study by Tel Aviv University and Jerusalem’s Hebrew University examined the charcoal remains of olive and fig trees at a central Jordan Valley site, which appear to be the oldest known evidence of domesticated orchards. Sue Surkes describes the study, and the story it tells about prehistoric life in the valley:

The charcoal remnants were collected by Professor Yosef Garfinkel, . . . who directs the excavations at Tel Tsaf. “Tel Tsaf was a large prehistoric village in the central Jordan Valley, south of Beit Shean, inhabited between 7,200 and 6,700 years ago,” Garfinkel explained.

“Large houses with courtyards were discovered at the site, each with several granaries for storing crops. Storage capacities were up to twenty-times greater than any single family’s calorie consumption, so clearly these were caches for storing great wealth. The wealth of the village was manifested in the production of elaborate pottery, painted with remarkable skill. In addition, we found articles brought from afar: pottery of the Ubaid culture from Mesopotamia, obsidian from Anatolia, a copper awl from the Caucasus, and more,” he said.

[Dafna Langgut of Tel Aviv University] said that, in addition to the evidence of early fruit-tree cultivation, they had also discovered some of the earliest examples of stamps, suggesting the beginnings of administrative procedures.

Read more on Times of Israel: https://www.timesofisrael.com/study-worlds-first-cultivated-fruit-trees-planted-7000-years-ago-in-jordan-valley/