Guest guest Posted May 29, 2000 Report Share Posted May 29, 2000 >macaroni >Vrindavan Parker <vaidika1008 >6,000-Year-Old City Found in Syria >Wed, 24 May 2000 13:27:44 -0700 > >6,000-Year-Old City Found in Syria > >© The Associated Press > >CHICAGO (May 23) - Archaeologists have uncovered the ruins of a >6,000-year-old city in Syria, a find that suggests that urban civilization >rose earlier than previously believed. > >Scientists from the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute found a >protective city wall under a huge mound in northeastern Syria known as Tell >Hamoukar. The wall and other evidence indicated a complex government at an >early date. > >Until the discovery last year, the only cities uncovered by archaeologists >dating back to 4000 B.C. were to the south in Sumeria, in southern >Mesopotamia. The area between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, in what >is now Iraq, has often been dubbed the ``cradle of civilization.'' > >The discovery at Hamoukar, dating from the same period, suggests that ideas >behind cities may have predated the Sumerians, said McGuire Gibson of the >Oriental Institute. > >Among the features indicating the site was a full-blown city, not just a >town: thin, porcelain-like pieces of pottery, indicating a sophisticated >manufacturing technique, and huge cooking ovens, big enough to feed large >numbers of people. > >There also were stamps to make impressions in wet clay - like primitive >hieroglyphics - used to make tokens that served as records for trade >transactions. The stamps were in the shapes of animals, including bears, >dogs, rabbits, fish and birds. > >If Hamoukar was developing into a city at the same time as the Sumerians >were building cities, it's possible that ideas for urban development came >from an even earlier culture, he said. > >``We need to reconsider our ideas about the beginnings of civilization, >pushing the time further back,'' said Gibson, who plans to present the >findings this week in Denmark at the International Conference on the >Archaeology of the Ancient Middle East. > >Gil Stein, a Northwestern University archaeologist who specializes in the >same region and time period, said he thinks the find is significant. > >``Traditionally, scholars had viewed southern Mesopotamia as the area where >urbanized states first developed, before spreading to less advanced >areas,'' >he said. > >This summer, the archaeologists will continue to dig in the hopes of >finding >portions or royal palaces and temples - structures that would confirm that >the site is that of a previously unknown early civilization. > >AP-NY-05-23-00 1235EDT > >Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP >news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise >distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. >All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. > > ______________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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