Neolithic Art

During the Neolithic (literally "New Stone Age") humans began to settle into organized communities and domesticate plants and animals. Nomadic tribes gave way to Neolithic farming and herding. Permanent communities began to spring up in Anatolia (modern Turkey) and Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). This ability to produce food while remaining settled in one area was a revolution in the history of humanity. It allowed for the proliferation of complex societies with organized governments, religions, and economies. This then led to the eventual creation of large scale structures, sculptures and images on a scale never before seen. One of the first cities to appear during the Neolithic period was Jericho along the Jordan river near modern day Jerusalem. The first settlers to the area began building structures around 9000 BCE. The city was already thousands of years old by the time it is mentioned in the Bible. Along with a wall surrounding the city for protection, the inhabitants of Jericho created the first "portraits" of human beings by adding layers of clay to human skulls.