Editing Fertile Crescent (section)

==History==
{{More citations needed section|date=June 2021}}
[[File:Fertile crescent Neolithic B circa 7500 BC.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Area of the fertile crescent, {{circa|7500 BCE}}, with main sites of the [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic]] period. The area of [[Mesopotamia]] proper was not yet settled by humans. Includes [[Göbekli Tepe]], a site in modern-day [[Turkey]] that is dated circa 9000 BCE.]]
As well as possessing many sites with the skeletal and cultural remains of both pre-modern and early [[modern humans]] (e.g., at [[Tabun Cave|Tabun]] and [[Es Skhul]] caves), later [[Pleistocene]] [[hunter-gatherer]]s, and [[Epipaleolithic (Levant)|Epipalaeolithic]] semi-sedentary hunter-gatherers (the [[Natufian]]s); the Fertile Crescent is most famous for its sites related to the [[origins of agriculture]]. The western zone around the Jordan and upper Euphrates rivers gave rise to the first known [[Neolithic]] [[farming]] settlements (referred to as [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic A]] (PPNA)), which date to around 9,000 BCE and includes very ancient sites such as [[Göbekli Tepe]], [[Chogha Golan]], and [[Tell es-Sultan|Jericho (Tell es-Sultan)]].

This region, alongside [[Mesopotamia]] (Greek for "between rivers", between the rivers [[Tigris]] and [[Euphrates]], lies in the east of the Fertile Crescent), also saw the emergence of early [[complex society|complex societies]] during the succeeding [[Bronze Age]]. There is also early evidence from the region for [[writing]] and the formation of [[hierarchy|hierarchical]] [[Sovereign state|state level]] societies. This has earned the region the nickname "The [[cradle of civilization]]".

From ancient times empires arose and fell in the [[Tigris–Euphrates river system|Tigris–Euphrates river basin]], including [[Sumer]], [[Akkadian Empire|Akkad]], [[Babylonia]], [[Assyria]], and the [[Abbasid Caliphate]].

It is in this region where the first [[Library|libraries]] appeared about 4,500 years ago. The oldest known libraries are found in [[Nippur#Archaeology|Nippur]] (in Sumer) and [[Ebla tablets|Ebla]] (in Syria), both from {{circa|2500 BCE}}.<ref>{{cite book |last=Murray |first=Stuart |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HMgtAgAAQBAJ |title=A Review of "The Library: An Illustrated History": Murray, Stuart A.P. ''New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2009, 310 pp., $35.00, hard cover, ISBN 978-1602397064.'' |date=9 July 2009 |publisher=[[Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.]] |isbn=9781628733228 |editor-last=Basbanes |editor-first=Nicholas A. |volume=15 |location=New York, NY |pages=69–70 |doi=10.1080/10875300903535149 |oclc=277203534 |editor2-last=Davis |editor2-first=Donald G. |s2cid=61069680}}</ref>

Both the Tigris and Euphrates start in the [[Taurus Mountains]] of what is modern-day [[Turkey]]. Farmers in southern Mesopotamia had to protect their fields from flooding each year.  Northern Mesopotamia had sufficient rain to make some farming possible. To protect against flooding they made levees.<ref>{{cite book |last1= Beck |first1= Roger B. |last2= Black |first2= Linda |last3= Krieger |first3= Larry S. |last4= Naylor |first4= Phillip C. |last5= Shabaka |first5= Dahia Ibo |title= World History: Patterns of Interaction |publisher=[[McDougal Littell]] |year= 1999 |location= Evanston, IL |page= [https://archive.org/details/mcdougallittellw00beck/page/1082 1082] |url= https://archive.org/details/mcdougallittellw00beck |url-access= registration |isbn= 978-0-395-87274-1}}</ref>

Since the [[Bronze Age]], the region's natural [[Soil fertility|fertility]] has been greatly extended by [[irrigation]] works, upon which much of its agricultural production continues to depend. The last two millennia have seen repeated cycles of decline and recovery as past works have fallen into disrepair through the replacement of states, to be replaced under their successors. Another ongoing problem has been [[Soil salination|salination]]—gradual concentration of salt and other minerals in soils with a long history of irrigation.

===Early domestications===
Prehistoric seedless [[Ficus|figs]] were discovered at [[Gilgal I]] in the [[Jordan Valley (Middle East)|Jordan Valley]], suggesting that fig trees were being planted some 11,400 years ago.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/06/060601-agriculture.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060602003956/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/06/060601-agriculture.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 2, 2006 |title=Ancient Fig Find May Push Back Birth of Agriculture |last=Norris |first=Scott |date=1 June 2006 |work=[[National Geographic Society]] |access-date=6 March 2017 |publisher=[[National Geographic News]]}}</ref> [[Cereal]]s were already grown in [[Syria (region)|Syria]] as long as 9,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/development-of-agriculture/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605065242/https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/development-of-agriculture/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 5, 2013 |title=Genographic Project: The Development of Agriculture |access-date=14 April 2016 |work=[[National Geographic]]}}</ref> Small cats (''Felis silvestris'') also were domesticated in this region.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Driscoll |first1= Carlos A. |first2= Marilyn |last2= Menotti-Raymond |first3= Alfred L. |last3= Roca |first4= Karsten |last4= Hupe |first5= Warren E. |last5= Johnson |first6= Eli |last6= Geffen |first7= Eric H. |last7= Harley |first8= Miguel |last8= Delibes |first9= Dominique |last9= Pontier |first10= Andrew C. |last10= Kitchener |first11= Nobuyuki |last11= Yamaguchi |first12= Stephen J. |last12= O'Brien |author12-link=Stephen J. O'Brien|first13= David W. |last13= Macdonald |author13-link= David Macdonald (biologist) |title= The near eastern origin of cat domestication |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |date= 27 July 2007 |volume= 317 |doi= 10.1126/science.1139518 |pmid= 17600185 |pmc= 5612713 |issue= 5837 |pages= 519–523|bibcode= 2007Sci...317..519D }}</ref> Also, [[legume]]s including [[peas]], [[lentils]] and [[chickpea]] were domesticated in this region.

[[Domestication|Domesticated animals]] include the [[cattle]], [[sheep]], [[goat]], [[domestic pig]], [[cat]], and [[domestic goose]].