Editing Tell Abu Hureyra (section)

=== Second occupation ===
{{See also|Pre-Pottery Neolithic A|Khiamian|Pre-Pottery Neolithic B}}
In comparison to Abu Hureyra 1, Abu Hureyra 2 had a different accumulation of resources, consisting of 25% ''Rumex''/''Polygonum'', 3.7% rye/einkorn, 29% barley, 23.5% [[emmer]], 9.4% wheat-free threshing, and 9.4% lentils.<ref name=":0" />[[File:Fertile crescent Neolithic B circa 7500 BC.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The [[Fertile Crescent]] c. 7500 BC, with main [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic]] sites. Central and southern [[Mesopotamia]] lacked sufficient rainfall to be settled by humans yet.]]
[[File:Calibrated Carbon 14 dates for Abu Hureyra as of 2013.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Earliest calibrated Carbon 14 dates for Neolithic Abu Hureyra as of 2013. This is about 1,000 years after [[Gesher (archaeological site)|Gesher]].]]

It is from the early part of the Younger Dryas that the first indirect evidence of agriculture was detected in the excavations at Abu Hureyra, although the cereals themselves were still of the wild variety.<ref>{{cite book |contributor-last=Hillman |contributor-first= Gordon C. |date=2000 |contribution=Overview |first1=A.M.T. |last1=Moore |first2= G.C. |last2=Hillman |first3=A.J. |last3=Legge |title=Village on the Euphrates: From Foraging to Farming at Abu Hureyra |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |pages= 420–421<!--416-422-->}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Bar-Yosef |first=Ofer |date=2002 |chapter=The Natufian culture and the early Neolithic: Social and economic trends in Southwestern Asia |editor1-first=P. |editor1-last=Bellwood |editor2-first=C. |editor2-last=Renfrew |title=Examining the Farming/Language Dispersal Hypothesis |series=McDonald Institute Monographs |publisher=University of Cambridge |location=Cambridge |pages=113–126}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Bar-Yosef |first=Ofer |date=2002 |chapter=Natufian |editor1-first=B. |editor1-last=Fitzhugh |editor2-first=J. |editor2-last=Habu |title=Beyond Foraging and Collecting: Evolutionary Change in Hunter-Gatherer Settlement Systems |publisher=Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers |location=New York |pages=91–149}}</ref><ref>Dow, Olewiler and Reed 2005</ref> It was during the intentional sowing of cereals in more favourable refuges like Mureybet that these first farmers developed domesticated strains during the centuries of drought and cold of the Younger Dryas. When the climate abated about 9500 BCE they spread all over the Middle East with this new bio-technology, and Abu Hureyra grew to a large village eventually with several thousand people. The second occupation grew domesticated varieties of rye, wheat and barley, and kept sheep as livestock. The hunting of gazelle decreased sharply, probably due to [[overexploitation]] that eventually left them extinct in the Middle East. At Abu Hureyra they were replaced by meat from domesticated animals. The second occupation lasted for about 2,000 years.