page_title: 'Ain Ghazal
section_title: Economy
hierarchical_section_title: 'Ain Ghazal / Economy
caption_attribution_description: Ain Ghazal Site العربية: صورة لمنطقة عين غزال الأثرية التي تقع في الشمال الشرقي للعاصمة عمان -الأردن، حيث تم إكتشاف المنطقة في عام 1974 وإعتبارها من أهم المناطقة الأثرية التي تمثل الحقبة القبل الفخارية
context_page_description: Ayn Ghazal is a Neolithic archaeological site located in metropolitan Amman, Jordan, about 2 km north-west of Amman Civil Airport.
context_section_description: As an early farming community, the `Ain Ghazal people cultivated cereals (barley and ancient species of wheat), legumes (peas, beans and lentils) and chickpeas in fields above the village, and herded domesticated goats. In addition they hunted wild animals – deer, gazelle, equids, pigs and smaller mammals such as fox or hare.
  The estimated population of the MPPNB site from ‘Ain Ghazal is of 259-1349 individuals with an area of 3.01-4.7 ha. It is argued that at its founding at the commencement of the MPPNB ‘Ain Ghazal was likely about 2 ha in size and grew to 5 ha by the end of the MPPNB. At this point in time their estimated population was 600-750 people or 125-150 people per hectare. 
  The diet of the occupants of PPNB 'Ain Ghazal was remarkably varied. Domesticated plants included wheat and barley species, but legumes (primarily lentils and peas) appear to have been preferred cultigens. A wide suite of wild plants also were consumed. The determination of domesticated animals, sensu stricto, is a topic of much debate. At PPNB 'Ain Ghazal goats were a major species, and they were used in a domestic sense, although they may not have been morphologically domestic. Many of the phalanges recovered exhibit pathologies that are suggestive of tethering. An impressive range of wild animal species also were consumed at the site. Over 50 taxa have been identified, including gazelle, Bos, Sus sp., Lepus, and Vulpes.
  ‘Ain Ghazal was in an area that was suitable for agriculture and then grew as a result of the same dynamic. Archaeologists think that throughout the mid east much of the land was exhausted after some 700 years of planting and so became unsuitable for agriculture. The people from those small villages abandoned their unproductive fields and migrated, with their domestic animals, to places with better ecological conditions, like ‘Ain Ghazal that could support larger populations. As opposed to other sites as new people migrated to ‘Ain Ghazal, probably with few possessions and possibly starving, class distinctions began to develop.
  The influx of new people placed stresses on the social fabric – new diseases, more people to feed from what was planted and more animals that needed grazing.
  There are evidences of mining activities as part of a production sequence conducted by craftspersons at the site of ‘Ain Ghazal, these potential part-time specialists in some way controlled access to such raw materials.
caption: A profile picture of the physical site at 'Ain Ghazal
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