Gilgal I
גלגל I · Gilgal 1 · Horvat Gilgal
Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (9600–9400 BCE)·Sultanian PPNA·🇵🇸 West Bank, Jordan Valley, Jericho Governorate, Palestine
About
About Gilgal I
Early PPNA village (c.9600–9400 BCE) 8 km north of Jericho, excavated by T. Noy, later Bar-Yosef and Kislev. Dense 13,000 archaeobotanical finds: earliest large-scale fig cultivation — parthenocarpic figs implying vegetative propagation centuries before cereal domestication — plus wild barley, oats and large oval houses. Challenges 'cereals first' Neolithic revolution model, showing fig arboriculture as independent cultivation experiment contemporary with Netiv Hagdud and Jericho PPNA inception.
Why it mattersEarliest fig cultivation (11,400 BP Science 2006) demonstrates horticulture before morphologically domestic cereals, reversing orthodox model.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Were figs sterile mutants requiring human cutting?
Theories
- 01Fig–barley dual cultivation as risk buffering in PPNA
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c. 9600 BCE (Early PPNA)
- Period
- Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (9600–9400 BCE)
- Culture
- Sultanian PPNA
- Builders
- Jordan Valley forager-farmers
- Purpose
- Alluvial farming hamlet with fig orchard experiment
- Abandoned
- c.9400 BCE (PPNA reorganization)
- Rediscovered
- 1979 T. Noy; excavated 1979–1986, 2006 Noy–Kislev
- Excavation
- Excavated
c.9600 BCE
Village founded; fig store bins built
c.9400 BCE
Abandonment with burnt fig cache
2006
Science paper on cultivated figs
On the ground
Structures & features
31.9970° N · 35.4380° E · -230 m · 1 mapped feature
Burnt fig cache
storageMud bin with >1000 carbonised parthenocarpic figs
31.9972° N · 35.4383° E
Gallery