View source for Fertile Crescent

{{Short description|Region of the Middle East}}
{{Further|History of the Middle East}}
{{protection padlock|small=yes}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2024}}
[[File:Fertile Crescent.png|thumb|Map of the Fertile Crescent]]
[[File:NLI Quarta Asie tabula.jpg|thumb|alt=A 15th century copy of [[Ptolemy]]'s fourth Asian map, depicting the area known as the Fertile Crescent.|A 15th century copy of [[Ptolemy]]'s fourth Asian map, depicting the area known as the Fertile Crescent]]

The '''Fertile Crescent''' ({{langx|ar|الهلال الخصيب}}) is a crescent-shaped region in the [[Middle East]], spanning modern-day [[Iraq]], [[Israel]], [[Jordan]], [[Lebanon]], [[Palestine]], and [[Syria]], together with northern [[Kuwait]], south-eastern [[Turkey]], and western [[Iran]].<ref>{{cite book |last1= Haviland |first1= William A. |first2= Harald E. L. |last2= Prins |first3= Dana |last3= Walrath |first4= Bunny |last4= McBride |title= The Essence of Anthropology |date= 13 January 2013 |publisher=[[Cengage Learning]] |location= Belmont, California |isbn= 978-1-111-83344-2 |page= 104 |edition= 3rd |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=oW8JAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA104}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title= Ancient Mesopotamia/India |year= 2003 |publisher= Social Studies School Service |location= Culver City, California |isbn= 978-1-56004-166-5 |page=4 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=WWihubqjnysC}}</ref> Some authors also include [[Cyprus]] and northern [[Egypt]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-in-the-fertile-crescent|title=Countries in the Fertile Crescent 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://cod.pressbooks.pub/easternworlddailyreadingsgeography/chapter/name-regional-example/|title=North Africa & the Middle East: Regional Example – The Fertile Crescent|date=31 August 2022 |last1=Quam |first1=Joel |last2=Campbell |first2=Scott }}</ref>

The Fertile Crescent is believed to be the first region where [[agriculture|settled farming]] emerged as people started the process of clearance and modification of natural vegetation to grow newly domesticated plants as [[crop]]s. Early human [[civilization]]s such as [[Sumer]] in [[Prehistory of Mesopotamia|Mesopotamia]] flourished as a result.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title= Fertile Crescent |url= https://www.britannica.com/place/Fertile-Crescent |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=28 January 2018 |author= ((The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica ))|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] }}</ref> Technological advances in the region include the [[Origins of agriculture in West Asia|development of agriculture]] and the use of [[Irrigation#History|irrigation]], of [[History of writing#Bronze Age|writing]], the [[Wheel#History|wheel]], and [[history of glass|glass]], most emerging first in [[Mesopotamia]].

==Terminology==
[[File:Fertile Crescent concept 1916.png|thumb|260px|right|1916 map of the Fertile Crescent by [[James H. Breasted]], who popularised usage of the phrase.]]
The term "Fertile Crescent" was popularized by [[archaeologist]] [[James Henry Breasted]] in ''Outlines of European History'' (1914) and ''Ancient Times, A History of the Early World'' (1916).<ref name="Breasted 1914/1916">{{cite book|last=Abt|first=Jeffrey|year=2011|title=American Egyptologist: the life of James Henry Breasted and the creation of his Oriental Institute|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YEc0bc93LwYC|location=Chicago|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-0011-04|pages=193–194, 436}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url= https://archive.org/details/historyofancient00gooduoft |last=Goodspeed |first=George Stephen |year=1904 |title=A History of the ancient world: for high schools and academies |location=New York |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofancient00gooduoft/page/5 5]–6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Breasted|first=James Henry|year=1914|chapter=Earliest man, the Orient, Greece, and Rome|editor1-last=Robinson|editor1-first=James Harvey|editor2-last=Breasted|editor2-first=James Henry|editor3-last=Beard|editor3-first=Charles A.|title=Outlines of European history, Vol. 1|chapter-url= https://archive.org/download/outlinesofeurope01robi/outlinesofeurope01robi.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://archive.org/download/outlinesofeurope01robi/outlinesofeurope01robi.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |location=Boston|publisher=Ginn|pages=56–57}} "The Ancient Orient" map is inserted between pages 56 and 57.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Breasted|first=James Henry|year=1916|title=Ancient times, a history of the early world: an introduction to the study of ancient history and the career of early man|location=Boston|publisher=Ginn|pages=100–101|url=https://archive.org/download/cu31924027764996/cu31924027764996.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://archive.org/download/cu31924027764996/cu31924027764996.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}} "The Ancient Oriental World" map is inserted between pages 100 and 101.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Clay|first=Albert T.|year=1924|title=The so-called Fertile Crescent and desert bay|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-the-american-oriental-society_1924-09_44/page/186|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=44|pages=186–201|jstor=593554|doi=10.2307/593554 | issn=0003-0279 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Kuklick|first=Bruce|year=1996|chapter=Essay on methods and sources|title=Puritans in Babylon: the ancient Near East and American intellectual life, 1880–1930|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/puritansinbabylo0000kukl|chapter-url-access=registration|location=Princeton|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-02582-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/puritansinbabylo0000kukl/page/241 241]|quote=Textbooks...The true texts brought all of these strands together, the most important being James Henry Breasted, ''Ancient Times: A History of the Early World'' (Boston, 1916), but a predecessor, George Stephen Goodspeed, ''A History of the Ancient World'' (New York, 1904), is outstanding. Goodspeed, who taught at Chicago with Breasted, antedated him in the conception of a 'crescent' of civilization.}}</ref> He wrote:<ref name="Breasted 1914/1916" />

{{Blockquote|It lies like an army facing south, with one wing stretching along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean and the other reaching out to the Persian Gulf, while the center has its back against the northern mountains. The end of the western wing is Palestine; Assyria makes up a large part of the center; while the end of the eastern wing is Babylonia. [...] This great semicircle, for lack of a name, may be called the Fertile Crescent.
}}

There is no single term for this region in antiquity. At the time that Breasted was writing, it roughly corresponded with the territories of the [[Ottoman Empire]] ceded to Britain and France in the [[Sykes–Picot Agreement]]. Historian Thomas Scheffler has noted that Breasted was following a trend in Western geography to "overwrite the classical geographical distinctions between continents, countries and landscapes with large, abstract spaces", drawing parallels with the work of [[Halford Mackinder]], who conceptualised Eurasia as a 'pivot area' surrounded by an 'inner crescent', [[Alfred Thayer Mahan|Alfred Thayer Mahan's]] [[Middle East]], and [[Friedrich Naumann|Friedrich Naumann's]] ''[[Mitteleuropa]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Scheffler |first=Thomas |date=2003-06-01 |title='Fertile Crescent', 'Orient', 'Middle East': The Changing Mental Maps of Southwest Asia |journal=European Review of History: Revue européenne d'histoire |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=253–272 |doi=10.1080/1350748032000140796 |s2cid=6707201 |issn=1350-7486}}</ref>

In current usage, the Fertile Crescent includes [[Israel]], [[Palestine]], [[Iraq]], [[Syria]], [[Lebanon]], [[Egypt]], and [[Jordan]], as well as the surrounding portions of [[Turkey]] and [[Iran]]. In addition to the [[Tigris]] and [[Euphrates]], riverwater sources include the [[Jordan River]]. The boundaries are delimited by the dry climate of the [[Syrian Desert]] to the south, the [[Sahara Desert]] to the west, the [[Anatolia]]n and [[Armenian highlands]] to the north and the [[Iranian plateau]] to the east.{{Citation needed|date=June 2021}}

==Biodiversity and climate==
As crucial as rivers and [[marsh]]lands were to the [[Cradle of civilization|rise of civilization]] in the Fertile Crescent, they were not the only factor. The area is geographically important as the "bridge" between [[North Africa]] and [[Eurasia]], which has allowed it to retain a greater amount of [[biodiversity]] than either [[Europe]] or [[North Africa]], where [[climate change (general concept)|climate change]]s during the [[Last Glacial Period|Ice Age]] led to repeated [[extinction]] events when ecosystems became squeezed against the waters of the [[Mediterranean Sea]]. The [[Saharan pump theory]] posits that this Middle Eastern [[land bridge]] was extremely important to the modern distribution of [[Old World]] [[flora]] and [[fauna]], including the [[Early human migrations|spread of humanity]].{{Citation needed|date=June 2021}}

The area has borne the brunt of the [[Divergent boundary|tectonic divergence]] between the African and Arabian [[tectonic plates|plates]] and the converging Arabian and Eurasian plates, which has made the region a very diverse zone of high snow-covered mountains.{{Citation needed|date=June 2021}}

The Fertile Crescent had many diverse [[climate]]s, and major climatic changes encouraged the evolution of many [[r/K strategy|"r" type]] [[annual plant]]s, which produce more edible seeds than [[r/K strategy|"K" type]] [[perennial plant]]s. The region's dramatic variety in elevation gave rise to many species of edible plants for early experiments in cultivation. Most importantly, the Fertile Crescent was home to the eight [[Neolithic founder crops]] important in early [[agriculture]] (i.e., wild progenitors to [[emmer|emmer wheat]], [[einkorn]], [[barley]], [[flax]], [[chick pea]], [[pea]], [[lentil]], [[Vicia ervilia|bitter vetch]]), and four of the five most important species of [[domestication|domesticated]] animals—[[cow]]s, [[goat]]s, [[sheep]], and [[pig]]s; the fifth species, the [[horse]], lived nearby.<ref name="Diamond1997GGS">{{cite book|title=Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies |last=Diamond |first=Jared |author-link=Jared Diamond |date=March 1997 |publisher=[[W.W. Norton & Company]] |isbn=978-0-393-03891-0 |page=480 |edition=1st |oclc=35792200|title-link=Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies }}</ref> The Fertile Crescent flora comprises a high percentage of plants that can [[Self-pollination|self-pollinate]], but may also be [[Pollination|cross-pollinated]].<ref name="Diamond1997GGS"/> These plants, called "[[Self-pollination|selfers]]", were one of the geographical advantages of the area because they did not depend on other plants for reproduction.<ref name="Diamond1997GGS" />

==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=978-1-62873-322-8 |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 |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/ |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]].

==Cosmopolitan diffusion==
{{see also|Genetic history of the Middle East|Levantine corridor}}
[[File:Maunsell&#039;s map, Pre-World War I British Ethnographical Map of eastern Turkey in Asia, Syria and western Persia 01.jpg|thumb|Maunsell's map, a Pre-World War I British Ethnographical Map of the Fertile Crescent area]][[File:Diffusion of agriculture from the Fertile Crescent after 9000 BC.jpg|thumb|Diffusion of agriculture from the Fertile Crescent after 9000 BCE]]
{{Ancient Near East topics}}
Modern analyses<ref name="PNAS">{{cite journal |last1= Brace |first1= C. Loring |last2= Seguchi |first2= Noriko |last3= Quintyn |first3= Conrad B. |last4= Fox |first4= Sherry C. |last5= Nelson |first5= A. Russell |last6= Manolis |first6= Sotiris K. |last7= Qifeng |first7= Pan |year= 2006 |title= The questionable contribution of the Neolithic and the Bronze Age to European craniofacial form |journal= [[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA]] |volume= 103 |issue=1 |pages= 242–247 |doi= 10.1073/pnas.0509801102 |pmid= 16371462 |pmc= 1325007|bibcode= 2006PNAS..103..242B |doi-access= free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1= Ricaut |first1= F. X. |last2= Waelkens |first2= M. |date= Aug 2008 |title= Cranial Discrete Traits in a Byzantine Population and Eastern Mediterranean Population Movements |journal= [[Human Biology (journal)|Human Biology]] |volume= 80 |issue= 5|pages= 535–564 |doi= 10.3378/1534-6617-80.5.535 |pmid= 19341322|s2cid= 25142338 }}</ref> comparing 24 craniofacial measurements reveal a relatively diverse population within the pre-[[Neolithic]], [[Neolithic]] and [[Bronze Age]] Fertile Crescent,<ref name="PNAS"/> supporting the view that several populations occupied this region during these time periods.<ref name="PNAS"/><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lazaridis |first1=Iosif |last2=Nadel |first2=Dani |last3=Rollefson |first3=Gary |last4=Merrett |first4=Deborah C. |last5=Rohland |first5=Nadin |last6=Mallick |first6=Swapan |last7=Fernandes |first7=Daniel |last8=Novak |first8=Mario |last9=Gamarra |first9=Beatriz |last10=Sirak |first10=Kendra |last11=Connell |first11=Sarah |last12=Stewardson |first12=Kristin |last13=Harney |first13=Eadaoin |last14=Fu |first14=Qiaomei |last15=Gonzalez-Fortes |first15=Gloria |date=2016-08-25 |title=Genomic insights into the origin of farming in the ancient Near East |journal=Nature |volume=536 |issue=7617 |pages=419–424 |doi=10.1038/nature19310 |pmc=5003663 |pmid=27459054|bibcode=2016Natur.536..419L }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Barker |first=G. |title=Transitions to farming and pastoralism in North Africa |year=2002 |editor-last1=Bellwood |editor-first1=P. |pages=151–161 |editor-last2=Renfrew |editor-first2=C.}}</ref><ref>Bar-Yosef O (1987), "Pleistocene connections between Africa and SouthWest Asia: an archaeological perspective", ''The African Archaeological Review''; Chapter 5, pp 29–38</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1= Kislev |first1= ME |last2= Hartmann |first2= A |last3= Bar-Yosef |first3= O |year= 2006 |title= Early domesticated fig in the Jordan Valley |journal= Science |volume= 312 |issue= 5778|pages= 1372–1374 |doi= 10.1126/science.1125910 |pmid= 16741119|bibcode= 2006Sci...312.1372K |s2cid= 42150441 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last= Lancaster |first= Andrew |year= 2009 |url= http://www.jogg.info/51/files/Lancaster.pdf |journal= Journal of Genetic Genealogy |volume= 5 |issue= 1 |title= Y Haplogroups, Archaeological Cultures and Language Families: a Review of the Multidisciplinary Comparisons using the case of E-M35 |access-date= 2010-02-23 |archive-date= 2016-05-06 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160506150956/http://www.jogg.info/51/files/Lancaster.pdf }}</ref><ref>Findings include remains of food items carried to the [[Levant]] from [[North Africa]] —— [[Parthenocarpic]] [[ficus|fig]]s and [[Nile]] [[shellfish]] (please refer to [[Natufian culture#Long-distance exchange]]).</ref> Similar arguments do not hold true for the [[Basque people|Basques]] and [[Canary Island]]ers of the same time period, as the studies demonstrate those ancient peoples to be "clearly associated with modern Europeans". Additionally, no evidence from the studies demonstrates [[Cro-Magnon]] influence, contrary to former suggestions.<ref name="PNAS"/>

The studies further suggest a [[Demic diffusion|diffusion]] of this diverse population away from the Fertile Crescent, with the early migrants moving away from the [[Near East]]—westward into [[Europe]] and [[North Africa]], northward to [[Crimea]], and northeastward to [[Mongolia]].<ref name="PNAS"/> They took their agricultural practices with them and interbred with the [[hunter-gatherer]]s whom they subsequently came in contact with while perpetuating their farming practices. This supports prior [[Genetics|genetic]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Chicki |first1= L |last2= Nichols |first2= RA |last3= Barbujani |first3= G |last4= Beaumont |first4= MA |year= 2002 |title= Y genetic data support the Neolithic demic diffusion model |journal= Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA |volume= 99 |issue= 17 |pages= 11008–11013 |doi= 10.1073/pnas.162158799 |pmid= 12167671 |pmc= 123201|bibcode= 2002PNAS...9911008C |doi-access= free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=July 2004 |title=Estimating the Impact of Prehistoric Admixture on the Genome of Europeans |url=https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/21/7/1361/1080442 |journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution |volume=21 |issue=7 |pages=1361–1372 |doi=10.1093/molbev/msh135 |last1=Dupanloup |first1=I. |pmid=15044595 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |pmc= 1181965 |title= Origin, Diffusion, and Differentiation of Y-Chromosome Haplogroups E and J: Inferences on the Neolithization of Europe and Later Migratory Events in the Mediterranean Area |pmid= 15069642 |doi= 10.1086/386295 |volume= 74 |issue= 5 |date=May 2004 |journal= Am. J. Hum. Genet. |pages= 1023–34 |last1= Semino |first1= O. |last2= Magri |first2= C. |last3= Benuzzi |first3= G. |display-authors=etal }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cavalli-Sforza |first1=L. L. |last2=Minch |first2=E. |date=July 1997 |title=Paleolithic and Neolithic lineages in the European mitochondrial gene pool |journal=American Journal of Human Genetics |volume=61 |issue=1 |pages=247–254 |doi=10.1016/S0002-9297(07)64303-1 |pmc=1715849 |pmid=9246011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Chikhi |first1=Lounès |last2=Destro-Bisol |first2=Giovanni |last3=Bertorelle |first3=Giorgio |last4=Pascali |first4=Vincenzo |last5=Barbujani |first5=Guido |date=1998-07-21 |title=Clines of nuclear DNA markers suggest a largely Neolithic ancestry of the European gene pool |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |language=en |volume=95 |issue=15 |pages=9053–9058 |doi=10.1073/pnas.95.15.9053|doi-access=free |pmid=9671803 |pmc=21201 |bibcode=1998PNAS...95.9053C }}</ref> and [[Archaeology|archaeological]]<ref name="PNAS"/><ref>M. Zvelebil, in ''Hunters in Transition: Mesolithic Societies and the Transition to Farming'', M. Zvelebil (editor), Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK (1986) pp. 5–15, 167–188.</ref><ref>P. Bellwood, ''First Farmers: The Origins of Agricultural Societies,'' Blackwell: Malden, MA (2005).</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1= Dokládal |first1= M. |last2= Brožek |first2= J. |year= 1961 |title= Physical Anthropology in Czechoslovakia: Recent Developments|url= https://archive.org/details/sim_current-anthropology_1961-12_2_5/page/454 |journal= Curr. Anthropol. |volume= 2 |issue= 5|pages= 455–477 |doi= 10.1086/200228|s2cid= 161324951 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1= Bar-Yosef |first1= O. |year= 1998 |title= The Natufian culture in the Levant, threshold to the origins of agriculture|journal= Evol. Anthropol. |volume= 6 |issue= 5|pages= 159–177 |doi= 10.1002/(sici)1520-6505(1998)6:5<159::aid-evan4>3.0.co;2-7|s2cid= 35814375 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1= Zvelebil |first1= M. |year= 1989 |title= On the transition to farming in Europe, or what was spreading with the Neolithic: a reply to Ammerman (1989)|journal= Antiquity |volume= 63 |issue= 239|pages= 379–383 |doi= 10.1017/s0003598x00076110 |s2cid= 162882505 }}</ref> studies which have all arrived at the same conclusion.

Consequently, contemporary ''[[in situ]]'' peoples absorbed the agricultural way of life of those early migrants who ventured out of the Fertile Crescent. This is contrary to the suggestion that the spread of agriculture disseminated out of the Fertile Crescent by way of sharing of knowledge. Instead, the view now supported by a preponderance of evidence is that it occurred by actual migration out of the region, coupled with subsequent interbreeding with indigenous local populations whom the migrants came in contact with.<ref name="PNAS"/>

A 2005 craniometric study found that not all present-day [[Europe]]ans share strong affinities to the [[Neolithic]] and [[Bronze Age]] inhabitants of the Fertile Crescent; the closest ties to the Fertile Crescent rest with Southern Europeans. The same study further demonstrates all present-day [[Europe]]ans to be closely related.<ref name="PNAS"/> Genetics research finds that most present-day Europeans, across Europe, derive from at least three ancient populations, including the [[Early European Farmers]], who descended from the Near Eastern migrants that brought agriculture to Europe. This ancient farmer population was genetically distinct from European hunter-gatherers and close to present-day Near Easterners.<ref name="Lazaridis2014">{{cite journal |display-authors=6 |vauthors=Lazaridis I, Patterson N, Mittnik A, Renaud G, Mallick S, Kirsanow K, Sudmant PH, Schraiber JG, Castellano S, Lipson M, Berger B, Economou C, Bollongino R, Fu Q, Bos KI, Nordenfelt S, Li H, de Filippo C, Prüfer K, Sawyer S, Posth C, Haak W, Hallgren F, Fornander E, Rohland N, Delsate D, Francken M, Guinet JM, Wahl J, Ayodo G, Babiker HA, Bailliet G, Balanovska E, Balanovsky O, Barrantes R, Bedoya G, Ben-Ami H, Bene J, Berrada F, Bravi CM, Brisighelli F, Busby GB, Cali F, Churnosov M, Cole DE, Corach D, Damba L, van Driem G, Dryomov S, Dugoujon JM, Fedorova SA, Gallego Romero I, Gubina M, Hammer M, Henn BM, Hervig T, Hodoglugil U, Jha AR, Karachanak-Yankova S, Khusainova R, Khusnutdinova E, Kittles R, Kivisild T, Klitz W, Kučinskas V, Kushniarevich A, Laredj L, Litvinov S, Loukidis T, Mahley RW, Melegh B, Metspalu E, Molina J, Mountain J, Näkkäläjärvi K, Nesheva D, Nyambo T, Osipova L, Parik J, Platonov F, Posukh O, Romano V, Rothhammer F, Rudan I, Ruizbakiev R, Sahakyan H, Sajantila A, Salas A, Starikovskaya EB, Tarekegn A, Toncheva D, Turdikulova S, Uktveryte I, Utevska O, Vasquez R, Villena M, Voevoda M, Winkler CA, Yepiskoposyan L, Zalloua P, Zemunik T, Cooper A, Capelli C, Thomas MG, Ruiz-Linares A, Tishkoff SA, Singh L, Thangaraj K, Villems R, Comas D, Sukernik R, Metspalu M, Meyer M, Eichler EE, Burger J, Slatkin M, Pääbo S, Kelso J, Reich D, Krause J |date=September 2014 |title=Ancient human genomes suggest three ancestral populations for present-day Europeans |journal=Nature |volume=513 |issue=7518 |pages=409–413 |arxiv=1312.6639 |bibcode=2014Natur.513..409L |doi=10.1038/nature13673 |pmc=4170574 |pmid=25230663}}</ref>

==Languages==
{{More citations needed section|date=June 2021}}
Linguistically, the Fertile Crescent was a region of great diversity. Historically, [[Semitic languages]] generally prevailed in the modern regions of [[Iraq]], [[Syria]], [[Jordan]], [[Lebanon]], [[Israel]], [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]], [[Sinai Peninsula|Sinai]] and  the fringes of southeast [[Turkey]] and northwest [[Iran]], as well as the [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] (a [[language isolate]]) in Iraq, whilst in the mountainous areas to the east and north a number of generally unrelated [[language isolates]] were found, including; [[Elamite language|Elamite]], [[Gutian language|Gutian]] and [[Kassite language|Kassite]] in [[Iran]], and [[Hattic language|Hattic]], [[Kaskian language|Kaskian]] and [[Hurro-Urartian languages|Hurro-Urartian]] in Turkey. The precise affiliation of these, and their date of arrival, remain topics of scholarly discussion. However, given lack of textual evidence for the earliest era of prehistory, this debate is unlikely to be resolved in the near future.

The evidence that does exist suggests that, by the third millennium BCE and into the second, several language groups already existed in the region. These included:{{sfn|Steadman|McMahon|2011|p=233}}{{sfn|Steadman|McMahon|2011|p=522}}{{sfn|Steadman|McMahon|2011|p=556}}{{sfn|Potts|2012|p=28}}{{sfn|Potts|2012|p=570}}{{sfn|Potts|2012|p=584}}
* [[Proto-Euphratean language]]: a hypothetical non-Semitic language previously hypothesized to be the [[Substrata (linguistics)|substratum]] language of the people that introduced farming into Southern [[Iraq]] in the Early [[Ubaid period]]. (5300–4700 BCE) The linguistic consensus today is that multiple unknown substrata contributed to the formation of the artifacts in Sumerian names that motivated the Proto-Euphratean substrate hypothesis, including fossilized archaic elements from earlier stages of Sumerian itself.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rubio|first=Gonzalo|date=January 1999|title=On the Alleged "Pre-Sumerian Substratum"|journal=Journal of Cuneiform Studies|volume=51|pages=1–16|doi=10.2307/1359726|jstor=1359726|s2cid=163985956}}</ref> 
* [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]]: a non-Semitic [[language isolate]] that displays a [[Sprachbund]]-type relationship with neighbouring Semitic Akkadian
* [[Elamite language]]: a non-Semitic [[language isolate]]
* [[Semitic languages]]: [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] (aka [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]] and [[Babylonian language|Babylonian]]), [[Eblaite language|Eblaite]], [[Amorite language|Amorite]], [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]], [[Ugaritic language|Ugaritic]], [[Canaanite languages]] (including [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[Moabite language|Moabite]], [[Edomite language|Edomite]], [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]]/[[Carthaginian language|Carthaginian]])
* [[Hattic language|Hattic]]: a [[language isolate]], spoken originally in [[Central Anatolia Region|central Anatolia]]
* [[Indo-European languages]]: generally believed to be later intrusive languages arriving after 2000 BCE, such as [[Hittite language|Hittite]], [[Luwian language|Luwian]] and the [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan]] material attested in the [[Mitanni]] civilization, but recent evidence suggests that the language family emerged from the Fertile Crescent as early as 6000 BCE<ref>{{Cite journal|date=2023-07-28|title=Language trees with sampled ancestors support a hybrid model for the origin of Indo-European languages|journal=Science|language=en|volume=381|doi=10.1126/science.abg0818|hdl=10234/204329|hdl-access=free |last1=Heggarty |first1=Paul |last2=Anderson |first2=Cormac |last3=Scarborough |first3=Matthew |last4=King |first4=Benedict |last5=Bouckaert |first5=Remco |last6=Jocz |first6=Lechosław |last7=Kümmel |first7=Martin Joachim |last8=Jügel |first8=Thomas |last9=Irslinger |first9=Britta |last10=Pooth |first10=Roland |last11=Liljegren |first11=Henrik |last12=Strand |first12=Richard F. |last13=Haig |first13=Geoffrey |last14=MacÁk |first14=Martin |last15=Kim |first15=Ronald I. |last16=Anonby |first16=Erik |last17=Pronk |first17=Tijmen |last18=Belyaev |first18=Oleg |last19=Dewey-Findell |first19=Tonya Kim |last20=Boutilier |first20=Matthew |last21=Freiberg |first21=Cassandra |last22=Tegethoff |first22=Robert |last23=Serangeli |first23=Matilde |last24=Liosis |first24=Nikos |last25=Stroński |first25=Krzysztof |last26=Schulte |first26=Kim |last27=Gupta |first27=Ganesh Kumar |last28=Haak |first28=Wolfgang |last29=Krause |first29=Johannes |last30=Atkinson |first30=Quentin D. |issue=6656 |article-number=eabg0818 |pmid=37499002 |url=http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-220000 |display-authors=1 }}</ref>
* [[Egyptian language|Egyptian]]: a stand-alone branch of the [[Afroasiatic languages]] confined to [[Egypt]]
* [[Hurro-Urartian languages]], a small family. The [[Kassite language]] spoken in the northern part of the region may have belonged to this family.

Links between Hurro-Urartian and Hattic and the indigenous languages of the Caucasus have frequently been suggested, but are not generally accepted.

==See also==
* {{annotated link|Beth Nahrain}}
* {{annotated link|Hilly Flanks}}
* [[History of agriculture]]
* [[History of Mesopotamia]]
* {{annotated link|Hydraulic empire}}
* [[Fertile Crescent Plan]]
* [[Syria (region)]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
*[[Jared Diamond]], ''[[Guns, Germs, and Steel|Guns, Germs and Steel: A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13,000 Years]]'', 1997.
*Anderson, Clifford Norman. ''The Fertile Crescent: Travels In the Footsteps of Ancient Science''. 2d ed., rev. Fort Lauderdale: Sylvester Press, 1972.
*Deckers, Katleen. ''Holocene Landscapes Through Time In the Fertile Crescent''. Turnhout: Brepols, 2011.
*Ephʻal, Israel. ''The Ancient Arabs: Nomads On the Borders of the Fertile Crescent 9th–5th Centuries B.C.'' Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1982.
*Kajzer, Małgorzata, Łukasz Miszk, and Maciej Wacławik. ''The Land of Fertility I: South-East Mediterranean Since the Bronze Age to the Muslim Conquest''. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016.
*Kozłowski, Stefan Karol. ''The Eastern Wing of the Fertile Crescent: Late Prehistory of Greater Mesopotamian Lithic Industries''. Oxford: Archaeopress, 1999.
* {{cite book |title=A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East |first=Daniel T. |last=Potts |editor1-first=D. T |editor1-last=Potts |date=21 May 2012 |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |page=1445 |volume=1 |isbn=978-1-4051-8988-0 |doi=10.1002/9781444360790 |url=https://archive.org/stream/PottsDanielT.2012ACompanionToTheArchaeologyOfTheAncientNearEast}}
*{{cite book |title=The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia: (10,000-323 BCE) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TY3t4y_L5SQC |last1=Steadman |first1=Sharon R. |last2=McMahon |first2=Gregory |date=15 September 2011 |page=1174 |publisher=[[OUP]] |isbn=978-0-19-537614-2}}
*Thomas, Alexander R. ''The Evolution of the Ancient City: Urban Theory and the Archaeology of the Fertile Crescent''. Lanham: Lexington Books/Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2010.
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
{{Library resources box |by=no |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes |label=Fertile Crescent |viaf= |lccn= |lcheading= |wikititle= }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20010813081928/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/05/0518_crescent.html ''Ancient Fertile Crescent Almost Gone, Satellite Images Show'']– from [[National Geographic Society|National Geographic]] News, May 18, 2001. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081016012534/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/05/0518_crescent.html |date=October 16, 2008 }}
* http://www.claudiusptolemy.org/AbshireGusevStafeyev_ProceedingsVenice2017.pdf  Corey Abshire , Dmitri Gusev , Sergey Stafeyev  The Fertile Crescent  in Ptolemy's "Geography": a new digital reconstruction for modern GIS tools

{{Middle East}}
{{Regions of the world}}
{{Prehistoric Asia}}
{{Authority control}}

{{coord|36|N|40|E|source:wikidata|display=title}}

[[Category:1910s neologisms]]
[[Category:Ancient Near East]]
[[Category:Eastern Mediterranean]]
[[Category:History of the Mediterranean]]
[[Category:Physiographic divisions]]
[[Category:Historical regions]]
[[Category:Cradle of civilization]]
[[Category:Agriculture in Iraq]]
[[Category:Agriculture in Lebanon]]
[[Category:Agriculture in Syria]]
[[Category:Agriculture in Palestine]]
[[Category:Agriculture in Israel]]
[[Category:Agriculture in Jordan]]
[[Category:Agriculture in Iran]]
[[Category:Agriculture in Turkey]]
[[Category:Agriculture in Cyprus]]
[[Category:Agriculture in Egypt]]
[[Category:Geography of Khuzestan province]]