Basta ( ar, بسطة) is a

pre-historic Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

and village in

Ma'an Governorate Ma'an ( ar, معان) is one of the governorates of Jordan, it is located south of Amman, Jordan's capital. Its capital is the city of Ma'an. This governorate is the largest in the kingdom of Jordan by area. History The land of the Governorate ...

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

, southeast of

Petra Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean Aramaic, Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to t ...

. It is named for the nearby contemporary village of Basta. Like the nearby site of Ba'ja, Basta was built in c. and belongs to the PPNB (

Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) is part of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, a Neolithic culture centered in upper Mesopotamia and the Levant, dating to years ago, that is, 8800–6500 BC. It was typed by British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon during h ...

) period. Basta is one of the earliest known places to have a settled population who grew crops and domesticated livestock.

Archeological site

The Basta's settlement dates back to the early periods of human small settlements and the use of agricultural crops as a way to sustain their inhabitants. Along with the crops, also is one of the archeological sites that marks the first use of animal

domestication Domestication is a sustained multi-generational relationship in which humans assume a significant degree of control over the reproduction and care of another group of organisms to secure a more predictable supply of resources from that group. ...

. Due to the relics founded dating before 9000 BC, the place is considered as one of the first places in the world that initiated the process of

human settlement In geography, statistics and archaeology, a settlement, locality or populated place is a community in which people live. The complexity of a settlement can range from a minuscule number of dwellings grouped together to the largest of ci ...

in great scale. The houses in Basta were built on the familiar circular shape, and this design enabled individuals within the same house to live together. They used

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

to build their homes, as this can be known by the height of the walls in some places and the stone partitions whose floors were made with wood. These woods were from trees of the area and imported from other regions. There are no cemeteries, on the contrary, the people of the ancient village used to bury their dead under the floors of their homes. The archaeologists believes that the intent is to remind successive generations of the relationship of families and individuals to their homes, which later became a basic concept of place and home ownership for farmers and villagers. Of course, this socio-religious concept has its impact on the formation of the city, the first nucleus of civilization at the region. Being a civilization that predates the invention of pottery, the household items that were found were made of stone and bone from which grinding tools and mills were made, while flint was used to make arrowheads. Animal dolls such as a sitting deer, the head of a bull or a cow, the head of a bear and the head of a ram, were also found, which may have religious meaning. In their highest point, Basta became a regional center of trade and "industrial" production of handmade tools. Thanks to the domestication, trade and agriculture, Basta reached the population of at least 1000 people, which it made one of the most populated settlements in that time along with the ancient settlement of Beidha, which is located near. There is no consensus about the decline of Basta, but researchers believes that the fast growth of the settlement, an earthquake and the overconsumption of natural resources of the area were the factors that caused the decline and, consequently, the disappear of the city around 5000 BC.

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External Links

Photos of Basta
at the

American Center of Research The American Center of Research (ACOR) is a private, not-for-profit scholarly and educational organization. Based in Alexandria, Virginia, with a facility in Amman, Jordan, ACOR promotes knowledge of Jordan and the interconnected region, past and ...

{{Authority control Ain Ghazal Neolithic settlements 7th-millennium BC establishments Megasites Pre-Pottery Neolithic B

Archeological site

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External Links