Jarmo: Crops and Cooking in an Early Village

Jarmo lies in the Sulaimaniyah region of Iraqi Kurdistan, on a promontory overlooking a seasonal valley in the Zagros foothills. Excavations directed by Robert and Linda Braidwood made it an important site for studying early farming in Southwest Asia. Houses, courtyards, hearths and tools preserve the material setting of settled life.

A study published in 2023 combined earlier evidence with new dates and divided the principal occupation sequence into four phases, approximately 7400–6300 BCE. The earlier village belonged to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic; pottery entered domestic life later. Excavations in 2012 and 2014 obtained new samples, allowing plant and food remains from different deposits to be placed within that sequence.

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The new plant assemblage is dominated by crops. Researchers identified emmer wheat chaff, small amounts of barley, lentils, grass pea and other pulses; flax seeds were also present. Cereals and pulses supplied different ingredients, and cultivation had become an important part of village subsistence.

Wheat chaff was relatively abundant in the building area, while grains and arable weeds were scarce. Researchers interpret this pattern as evidence that residents brought partly cleaned wheat spikelets indoors for pounding and dehusking. Farming work extended from the fields into domestic spaces, where the harvest still required repeated processing.

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Grinding stones in houses and courtyards helped residents process plant materials. Early fire installations included clay-lined hearths and pit-like features, while domed clay ovens appeared in later deposits. Heat, grinding tools and vessels turned stored crops into foods that could be cooked and shared.

Polished stone vessels were used before pottery became common. Later ceramics were handmade and often tempered with chaff or straw; larger pots and bowls became more frequent. The different sizes and forms of stone and ceramic vessels offered several options for preparation, cooking and serving.

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Flotation separated small charred materials from soil samples, and microscopy identified their plant tissues. Some food fragments had structures resembling dough, leavened bread or flatbread; others resembled porridge made by boiling cereals and pulses in water. Small particles also suggest that residents frequently ground cereals into relatively fine flour.

These fragments bring agricultural history into the kitchen: which crops were grown, where they were dehusked, how they were ground, and how water and heat were used. The connections between fields, tools and everyday foods make the village life of Jarmo more tangible.

References: [1]