[1][2] The Hilly Flanks foothill chain spans over 1000 miles, including parts of Turkey, northwestern Iraq, and western Iran.

[4] Previous survey work done in the Rania Plain, a region in the Hilly Flanks, has recorded settlement history dating back to the Late Chalcolithic Period.

[5] Major emphasis in archaeological studies has been placed on the effect of the changes in climate on food management methods, particularly the shift from hunting and gathering to crop cultivation and livestock domestication.

Robert John Braidwood, an American archaeologist from Michigan, led the Iraq-Jarmo Project in the 1950s, which consisted of carrying out interdisciplinary research in the foothills of the Zagros Mountains.

Childe proposed his Oasis Theory, which argued that the regions of North Africa and Near East experienced desiccation, or a period of increased droughts, higher temperatures, and decreased precipitation.

Intercepting through the modern-day borders of Turkey, Iraq, and Iran, the region spans over 1000 miles from the lower central area of the Turkish peninsula, curling around the northern sector of the Tigris river, then running along the foothills of the Zagros Mountain range.

The natural borders of this region are the Zagros Mountains to the north, the Iranian plateau to the east, the Tigris river to the south, and the lowlands of Mesopotamia to the west.

[7] In archaeology, the term Levant is used to describe the approximate historical region encompassing the land east of the Mediterranean in Western Asia.

[11] Robert Braidwood believes that the settlements in the hilly flanks region are the world’s first village farming communities, evidence of which are derived from archaeological expeditions that studied the Agricultural Revolution in the Near East.

[8] In 1950, Braidwood and his wife Linda set up the Jarmo Project to research the early domesticates in certain archaeological sites of interest in the hilly flanks region.

[8] The Jarmo Project found evidence of floral and faunal remains that helped to indicate the shift from hunting and gathering of wild species to a mode of subsistence dependent on domesticated plants, animals and their products.

Further archaeological expeditions from geologists and botanists provided evidence to supplement the understanding of Pleistocene glaciation and Holocene climate changes in the region.

The plain's climate, characterised by higher altitudes and increased precipitation, present differing environmental patterns in comparison to the general trends provided by the study of the lake cores.

Excavations at the sites of Bab-w-Kur in the Rania plain revealed the remains of “a series of large tripartite row houses and workshops, and a fortification wall that seems to surround parts of the lower mound.”[4] This area is given the nickname the ‘Red Mudbrick Town’.

Analysis of the excavations in this region, along with accompanying pottery remains, suggest these findings date back to the Late Chalcolithic Period.

[5][clarification needed] Ubaid pottery has been identified in Kall Karim, a region of the hilly flanks located between the Iraqi border and Kabir Kouh Mountains.

Jarmo, an archaeological site in northeastern Iraq in the hilly flanks region, raised animals such as goats, sheep, pigs, and cattle, and harvested crops such as wheat, barley, and legumes.

[6] Excavations by the Joint Istanbul University-Chicago Oriental Institute Prehistoric Project studied an early-village farming site dating back to around 7000 B.C.

[20] The Project gathered resources to learn more about Cayönü, but placed an emphasis on the collection of data that provided insight on the domestication of plants and animals.

Evidence across all excavations showed a shift from the dependence on big wild animals, such as aurochs and red deers, to the raising of domestic sheep and goats.