Shepherd Neolithic

Shepherd Neolithic is a name given by archaeologists to a style (or industry) of small flint tools from the Hermel plains in the north Beqaa Valley, Lebanon.

[2] Shepherd Neolithic material can be found dispersed over a wide area of the north Beqaa Valley in low concentrations.

The small number of tools within the assemblage is another distinguishable characteristic, including short denticulated or notched blades, end scrapers, transverse racloirs on thin flakes and borers with strong points.

[7][8] The relationship and dividing line between the related Heavy Neolithic zone of the south Beqaa Valley could also not be clearly defined but was suggested to be in the area around Douris and Qalaat Tannour.

Not enough exploration had been carried out to conclude whether the bands of Neolithic surface sites continues south into the areas around Zahle and Rayak.

A shepherd with sheep on a mountainside. Sheep were among the first animals to be domesticated by humankind; the domestication date is estimated to fall between nine and eleven thousand years ago in Mesopotamia . [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] Henri Fleisch suggested that the Shepherd Neolithic industry could have been used by nomadic shepherds . [ 7 ] [ 8 ]