Ok, but the Neolithic started somewhere in the Zagros Moutains. Farming was there much earlier than you think. "Agriculture: Moving back towards self-sufficiency. Kurdistan is believed to be where humans first domesticated animals and planted crops. In a scientific publication by Rice University School of Science and Technology, it was reported, "Recent archaeological finds place the beginning of agriculture before 7000 B.C. and animal domestication (mostly dogs used as hunting aids) thousands of years before that. There is some evidence that the people of Shanidar, in Kurdistan, were domesticating sheep and planting wheat as long ago as 9800 B.C." http://www.kurdishherald.com/issue/005/article05.php http://stillwatersministry.com/gobeklitepe.htm Recently they even found 200,000 !!! (yes, you read it good) year old lanterns. It is only part of the discoveries of more than 100 historic pieces. Some of it are 10,000 years old, from the Neolithic era, like: Some of the items were used for milling grain + including hammers that go back to the Neolithic era. All these artifacts were found around Duhok, in Southern Kurdistan. http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles.../state4977.htm http://unitedkurdistan.net/ourblog/?p=1559