The Pre-pottery neolithic A (short PPN A) represents the early neolithic in the Levant and upper Mesopotamia. During this time, pottery was yet unknown and domestication of plants and animals was in its beginnings.
The settlements consist of round semi-subterranean houses with stone foundations and terrazzo-floors. The superstructures were constructed of unbaked mudbricks with plano-convex cross-sections. The hearths were small and covered with cobbles. Heated rocks were used in cooking, which led to an accumulation of fire-cracked rock in the buildings. Almost every settlement contains storage bins made either stones or mud-brick. The sites are much larger than in the preceding Natufian and contain traces of communal structures, like the famous wall of Jericho, probably built against floods.
