Wikinventia — Atlas of discoveries and inventions · Settlement Age

Lime mortar and primitive concrete floors — Pre-Pottery Neolithic B

~8500 BC · Transmission: Silenced
MaterialsMethodMesopotamian

Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB, c. 8500-7000 BC) communities in the Mediterranean Levant and southeast Anatolia develop the first documented lime-mortar technology: they calcine limestone above 800°C — already mastering advanced pyrotechnology before having pottery — to obtain quicklime, which they mix with water and aggregates to make floors, wall coverings, and vessels. At Yiftahel (Lower Galilee), domestic floors made entirely of a primitive polished-lime concrete have been excavated; at Ain Ghazal (Jordan), floors coated with smooth lime mortar, often painted with red pigments; at Çayönü and Göbekli Tepe (Turkey), terrazzo floors of remarkable technical quality in public buildings and temples. These same cultures also develop the so-called "White Ware": vessels and containers molded directly from lime paste, predating the invention of fired pottery. This technology precedes Roman concrete (opus caementicium, c. 200 BC) by more than six millennia and constitutes the oldest documented origin of lime-based building materials, in contrast to the usual attribution of this innovation to Roman engineering.

InstitutionNeolithic settlements of the Levant and Anatolia (Jericho, Yiftahel, Ain Ghazal, Çayönü, Göbekli Tepe)
Historical regionMediterranean Levant (present-day Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon) and southeast Anatolia (Turkey)
Primary sourceArchaeological excavations at Yiftahel, Ain Ghazal, Çayönü, and Jericho; synthesis in archaeometric research on Pre-Pottery lime technology in the Levant (Springer Nature, 2025)
Secondary sourceWikipedia — Fertile Crescent; archaeological documentation on the PPNB period
Original languageEnglish / Hebrew / Arabic (primary archaeological sources)
View this entry in the interactive atlas → View in graph →