The Hilly Flanks are the upland areas surrounding the Fertile Crescent of Southwest Asia, including the foothills of the Zagros Mountains, the Taurus Mountains, and the highland parts of the Levant. The Hilly Flanks foothill chain spans over 1000 miles, including parts of Turkey, northwestern Iraq, and western Iran. The region is just north of Mesopotamia, with similar characteristics of fertility with the added trait of foothills and plateaus. The term was coined by Robert Braidwood in 1948. He proposed that the Neolithic Revolution began in the Hilly Flanks because these areas received enough rainfall for agriculture without irrigation. He also observed that many of the wild progenitors of domesticated crops had their natural habitats in the Hilly Flanks, as did wild sheep and goat. His theory was in opposition to the oasis theory of V. Gordon Childe, which placed the origins of agriculture in well-watered desert refugia such as Mesopotamia. Ultimately, archaeological investigations proved Braidwood correct. The region has been the subject of numerous archaeological expeditions intending to discover more about its historical culture. One such archaeological investigation by the Danish Archaeological Expedition to Iraq (DAEI) aimed to investigate the early urbanism in the upper regions of Mesopotamia. 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. Studies on pottery and clay remains in the region uncover the activities of creative expression and entertainment in Neolithic societies that settled in the region. 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. Animal husbandry include the domestication of pigs, goats, sheep, and cattle. The crops frequently harvested include barley, wheat, legumes, and grains.
Etymology The term hilly flanks has been commonly associated with a region of fertile land typically characterised by a moderately mountainous hilly nature. The moderate nature of the hills in these regions are normally due to the close proximity of the region to a mountainous region. Hence, foothills in certain regions have been dubbed hilly flanks. 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. He is believed to be one of the first to coin the phrase "the hilly flanks of the Fertile Crescent" to describe this particular region. Braidwood proposed his theory that the Hilly Flanks region was one of the first agricultural civilisations in the world given the sufficient amount of rainfall the region received. This enabled societies to carry out agriculture without irrigation. Communities were able to raise livestock in these regions. Braidwood's theory was proposed as a counterargument to that of Australian archaeologist V. Gordon Childe. Childe proposed his Oasis Theory, which argued that the regions of North Africa and the Near East experienced desiccation, or a period of increased droughts, higher temperatures, and decreased precipitation. The lack of rainfall resulted in less fertile land that posed issues for inhabitants of the region, which then forced civilisations to mobilise to oases and river valley regions in Mesopotamia. However, further archaeological research expeditions, such as the Iraq-Jarmo Project, provided evidence that supported Braidwood's theory. The term hilly flanks was also used by a team of anthropologists from the Department of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis, US to refer to the northern part of a Fertile Arc in China, similar to that of the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East.
Geography The area pertaining to the hilly flanks is predominantly characterised as the foothills of the Zagros Mountains. 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. In archaeology, the term Levant is used to describe the approximate historical region encompassing the land east of the Mediterranean in Western Asia. The Levant includes the parts of the modern-day nations of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Palestine and Turkey. A large portion of the Hilly Flanks region lies within the northern highlands of the Levant. Given its close proximity to the Tigris river in the Fertile Crescent, the land of the hilly flanks is fertile for agriculture and raising livestock. The majority of fertile land most effective for agricultural use consist either of plains where rivers drains out of, or fertile valleys that run through the ridges of the foothills. The Shahrizor Plain is a prominent geographic region within the Hilly Flanks. The plain is formed by the Shahrizor basin, which is formed by the gradual descending height of the Azmar and Kurhakazhaw mountains. Many modern villages and ancient mounds are found along the basin. The Shahrizor basin is drained by many streams that join the Tanjero river. The folds of mountains that emerge in the southeast region of Shahrizor make the area difficult to traverse. The land south of the Shahrizor consists of steep, high ridges that make inhabiting and travelling difficult. The land is in the valleys of these ridges are narrow, posing issues for agriculture. The Hilly Flanks share similar characteristics with other foothill chains, including the alluvial fans along the Jordan Valley, the Inner Asian Mountain Corridor, which is a region spanning from the Altai Mountains in Siberia to the Hindu Kush area of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the northern China Foothill Arc. The characteristics shared include being located along elevated sites around river catchments and historically being early farming sites.
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