Five of the Middle East's oldest cities that are still inhabited

The first urban settlements began to appear just under 10,000 years ago in what is now Turkey, Iraq and Syria.

By Adel Hajjar

Archaeologists found evidence of human inhabitation in Damascus dated as far back as 8,000 years ago (AFP/Louai Beshara)

With the advent of agriculture around 11,000 years ago, human populations in the Middle East began settling in one place, and started to abandon their previous hunter-gatherer way of living.

Growing crops and domesticating animals often resulted in food surpluses, which meant people had less of a need to move around in search of new sources of food.

Small agricultural settlements eventually turned into villages, towns and cities and the building blocks of civilisation were laid.