Over the past few months, I’ve presented videos on various Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites in the Fertile Crescent, from Gobekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe in Turkey, to Tell Qaramel in Syria, Ancient Jericho in the West Bank and Atlit Yam off the coast of Israel.

We’ve seen the incredible art and architecture these people were capable of and we’ve even found their bones, but what did they actually look like? Well, thanks to the 10-11,000-year-old site of Tell Aswad in Syria, we can actually answer that question.

The plastered skulls of Tell Aswad show very realistic faces; there are no unbelievable or supernatural embellishments and they look just like any individual living in the modern era. There looks to be a real intimacy about the faces and the fact they’re around 10,000 years old does stir the emotions.

These are the faces of Pre-Pottery Neolithic people, and that’s according to the people themselves, a truly incredible archaeological find that memorialises our ancestors forever. Watch this video to learn more.