Agriculture first appeared in Syria thousands of years ago, when man discovered the possibility of growing hundreds of new plants from seed. This discovery made it possible for civilization, as we know it, to begin. Men abandoned their caves and began building houses, and establishing settled communities. They embarked on journeys of self-discovery, observing the heavens and singing the earliest-known hymns. They tried their hand at painting and sculpture.

In ancient Syria, the secrets of metallurgy were also discovered, the possibility of hammering bronze and copper into shapes that would serve domestic, military and aesthetic uses. At Mari (Tel Hariri) were found numerous palaces, temples and murals reflecting advanced cultural and commercial activity. The kingdom of Ugarit (Ras Shamra) offered mankind its first alphabet. At Ebla (Tel Merdikh), a royal palace was discovered containing one of the largest and most comprehensive archives of the ancient world, dealing with matters of industry, diplomacy, trade, art and agriculture.

Ebla's power spread from the Anatolian mountains in the north to Sinai in the south. It became world-famous for two industries- the manufacture of silk cloth of gold, and that of finely-carved wood, inlaid with ivory and mother of pearls. Today these industries still prosper, with Syrian brocade and mosaics fashioned according to the artisanal tradition of ancient Ebla. Syria was the theatre for many conquests, that descended from the Anatolian mountains or arrived t its shores from the sea. Its original inhabitants, migrants from the Arabian Peninsula, settled throughout the country, in the Fertile Crescent, and on the Palestinian coastline and the Sinai desert. They were known as the Akkadians, the Amorites, the Canaanite, the Phoenicians, the Arameans or the Ghassanids, depending on the time of their migration and the place of their settlement.