A small flock of woolly sheep is bleating nearby. I see them grazing on the handfuls of grass that grace the edge of the plateau. Seeing me, the flock scurries back but before the shy shepherdess could leave, I fire a quick question in English to her. I am unsure if a local of Harran in Turkey would understand English, but she replies me back with a smile, “My name is Hatije, yes I live here.” The plains of Harran in upper Mesopotamia is a cradle of civilization. Continuously inhabited since the last 8000 years, it is around here that humans first settled and started cultivating crops. Harran is extremely…