Area 173
Main Information
| Area ID | 173 |
| Site |
Cayönü |
| Area type | settlement |
| Area NR | First Stage (round and grill building phases) |
| Period | Anatolia: Pre-Pottery Neolithic A |
| Dating method | radiocarbon dating |
| Radiocarbon dated | yes |
| Earliest date: Lab Number | GrN 19482 |
| Earliest date: 14C age (BP) | |
| Earliest date: Calibration | yes |
| Earliest date: 14C age calibrated (BC) | |
| Earliest date: Date of calibration | None |
| Earliest date: Standard deviation | 200 |
| Earliest date: Delta 13C | None |
| Earliest date: Dated by | |
| Latest date: Lab Number | GrN 16462 |
| Latest date: 14C age (BP) | |
| Latest date: Calibration | yes |
| Latest date: 14C age calibrated (BC) | |
| Latest date: Date of calibration | None |
| Latest date: Standard deviation | 65 |
| Latest date: Delta 13C | None |
| Latest date: Dated by | |
| Period Reference |
Bicakci, E., An Essay on the Chronology of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Settlements of the Taurus Region (Turkey) with the Building Remains and C14 Dates., None, None Özdogan, A., Life at Cayönü During the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Period (according to the artifactual assemblage)., None, None Özdogan, A., Cayönü, None, None |
| Comment | The here described stage of the site belongs to the 1 Phase or Cayönü Main Phase (PPNA, PPNB, PPNC). It can be subdevided into the "round building phase" (10,200-9400 BP) and the subsequent "grill building phase" (9400-9200/100? BP), which by the excavators have been described toghether. The dating has been conducted based on two dates available from the Round Building Subphase and two dates for the Grill Building Subphase |
| Settlement type | tell |
| Settlement structure |
houses: free-standing |
| Settlement building type | |
| Settlement building shape |
circular rectangular |
| Settlement building technique |
stone socket wattle and daub |
| Settlement archaeological features |
fireplace plastered floor post hole waste pit |
| Cave/rockshelters type | None |
| Cave/rockshelters: Evidence of graves/human remains | |
| Cave/rockshelters: Evidence of occupation | |
| Quarry exploitation type | None |
| Quarry raw material | |
| Cemetery/graves topography | |
| Cemetery/graves mortuary features | |
| Grave: number of graves | |
| Grave type |
pit grave |
| Grave: type of human remains |
inhumation |
| Grave: estimated number of individuals | |
| Grave: age groups |
part of specialist report |
| Grave: sexes |
part of specialist report |
| Grave: number of female sex | None |
| Grave: number of male sex | None |
| Grave: number of not specified sex | None |
| Grave: disturbance of graves | |
| Description | The first Cayönü settlement was founded by a hunter-gatherer group on the rich alluvial deposits of an almost completely silted up Pleistocene lake in the contact zone between the steppe-like plateau streching to the heart of Syria on the southern flanks of the SE Taurus Ranges and the high plateau of Eastern Anatolia. The first village consisted of small round huts about 4-5m in diameter, constructed of reed bundles with semi-subterranean floors encircled by open areas. In time, the huts becoe more ovoid with a larger internal size, woven like baskets, using slender trees and branches, and also plastered with clay (wattle and daub). Wattle and daub structures on stone footings and plastered floors are the features of the later round dwellings (r4). The floor of the hut called RA is red painted. From the later round dwellings to the oval-like round stucture (BN) with a stone footing constructed of larger stones may be the earliest example of "special" buidlings. A grill building (GG) constructed above it has disurbed its fill. The gournd plans of the earliest grill buildings, lying directly above the round semi-subterranean dwellings, display a nearly rectangular form with roughly parallel rows of stones laid out on the ground at wide intervals (for supporting the floor), and rectangular spaces of different dimensions. The wattle basket tradition was retained for the superstructures. The reason for the villagers moving from semi-subterranean dwellings to living on raised platforms is thought to be the frequent floods and/or the long rainy seasons. The grill buildings might also have been constructed from a need for larger closed living spaces partitioned for different functions. The rectangular interiors of these new buildings were arranged in three differnet sections. In the northern half was a raised living floor laid over five or six roughly parallel "beam like" rows made of three lines (grills) of medium sized stones separated by wide channels. When these grills were covered, a large utility area was created. In the middle section of the house, elevationally lower than the grills, was a rectangular central room with a plastered fllor and with a fireplace in the souteast or soutwest corner. In the southern section of the house, there was a number of small compartments, occasionally paved with stones, on either side of a central entrance. An interior fireplace, first indroducted with these gril buildings an an importante element of them, had a carefully plastered floor on a stone base and an opening in the back. Small buttresses on the southern walls of the buildings might have been bases for posts. The "foundations" of the grill buildings, of rows of unmortared stones, have no function in supporting the superstructure of the buildings. Rows of postholes surrouned by stones, along the long sides of the buildings, ca. 70-80cm apart and the post bases of flat stones in the central room point to the fact that the superstructures of these buildings must have resembled the "old-fashioned" oval dwellings that were constructed of bundles of reeds and/or twigs vaulted on top, supported by posts in places and ounded at the "corners". Besides the dimensions of the buildings, there is no change in the general apperance of the village. At the beginning of the Grill Building Subphase, in the outer, central ourtyards the abandoned cavaties of the semi-subterranean dwellings were used for storage or garbage. In addition to that, new storage pits were dug and plastered inside. The open spaces between the grill buildings, that were constructed close to each other (S-SE orientation), became rubbish areas. |
| Comment | For more informations on the burials, please consult the respective entries. |
Location of the Site
Bibliography
Finds in this Area
Interpretations related to this Area