Area 228
Main Information
| Area ID | 228 |
| Site |
Cayönü |
| Area type | cemetery or grave |
| Area NR | Third Stage |
| Period | Anatolia: Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Anatolia: Pre-Pottery Neolithic C |
| Dating method | radiocarbon dating |
| Radiocarbon dated | no |
| Earliest date: Lab Number | |
| Earliest date: 14C age (BP) | |
| Earliest date: Calibration | None |
| Earliest date: 14C age calibrated (BC) | |
| Earliest date: Date of calibration | None |
| Earliest date: Standard deviation | None |
| Earliest date: Delta 13C | None |
| Earliest date: Dated by | |
| Latest date: Lab Number | |
| Latest date: 14C age (BP) | |
| Latest date: Calibration | None |
| Latest date: 14C age calibrated (BC) | |
| Latest date: Date of calibration | None |
| Latest date: Standard deviation | None |
| 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., Cayönü, None, None |
| Comment | As the phases befor and after this stage have been radiocarbon dated, indirectly the phase can be indirectly dated to around 8600-8300 BP. |
| Settlement type | None |
| Settlement structure | |
| Settlement building type | |
| Settlement building shape | |
| Settlement building technique | |
| Settlement archaeological features | |
| 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 |
extramural intramural part of house |
| Cemetery/graves mortuary features | |
| Grave: number of graves | |
| Grave type |
cist grave pit grave |
| Grave: type of human remains |
inhumation secondary deposition |
| Grave: estimated number of individuals | |
| Grave: age groups |
adult infans I (0-6) neonate subadult |
| Grave: sexes |
female individuals male individuals part of specialist report sex not specified |
| Grave: number of female sex | 2 |
| Grave: number of male sex | None |
| Grave: number of not specified sex | None |
| Grave: disturbance of graves | |
| Description | Most of the graves are in the Skull Building "House of the Dead" in the first half of the period; in the Cobble Paved Building Subphase, secondary burials or isolated human bones, mainly of infants and children, are not uncommon, especially in the open areas in the western sector of the settlement. In the first phase of the Skull Building (BM2c), a different type of mortuary practice involving chamber graves can be observed. The western crypt has a bench of long bones tied together at the bottom end and on the east side of it rows of skulls arranged carefully to face in different directions, separated from each other by piles of long bones. In the south of the neighboring crypt (to the east) a decapitated semi-flexed female burial lies together with a new-born infant and a child. The crypt furthest east there are numberous bones that look as if they were especially placed there. BM2b containted, with on exception, secondary burials without skulls accompanied by gifts. A decapitated primary burial lies under the stone pavement of the west room. In the final Skull Building (BM2a) 49 burnt skulls were recovered. More than half of them were concentrated in the east room, some in the middle room together with some animal bones, a few in the west room. These skulls were possibly aligned on the stone pavement and got crushed because of the burnt mudbrick debris piled up on them. There is nothing else in these cells. After the burying of the Skull Building towards the end of the cp3-Subphase, bodies were interred under the floors of the basements of the cell buildings. Conceptually, the basements of the cell buildings can be compared to the crypts of the Skull Building. Almost all of the early cell buildings (c1) yielded graves. The dead were buried predominantly under the floors of the northwest rooms or cells, as primary burials, either singly or in groups. Burials, either thightly or semi-flexed, lay on their right or left side in a northeast-southwest or exact opposite orientation, all facing towards the ground. The bones in the graves are anatomically intact, no secondary burial practices were found. The graves, of CA (west) and CX (east), from the cell buildings in the eastern and western sectors of the settlement, are different from the other contemporary graves in the number of as well as the variety and richness of their burial gifts. In building CX, of the two burials in the same cell, the one that is male is overwhelmed with gifts, whereas the gift for the female lying with her infant is only two legs of meat. In the graves of building CA, individuals were buried with their personal ornaments (a string of beads) and/or ground stone or obsidian artifacts. The only burial of the second subphase of the cell building (c2) is a woman wrapped in a bitumen covered mat and interred in the clay bench of building DE. Although there is no significant change in the mortuary practices in the Late Cell Building Subphase (c3a), the number of the graves and particulary the variety of the gifts decrease. On the other hand, the bones are generally much damaged. A male burial placed inside the west wall of building CR is an exception. The isolated bones in the courtyards are probably from buildings which have been disturbed by floods. |
| Comment |
Location of the Site
Bibliography
Finds in this Area