Area 25
Main Information
| Area ID | 25 |
| Site |
Hallan Cemi |
| Area type | settlement |
| Area NR | |
| Period | Anatolia: Pre-Pottery Neolithic A |
| Dating method | |
| 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 |
Rosenberg, M., Hallan Çemi, 2007, Istanbul Rosenberg, M.; Davis, M. K., Hallan Çemi Tepesi, an Early Aceramic Neolithic Site in Eastern Anatolia: Some Preliminary Observations Concering Material Culture, 1992, |
| Comment | A recent series of 16 accelerator dates (OxA12298-99, 12328-41) confirm that the site was occupied for a few hundred years toward the end of the 11th millennium BP in C14 years (mid 10th millennium cal. BC) |
| Settlement type | tell |
| Settlement structure |
houses: radial |
| Settlement building type | |
| Settlement building shape |
circular |
| Settlement building technique |
pavement plaster wall stone wattle and daub |
| Settlement archaeological features |
bench fireplace hearth paved area post hole stone platform storage building |
| 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 | |
| Grave: type of human remains | |
| Grave: estimated number of individuals | |
| Grave: age groups | |
| Grave: sexes | |
| 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 spatial layout of the Hallan Cemi Neolithic community consisted of a variety of structures and features arranged around a central open activity area approximately 15 m in diameter. The deposits in this open central area consisted of extremely dense concentrations of animal bone and fire-cracked rocks obtained from the nearby river bed. The animal bone in this area was often in the form of large, still-articulated parts of animal carcasses and inculdes a linear arrangement of three sheep crania. Scattered among the clearly recognizable stone structures ringing the open central area were a number of low, circular platforms and irregular expanses of a thick, white plaster. The platforms (average diameter ca. 2m, 10-40cm preserved hight) were made of a variety of materials including stone (partly covered with mud plaster), packed mud, and white plaster. They do not cover anything and the most plausible explanation of their function is that they were the foundations of storage silos whose superstructures were made of more perishable materials. Low, raised plaster features (other than platforms), typically rounded and between 50-70 cm in diameter, were encountered both inside and outside the stone structures in all three building Ievels. These were presumably hearths, as in many cases the plaster enclosed stillarticulated, fire-cracked stones that had apparently cracked while encased by the plaster. laster-like material were also scattered between the stone structures, as were several groups of postholes. Same of these plaster expanses are directly adjacent to stone structures and likely represent (presumably sheltered) exterior activity areas associated with those particular structures. However, others not so adjacent to stone structures may represent the only remaining traces of free-standing structures built of materials less durable than stone. All three of the stone structures that were excavated from the lowest excavated building Ievel 3 are relatively simple and probably domestic in nature. By the next building level 2, there is some architectural differentiation evident in the excavated structures. A total of five recognizable structures are known from this Ievel, but only four were completely excavated. All four of these fully excavated examples are again surface structures, with walls constructed in the same manner (i.e., pebbles/cobbles cemented with white-plaster) as the level 3 structures, three have floors paved with close-fitting sandstone slabs. One of these paved structures is particularly large, with a diameter of ca. 4 m, and has a small plastered basin at its center. By the upper-most building Ievel 1, however, there is clear evidence for the existence of structures that were not strictly domestic in nature and instead served some kind of public function. A total of four structures corresponding to this level were excavated. They all differ from those found in the earlier Ievels, in that they are constructed out of sandstone slabs and not cemented river stones. Two of these are relatively small surface structures, ca. 2,5 m in diameter and, like many of the structures from Ievels 2 and 3, 'C'-shaped in configuration. These are likely to have been domestic in function (Rosenberg 1994; Rosenberg et al. 1995). ln contrast, the other two structures are significantly larger, about 5-6 m in diameter, and similar in area to what are said to be public buildings at other Early Neolithic sites. Both these larger structures are fully circular and semi-subterranean in their construction. They also contain distinctive features in the form of a semi-circular stone bench/platform that is set against the wall of each structure |
| Comment | As the author gives an overview on the settlement and does not associate the finds with the different levels, all 3 levels are described in one entry here. |
Location of the Site
Bibliography
Finds in this Area
Interpretations related to this Area
| Interpretation |
ID 39
|