Anatolian Neolithic

Anatolian Neolithic
Name	Anatolian Neolithic
Period	Neolithic
Dates	ca. 8500–5500 BCE
Region	Anatolia
Major sites	Çatalhöyük, Çayönü, Göbekli Tepe, Aşıklı Höyük, Boncuklu Höyük, Hacılar, Körtepe

Anatolian Neolithic The Anatolian Neolithic denotes the prehistoric cultural horizon in central and southeastern Anatolia associated with early settled villages, domestication, and craft specialization during the early Holocene. Excavations at sites such as Göbekli Tepe, Çatalhöyük, Aşıklı Höyük, and Çayönü have transformed debates about the origins of agriculture, ritual, and complex society in the Near East, intersecting with research on the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A, Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, Neolithic Revolution, and broader processes documented in Levantine Neolithic and Zagros Mountains contexts.

Introduction

The Anatolian Neolithic emerged amid climatic and demographic shifts following the end of the Younger Dryas and involved interactions among populations linked to the Levant, Upper Mesopotamia, Iranian Plateau, and Aegean corridors. Key investigators include archaeologists such as John Garstang, James Mellaart, İlhan Kılıç Kökten, Ian Hodder, and Klaus Schmidt, and institutions like the British Institute at Ankara, German Archaeological Institute, French Institute of Anatolian Studies, and university teams from University of Chicago, Cambridge University, and Ankara University have led field programs. Radiocarbon chronologies built by laboratories at Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, W.M. Keck Carbon Cycle Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Facility, and ETH Zurich underpin debates about diffusion, independent invention, and cultural transmission.

Archaeological Cultures and Sites

Excavations at Göbekli Tepe revealed monumental T-shaped pillars and enclosures that challenge models of sedentism preceding ritual architecture, while Çatalhöyük provides dense domestic assemblages, mural art, and burial practices illuminating long-term occupation dynamics. Regional sequences include Early sites like Boncuklu Höyük and Aşıklı Höyük, transitional centers such as Çayönü and Hacılar, and later Neolithic and Chalcolithic developments seen at Can Hasan and Tepecik-Çiftlik. Comparative research draws on parallels with Jericho, Ain Ghazal, Tell Halula, Jarmo, Zawi Chemi Shanidar, Tell Abu Hureyra, and Körtik Tepe to situate Anatolian assemblages in a transregional framework. Artifact typologies documented by teams from British Museum, Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Istanbul Archaeology Museums, and regional archaeological surveys inform pottery sequences, lithic industries, and architectural patterns.

Subsistence, Technology, and Architecture

Faunal and botanical analyses from sites like Çayönü and Aşıklı Höyük show managed herds of sheep, goat, cattle, and pulses alongside cultivation of wheat, barley, lentil, and pea, with archaeobotanical recovery methods refined by specialists from University of Copenhagen and University of Cambridge. Lithic industries include obsidian exploitation from sources at Melos and Göllü Dağ documented through geochemical sourcing by teams at University of Oxford and University of Glasgow. Architecture ranges from round early houses at Boncuklu Höyük to rectangular adobe and mudbrick structures at Çatalhöyük and raised platforms at Göbekli Tepe, with construction techniques paralleled in Hacilar and Tepecik-Çiftlik. Craft technologies such as pottery production, textile impressions, and groundstone tools link Anatolian assemblages with innovations traced in the Levantine Neolithic and Caucasus.

Social Organization and Material Culture

Burial practices at Çatalhöyük and mortuary deposits at Çayönü provide evidence for household-based social organization, ancestor veneration, and differential status, while the monumental enclosures of Göbekli Tepe imply collective ritual mobilization beyond single households. Figurines, stamp seals, and painted wall scenes unearthed by teams from British Institute at Ankara and Museum of Anatolian Civilizations reflect symbolic repertoires comparable to those from Ain Ghazal, Hacilar, and Jericho. Trade networks are evidenced by long-distance exchange of obsidian, shells, and exotic minerals connecting Anatolia with Cyprus, Levant, Syria, and Iran, and administrative practices inferred from sealings and structured storage anticipate later institutions seen in Halaf and Ubaid contexts.

Genetics and Population History

Ancient DNA extracted from human remains at Anatolian sites, analyzed by laboratories at Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Harvard Medical School, University College London, and Wellcome Sanger Institute, indicates complex ancestry profiles involving admixture between populations related to Levantine hunter-gatherers, Anatolian hunter-gatherers, and groups from the Caucasus and Iranian Neolithic. Genetic data contribute to debates over the role of Anatolia in the spread of farming into Europe and the genetic affinities with later Indo-European dispersals, complementing isotope studies from University of Vienna and MPI-EVA. Phylogeographic models incorporating data from ancient genomes at Boncuklu Höyük, Çatalhöyük, and Tepecik-Çiftlik are compared with modern population genetics datasets from Turkey, Greece, and the Near East.

Chronology and Regional Interaction

Radiocarbon series and Bayesian modeling conducted by teams associated with Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit and University of Bristol refine a chronology spanning roughly 8500–5500 BCE, with regional variability in the timing of plant and animal domestication, pottery emergence, and architectural complexity. Interaction spheres linked Anatolian centers with contemporaneous phenomena in Upper Mesopotamia, the Levant, the Aegean Neolithic, and the Caucasus, as evidenced by shared lithic forms, cultic architecture, and domesticate taxa. Ongoing fieldwork and multidisciplinary projects led by institutions such as Ankara University, Ege University, Koç University, British Institute at Ankara, German Archaeological Institute, and international collaborators continue to refine models of innovation, transmission, and regional transformation during the Neolithic of Anatolia.

Category:Neolithic cultures of Asia Category:Archaeology of Turkey