Çayönü

Çayönü
Name	Çayönü
Region	Upper Mesopotamia
Coordinates	37°10′N 40°20′E
Period	Pre-Pottery Neolithic to Pottery Neolithic
Archaeologists	Halet Çambel, Robert Braidwood, M. Özgür
Notable	early architecture, domestication, obsidian use

Çayönü Çayönü is a large Pre-Pottery Neolithic and Pottery Neolithic archaeological site in Upper Mesopotamia noted for early sedentism, complex architecture, and early plant and animal management. Located on the plain of the Tigris River tributaries near the modern Turkish town of Diyarbakır, the site has been central to debates involving Neolithic dispersals, Near Eastern prehistory, and the origins of agriculture. Excavations and analyses have linked Çayönü to contemporaneous sites such as Göbekli Tepe, Jericho, Aşıklı Höyük, Körtik Tepe, and Çatalhöyük in broader debates about Neolithic lifeways.

Geography and Site Description

Çayönü lies near the foothills of the Southeastern Anatolia Region adjacent to the Tigris River drainage, with a landscape of alluvial plains, steppe, and nearby limestone outcrops. The site occupies a tell with superimposed occupational layers that rise above surrounding plains used for seasonal grazing linked to routes known from the Fertile Crescent corridor. Proximity to obsidian sources in the Nemrut Dağı and trade routes connecting to Zagros Mountains, Syrian Desert, and Levant provided raw materials influencing Çayönü’s material culture and interregional interaction with centers such as Jerf el-Ahmar and Tell Abu Hureyra.

Archaeological Excavations and History of Research

Systematic work at Çayönü began with surveys and test trenches conducted by Turkish and international teams influenced by scholars like Halet Çambel and projects connected to the University of Chicago Oriental Institute paradigms. Major excavations in the 1960s and 1970s by teams associated with Istanbul University and researchers trained by Robert Braidwood established stratigraphic sequences and recovered architecture, lithics, and botanical remains. Later fieldwork integrated methods from archaeobotany pioneered at Weizmann Institute of Science projects and archaeozoology approaches used at sites like Ain Ghazal and Nahal Oren, refining radiocarbon chronologies with laboratories such as those affiliated with Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit and W.M. Keck Carbon Cycle Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Facility.

Chronology and Cultural Phases

Çayönü’s stratigraphy is divided into sequential cultural phases comparable to Near Eastern sequences like the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and Pre-Pottery Neolithic B frameworks used at Jericho and Netiv Hagdud. Scholars identify early aceramic horizons followed by transitional aceramic-to-ceramic phases contemporaneous with the rise of sites such as Tell Halaf and Hassuna. Radiocarbon dates place initial occupation in the 9th–8th millennia BCE, overlapping with chronologies from Göbekli Tepe and late occupations contemporary with early Pottery Neolithic communities like Çatalhöyük.

Architecture and Settlement Organization

Excavations revealed diverse building types including round, rectangular, and cruciform structures analogous to forms documented at Aşıklı Höyük and Körtik Tepe. Monumental communal structures and domestic units indicate planned spatial organization with features comparable to public architecture at Göbekli Tepe and vernacular houses at Jerf el-Ahmar. Construction techniques used local limestone, mudbrick, and pisé reflecting technological exchanges seen in Tell Abu Hureyra and Beidha. Evidence for phased rebuilding, architectural standardization, and possible household craft areas aligns Çayönü with models of proto-urban nucleation proposed for Neolithic centers such as Çatalhöyük and Ain Ghazal.

Material Culture and Subsistence

Çayönü produced a rich lithic repertoire including pressure-flaked blades and backed points comparable to industries from Köşk Höyük and Hacılar, and extensive obsidian artifacts linking to sources at Nemrut Dağı and trade networks reaching Lake Van regions. Groundstone tools, bone implements, and early ceramic assemblages appear alongside symbolic objects akin to ornaments from Jericho and figurines from Tell Brak. Archaeobotanical remains include cultivated and wild cereals similar to assemblages at Tell Aswad and Tell Abu Hureyra, showing early cultivation of einkorn and emmer alongside pulses known from Jordan Valley contexts. Zooarchaeological evidence indicates managed caprines and cattle related to early domestication trajectories documented at Çatalhöyük and Ain Ghazal, combined with hunting of gazelle and boar comparable to subsistence at Körtik Tepe.

Burials and Bioarchaeology

Burial practices at Çayönü encompass intramural interments, secondary burials, and cranial modifications that parallel mortuary variability found at Jericho, Aşıklı Höyük, and Göbekli Tepe. Skeletal analyses demonstrate demographic profiles, indicators of workload comparable to Tell Halula populations, and dietary signatures reflecting mixed plant-animal subsistence as seen in isotope studies from Ain Ghazal and Çatalhöyük. Pathology and trauma studies contribute to interpretations of social differentiation and health in Neolithic communities comparable to evidence from Tell Abu Hureyra.

Significance and Interpretations

Çayönü is pivotal for understanding processes of Neolithic sedentarization, craft specialization, and early domestication across the Fertile Crescent. Its long sequence and material links to Göbekli Tepe, Jericho, Çatalhöyük, and Aşıklı Höyük make it a key comparative reference for debates on social complexity, symbolic systems, and interregional exchange in the 9th–6th millennia BCE. Ongoing analyses integrating archaeobotany, archaeogenetics as practiced in projects with institutions like Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and isotopic work continue to refine Çayönü’s role in models of Neolithic transformation.

Category:Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites in Turkey