Aşıklı Höyük

Türkiye · Aksaray

SettlementExcavation ongoing
Approximate period8,350 BCE — 7,300 BCEPre-Pottery Neolithic; approximate dates See on the map ↓

In brief

Radiocarbon results have established that the settlement on the banks of the Melendiz River was occupied approximately between 8350–7300 BC. Architectural and animal remains allow researchers to investigate the development of settled life and early animal management.

What was found?

  • 1Remains of mudbrick houses

    These are architectural remains ranging from semi-subterranean buildings to above-ground rectangular mudbrick houses across different phases of the settlement. They show that housing forms changed over time.

  • 2Sheep and goat bones

    These are remains through which the animals' age and sex distributions can be examined. According to researchers, they document stages in the transition from hunting to herd management.

  • 3Animal dung accumulations between buildings

    These accumulations show that animals were kept within the settlement. They independently support the evidence for animal management obtained from bones.

  • 4Wheat remains

    These are plant remains belonging to wheat species identified in the early layers. They allow research into the settlement's plant food resources and early production economy.

What does it point to?

Aşıklı Höyük shows that the relationship between humans and animals also changed as permanent village life developed. According to researchers, practices that began with keeping and raising wild young animals gradually evolved into a system based on herds reproducing within the settlement.

What did it teach us?

  1. Shows that animal domestication was a gradual process open to experimentation.
  2. Documents that bone analyses and dung accumulations can be used together to identify early animal management.
  3. Reveals that housing forms also changed as the settlement became denser.

Images

Aşıklı Höyük Copy of the buildings - 52551665161
Joe Wallace · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Record

Culture
Central Anatolian Neolithic communities
First modern dig
1989
Coordinates
38.3503°, 34.2312°

Sources

  1. muze.gov.tr
  2. aksaray.ktb.gov.tr
  3. cdn.istanbul.edu.tr
  4. pnas.org
  5. PNAS / PubMed Central — Aşıklı Höyük’te koyun ve keçi evcilleştirme süreci
  6. İstanbul Üniversitesi AVESİS — Avcılıktan koyun yönetimine geçiş araştırması

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12.000

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