Boncuklu Tarla
Turkey · Mardin
In brief
Late Epipalaeolithic and Pre-Pottery Neolithic layers are being investigated at the settlement in Dargeçit district. Personal ornaments found in burial contexts provide direct evidence of body adornment practices among early sedentary communities.
What was found?
- 1Lower lip ornaments
Ornaments found around the mouth in graves were assessed together with their positions and marks on the human remains. According to the researchers, these were worn in piercings made in the lower lip.
- 2Stone and copper ear ornaments
Some ornaments were found in graves near the ears or aligned with the external ear canal. These positions made it possible to establish that the objects were worn in ear piercings.
- 3Beads and pendants
Numerous beads and pendants were recovered from the graves. These objects, also found in infant and child graves, allow comparisons of the place of adornment among different age groups.
- 4Worked native copper ornaments
Alongside cold-worked native copper, copper ornaments made using heat were also found at the settlement. These are tangible examples documenting early metalworking practices.
What does it point to?
Boncuklu Tarla shows that bodily adornment was practiced using various materials and techniques in early village communities. According to the researchers, the presence of lip and ear ornaments only with adults suggests that some adornment practices were linked to age.
What did it teach us?
- Directly documented through burial contexts that ear and lower lip piercing for adornment was practiced in the early Neolithic period.
- Enabled some stone objects whose functions had previously been unclear to be reassessed as body ornaments.
- Showed that native copper was made into ornaments using different working methods in early communities.
Images
Latest news / selected archive
Research published in 2024 documented lip and ear piercing practices in the Neolithic period by examining ornaments found around the mouth and ears in graves alongside tooth wear.
Record
- Culture
- Early sedentary communities of the Upper Tigris
- First modern dig
- 2012
- Team / historical
- Yunus Çiftçi / Bitlis Eren Üniversitesi
- Coordinates
- 37.5294°, 41.8324°
Sources
Nearby excavations
- Dara 88 km
- Tell Mozan / Urkesh 91 km
- Zerzevan Castle 118 km
- Tell Brak 118 km
- Çavuştepe Fortress 170 km
- Nineveh 175 km
- —
- —
- 12.000
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Türkiye
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