Çakmaktepe predates Göbeklitepe by over half a millennium.
The rare Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) findings that remained hidden for 12,000 years. Desert kites
are massive, 9,000-year-old stone, V-shaped, or funnel-shaped,
structures found across Middle Eastern deserts, used by Neolithic
hunters as mega-traps to drive and slaughter massive herds of animals
like gazelles. These structures, with, say, 3-mile-long stone lines
leading to pits,
Çakmaktepe older than Göbeklitepe: vid
book chapter Over multiple millennia, from the
earliest traces of long-term occupation of camp sites (ca 20,000 BC) to
the development of full-scale farming (ca 8000–6000 BC), the Neolithic
transition in southwest Asia gradually shaped human societies in
dramatic ways (Nadel 2002; Maher et al. 2012; Asouti, Fuller 2013). Here
we present recent insights from ancient genomics studies into these
societies while focusing on two questions: the population processes
driving cultural change in Neolithic central Anatolia and genetic
kinship among Çatalhöyük co-burials.
Here, we report genome-wide data analyses from 110 ancient Near Eastern
individuals spanning the Late Neolithic to Late Bronze Age, a period
characterized by intense interregional interactions for the Near East.
We find that 6th millennium BCE populations of North/Central
Anatolia and the Southern Caucasus shared mixed ancestry on a genetic
cline that formed during the Neolithic between Western Anatolia and
regions in today's Southern Caucasus/Zagros. During the Late
Chalcolithic and/or the Early Bronze Age, more than half of the Northern
Levantine gene pool was replaced, while in the rest of Anatolia and the
Southern Caucasus, we document genetic continuity with only transient
gene flow. Additionally, we reveal a genetically distinct individual
within the Late Bronze Age Northern Levant. Overall, our study uncovers
multiple scales of population dynamics through time, from extensive
admixture during …
Almost two millennia later, this situation had changed. In contrast to these Early Holocene
populations, Chalcolithic/Eneolithic and Bronze Age populations from
Western and Central Anatolia, the Southern Levant, Iran (Zagros), and
the Caucasus show less genetic differentiation
from each other, suggesting that these later periods were characterized
by an extensive process of gene flow spanning a large area (Allentoft et al., 2015,
de Barros Damgaard et al., 2018,
Haber et al., 2017,
Harney et al., 2018,
Jones et al., 2015,
Lazaridis et al., 2016,
Lazaridis et al., 2017,
Wang et al., 2019).
Eirini Skourtanioti
A lot of genetic exchange between east and west anatolia before city-states emerged...
Ancient DNA from the Southern Caucasus
reveals remarkable genetic continuity,
with some mixing from Anatolia/Iran and
the Eurasian Steppe, and shows that even
periods of urbanization and increased
mobility—including the spread of cranial
deformation in the Middle Ages—had
minimal impact on the region’s core gene
pool.
As early as the 5th millennium BCE, animal husbandry
spread northward across the Caucasus to the Steppe.5 Pro-
pelled by new technologies such as wheels and wagons,6,7
this innovative economic system developed into mobile pasto-
ralism, first evident in Northern Caucasus during the Bronze
Age (BA; starting c. 3500 BCE).8–10 During the same period,
the Southern Caucasus became part of a vast cultural complex
of mainly sedentary agropastoralists known as Kura-Araxes,
linking Eastern Anatolia and Northwestern Iran....
From the
Middle and Late BA (M/LBA, c. 1900–1200 BCE) onward, Steppe
pastoralists admixed into the Southern Caucasus,14,17,18 a pro-
cess that has been linked to the emergence of the Armenian language, a deep Indo-European (IE) branch.17 Meanwhile, evi-
dence of gene flow in the reverse direction—from the Southern
Caucasus north into the Steppe16—underscores the region’s
complexity during this transformative period and the need for
more comprehensive ancient DNA (aDNA) sampling, as areas
like present-day Georgia remain critically underrepresented.
Skourtanioti et al., 2025, Cell 188, 1–17
EEHG ancestry resurged in MBA Georgia and Armenia, when,
with the final stage of the vast South Caucasian BA Kura Araxes
culture, local populations began to interact with Steppe pastoral-
ists, initiating the Early Kurgan and Trialeti culture periods.12
Both cultures are known for burials in a tumulus (‘‘kurgan’’) along
with wheeled carts.11 Based on a marked increase of Steppe
ancestry in LBA Armenia, a direct connection of this gene flow
and the initial spread of the IE Armenian language into this region
has been proposed.17,51 This would fit into models of language
spread that attempt to associate early expansions of IE lan-
guages with Steppe pastoralists, such as the Yamnaya cultural
complex, based on the vocabulary and the estimated date of
the proto-IE reconstruction
All analyzed samples originate from 49 excavated site in present-day Georgia and one site in Armenia. Detailed description of the
sites and burials along with the context of artificial cranial deformation in the Southern Caucasus
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(21)00423-1
Our study focuses on social organization across two Neolithic periods.
The Aceramic period is represented by Aşıklı Höyük (c. 8,350–7,300 cal
BCE)6–8 and Boncuklu (c. 8,300–7,600 cal BCE)9,10 (Figure 1A),
which are among the earliest sedentary communities in Central Anatolia.
During the 9th millennium these sites were characterized by small
curvilinear buildings, and both maintained mainly forager subsistence
practices. The subsequent Ceramic Neolithic period communities were
increasingly reliant on food production, and they lived in larger
settlements characterized by rectilinear, clustered architecture. In our
study, this later period is represented by Çatalhöyük (c. 7,100–5,950
cal BCE),11–16 Tepecik-Çiftlik (c. 7,500–5,800 cal BCE),17 and Barcın Höyük (c. 6,600–6,000 cal BCE).18,19
For this study, we screened Neolithic period human remains from Aşıklı
Höyük (n = 30) and Çatalhöyük (n = 60) by shotgun DNA sequencing.
genetic diversity within each region steadily increased through the
Holocene. We further observed that the inferred sources of gene flow
shifted in time. In the first half of the Holocene, Southwest Asian and
the East Mediterranean populations homogenized among themselves.
Starting with the Bronze Age, however, regional populations diverged
from each other, most likely driven by gene flow from external sources,
which we term "the expanding mobility model."
Male-to-female bias increased over time in inter-regional human movements
arrivals of people with Steppe-related ancestry in the Greek mainland
into ca. 4,200 BP, within the Early BA, i.e., before the beginning of
the Middle BA as hitherto known.13 Although this is currently the earliest known evidence for Steppe-related ancestry in Greece,
this supports the notion of EHG influx in Iran via Central Asia instead
of the Caucasus. Our modeling further marks the heterogeneity of
ancestry sources across Iran, including the temporary appearance of
South Asian
the influx of Anatolian Neolithic-related ancestry in the South Caucasus with the arrival of Neolithic cultures (ca. 8,000 BP)11
for instance, up until 6,000–4,000 BP, Anatolian and Aegean populations
received intense gene flow from South Caucasus/Iran-related populations,
while groups from Caucasus and Iran received gene flow from
Anatolian-related populations
highly male-biased Steppe expansion in the Bronze Age
We document bodily interventions such as head shaping and cauterization
among the individuals examined, reflecting Çayönü’s cultural ingenuity.
Last, we identify Upper Mesopotamia as the likely source of eastern gene
flow into Neolithic Anatolia, in line with material culture evidence.
We hypothesize that Upper Mesopotamia’s cultural dynamism during the
Neolithic Transition was the product not only of its fertile lands but
also of its interregional demographic connections.
This temporal increase in genetic diversity was attributed to the
transition to farming and associated intensification of population
movements and admixture
Taurus and Zagros Mountains supporting large hunter-gatherer populations, as well as the progenitors of plant and animal domesticates
This result is consistent with Upper Mesopotamia, but most likely not
the Caucasus, being the source of eastern gene flow into Central
Anatolia and possibly also into Western Anatolia around 7000 BCE. The
finding also resonates with archaeological evidence from Çatalhöyük,
where the mid-seventh millennium BCE witnesses the first introduction of
obsidian from the Bingöl area of Eastern Turkey, the appearances of
lithic types akin to “Çayönü tools,”
We hypothesize that Çayönü was also a lively hub of interregional
networks, potentially because of its location between the sources of the
Tigris and the Euphrates rivers in Upper Mesopotamia. Recent
discoveries and ongoing research at sites such as Göbekli Tepe, Gusir
Höyük, and Karahan Tepe (2, 64, 65) continue to demonstrate the importance of this region as a central node of cultural dynamism and social networks.
3000 BC Anatolia (Turkey) diet:
glume wheats (einkorn and emmer), followed
by barley and pulses (Erkanal and Özkan 1999; Maltas, per-
sonal communication 2019; Oybak and Doğan 2008). In
terms of fruit, the remains of grapes and figs were discovered,
and it has been suggested that olive oil and wine were pro-
duced at the site (Erkanal and Özkan 1999; Oybak and Doğan
2008). Similarly, there have been no archaeozoological stud-
ies so far published from Bakla Tepe, but the presence of
many spindle whorls and tools associated with weaving and
textile production indicate the importance and specialisation
of this technology and suggest the presence of wool-bearing
sheep at Bakla Tepe (Erkanal and Özkan 1999; Gündoğan
That is precisely the same as the most traditional Berber village I visited in 1997 in Morocco. So I went back in time 5000 years!!!
ten thousand years ago, small mobile human groups in Southwest Asia shifted to a sedentary existence (Bar-Yosef, 1998; Belfer-Cohen and Goring-Morris, 2010). Hunting and gathering of wild foods gave way to new patterns of subsistence, including food production and systematic storage (Bar-Yosef and Belfer-Cohen, 1989; Bar-Yosef and Meadow, 1995; Nadel et al., 2012; Kuijt and Finlayson, 2009). In early settlements of the Levant and Anatolia, sheep, cattle, and pigs
came under human management, multiple species of plants were
cultivated, and some of these species eventually were domesticated (Willcox, 2005; Zeder, 2009; Stiner et al., 2018).
In just a few centuries wild ungulate food was replaced by domesticated meat - especially sheep.
The occupation of the site began in the mid-9th millennium BC, with the
earliest permanent settlement dated to 8350 cal BC. The site was
abandoned ca. 7300 cal BC.
Levels 5 and 4 represent the early occupations, with a permanent
settlement established by the time of Level 4, when both plant
cultivation and the caprine management were clearly practiced. In these
early levels, domestic wheat types were identified alongside wild
species of cereals and pulses. However, a great variety of wild plants
were also exploited, including fruits and nuts such as hackberry and
almonds (van Zeist and de Roller, 1995; Ergun et al., 2018). The plant diet remained diverse throughout the rest of the occupation sequence, with only limited changes (Ergun et al., 2018).
By contrast, the faunal trend from Levels 5 through 2 involved a major
change from a broad-spectrum strategy that utilized diverse wild prey
species to an extreme focus on the exploitation of caprines (Stiner et al., 2014; Buitenhuis et al., 2018).
By the mid-8th millennium BC,
the settlement expanded and architectural density increased. Hunting
activities focused on aurochs in this period, whereas sheep and goats
were managed and had become the main sources of meat. The residents
continued to live collectively and share communally.
The
last few centuries of the settlement, represented by the upper part of
Level 2 and centering on 7500 cal BC, saw significant changes in the
settlement layout, including the emergence of residential building
groups. These clustered buildings were separated from each other by
small street-like spaces, not unlike neighborhoods.
archaeology vid
Aşıklı Höyük "People of the Firsts" Documentary
. The archaeological site of Aşıklı Höyük was first settled in the Aceramic
Neolithic period, around 9000 B.C.
very cool house design!!
doc in English
Aşıklı Höyük is a rare case in which the evolutionary development
of animal management can be observed over a full millennium of human
occupation. Importantly, the transition from a broad-spectrum strategy
to a monoculture
strategy for obtaining meat did not change the ratio of animal protein
consumed by the PPN population at Aşıklı or elsewhere in Anatolia. It is
likely that animal domestication instead was important for stabilizing
human access to animal protein.
exploiting obsidian from the nearby volcano...
3000 BCE violence in Turkey
This evidence may suggest that the individuals
were killed by violent action in connection with the collapse
of the palace system....The »Royal Tomb«, and especially the skeletal remains of
the adolescents discovered above it, suggest a possible case
of ritual killing. On the other hand, the scattered human
remains dating from period VIB1, the evidence of corpses
decaying in the open air and being eaten by animals (such
as dogs, birds, and wolves) constitute important evidence
of killing22....The cases of violence and its possible ritualisation docu-
mented at Arslantepe are limited to a specific historical
period (the end of the 4th millennium BC and the transition
from Late Chalcolithic to the very beginning of Early Bronze
Age) marked by conflicts and political upheavals. They seem
to reflect different episodes and practices, even if they are
presumably somehow related to each other.
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2210611120
Growing reliance on animal and plant domestication in the Near East and
beyond during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) (the ninth to eighth
millennium BC) has often been associated with a “revolutionary” social
transformation from mobility toward more sedentary lifestyles. We are
able to yield nuanced insights into the process of the Neolithization in
the Near East based on a bioarchaeological approach integrating
isotopic and archaeogenetic analyses on the bone remains recovered from
Nevalı Çori, a site occupied from the early PPNB in Turkey where some of
the earliest evidence of animal and plant domestication emerged, and
from Ba'ja, a typical late PPNB site in Jordan. In addition, we present
the archaeological sequence of Nevalı Çori together with newly generated
radiocarbon dates. Our results are based on strontium (87Sr/86Sr), carbon, and oxygen (δ18O and δ13Ccarb) isotopic analyses conducted on 28 human and 29 animal individuals from the site of Nevalı Çori. 87Sr/86Sr
results indicate mobility and connection with the contemporaneous
surrounding sites during the earlier PPNB prior to an apparent decline
in this mobility at a time of growing reliance on domesticates.
The younger layer (layer II) of the early and
middle PPNB architectural phases at Göbekli Tepe is partially
contemporaneous with the occupation of the earlier phase at Nevalı Çori
for ca. 300 y, and both are characterized by smaller pillars (<2 m,
compared with those of PPNA at
Göbekli Tepe), rectangular stone
buildings, and terrazzo floors (
50,
54).
The potential relatedness and dynamic interactions between these two
sites, and the wider social landscape, require further investigation,
however.
The social organization and
subsistence strategies of the TSP society are key to better
understanding the cultural transformations and the
interplay of forager
lifeways with the initial stages of agriculture. There has been so much
work on subsistence in the FC given the focus on agricultural origins
but much less on direct insights into mobility. Nevertheless, modes and
degrees of human mobility strongly influence their cultural and social
organization and have been central to arguments of agricultural
dispersal across the regions (
6,
55–
58). However, the identification of human mobility on the basis of material culture has posed severe challenges (
59). Multidisciplinary bioarchaeological approaches, especially archaeogenetic and isotopic analyses of
87Sr/
86Sr and δ
18O, have increasingly served as powerful tools for investigating past mobility (
60–
65).
The only available strontium isotope dataset for reference in SE
Anatolia so far was generated for Körtik Tepe in the Upper Tigris region
of the PPNA period (
66),
and bioarchaeological datasets aiming to investigate human mobility (Sr
isotopic and archaeogenetic data) are missing for the TSP society in
the Upper Euphrates. Furthermore, aDNA studies have documented the
progressive reduction in genetic differentiation between populations
from the Levant, Northwestern–Southcentral Anatolia, and as far as
Zagros since the Neolithic, thereby shedding light on genetic admixture
of a broad spatiotemporal scale within the FC (
67–
70).
Geographically located among these regions, SE Anatolia is the critical
missing link into further elucidating mobility patterns since the
earliest phases of Neolithization.
This overall reliance on plants may help to explain the close apparent
linkage between growing reliance on domesticated resources and a
reduction in mobility following the early PPNB phase.
early PPNB, Göbekli Tepe was a ritual center in the Urfa region
characterized by its magnificent monolithic structures. The hypothesized
large events held in the TSP buildings might have been part of routine
gathering and feasting events that the surrounding communities
participated in (33).
Göbekli Tepe is not the only place in the Urfa region where the
geological context consists of a mixture of Eocene and Miocene
limestones (SI Appendix, Note S2),
the signature of which can be distinguished from that of Nevalı Çori.
The other sites of the TSP are of similar geological context as Göbekli
Tepe. Therefore, “Göbekli Tepe” here refers not only to the site itself
but also to the TSP society as a whole, which covers the interactive
sphere in the Urfa region from the PPNA to PPNB, including Karahan Tepe,
Sefer Tepe, Harbetsuvan Tepesi, and so on (Fig. 1A) (102, 108).
the Early Holocene populations like those from the Southcentral Anatolia
but also traced part of her ancestry to populations in the southern and
eastern wings of the FC (i.e., Levant and Iran)...This corroborates different demographics in Upper Mesopotamia, which
could have promoted long-range mobility resulting in many of the
observed genetic signals in ancestry.
An unstable animal-driven protein supply could have motivated people to
practice a mixed subsistence pattern, with both hunting-gathering and
farming acting as risk-buffering strategies, which might also suggest
that the TSP ritual system did not collapse abruptly as reflected in the
fact that the construction of monumental architecture continued at
Nevalı Çori into PPNB II and III (71).
According to the strontium isotopic results, there are still some
individuals (e.g., NEV008, NEV003, and NEV017) from post-PPNB I that
fall into the 87Sr/86Sr range of Göbekli Tepe and
other TSP communities, and these individuals may have continued to
engage in the maintenance of the traditional belief system and social
networks manifested by TSP, with other members at Nevalı Çori investing
more in cultivation and domestication, becoming more sedentary.
an enigmatic type of site with T-shaped pillars (TSP) emerged and
flourished in SE Anatolia and has been seen as an iconic part of the
early Neolithization process. The TSP themselves are believed to signify
humans, with low reliefs representing head, arms, and clothing like
belts and loincloth, and are often decorated with a variety of animal
motifs, including snakes, scorpions, aurochs, and gazelles, and
geometric patterns in low and high relief
https://www.dailysabah.com/turkey/ancient-dna-study-in-turkiye-sheds-light-on-mesopotamias-history/news
Çayönü, a Neolithic settlement located in present-day Diyarbakır in
southeastern Türkiye, some 300 kilometers (186.41 miles) away from famed
Göbeklitepe,
offers clues for scientists determining the genetic past of people in
this northern part of the wider Mesopotamian region. Comprehensive DNA
analysis of skeletons dating back to 8,500 B.C. helped them understand
the medical practices of old times as well.
A finding on the skull belonging to a young girl, for instance,
points out the earliest examples of primitive surgeries, which
apparently continued for centuries in the region, in the form of
cauterization. Their findings also prove a “genetic flow” from
Mesopotamia to inner parts of Anatolia.
The research shows Northern or Upper Mesopotamia was a place where different cultures mingled some 10,000 years ago. On Çayönü mound, they discovered a high genetic diversity among people who lived between 8,500-7,500 B.C.
