Beginnings of Village-Farming Communities in Southeastern Turkey--1972

The mound known as Cayonu Tepesi (38 degrees 16′N; 39 degrees 43′E) in southeastern Turkey is one of the increasing number of early village sites which, since World War II, have been excavated archeologically in greater southwestern Asia. The evidence recovered in the autumn 1972 campaign of the Joint Istanbul-Chicago Prehistoric Project is briefly described, with particular attention to Cayonu's architectural remains, which are most remarkable, considering the site's date of about 7000 B.C. There was evidence of domesticated food plants from the beginning but animal domesticates were not present (save the dog) until later in the major prehistoric phase of occupation.