Southeastern Turkey sites database: 10th - 6th millennia cal BC
Data compiled by Damien BISCHOFF 
Last updated: 30/10/2004
Preliminary note
This sites database should not be considered as exhaustive, but as a presentation of the most important sites in Southeastern Turkey. Surface areas are to be taken as estimations only. Underlined names are used as landmarks and represent excavated sites mainly; their time ranges in cal BC years follow the indications provided by the CANeW 14C databases and 14C charts. Sites are presented in alphabetical order within the subregions.
Southeastern Turkey, and its subregions, is conceived here as being part of Upper Mesopotamia together with Northern Iraq and Northern Syria. The Southeastern Turkey sites database constitutes a complement to the Upper Mesopotamia CANeW 14C database, 10,000 - 5000 cal BC. References point to the publications first mentioning the site, and to those discussing the site more extensively. Also here, a full bibliography is not aimed at.
Southeastern Turkey may be split up into the following subregions
(where radiocarbon dated sites are underlined)
East Taurus intermontane basins belt
Boytepe, Cafer Höyük, Çinaz III, Ikiz Höyük, Tepecik/Makaraz Tepe
Amarsava, Ber Ava Sikefte, Çayönü, Demircitepe/Demirköy, Girikihaciyan, Giryan/Gri Hami, Gölbent Mevkii, Gri Havsarik, Güzir Höyük, Hakemi Use Tepe, Hallan Çemi Tepesi, Harif Pinar, Kikan Harabesi, Kötekan, Kortik Tepe, Nevala Denik, Papazgölü, S 63-26, S 63-7/Ayngerm Yani, Yayvantepe/Til Huzur
Biris Mezarligi, Cendere Magarasi, Girik Tepe, Göbekli Tepe Ziyareti, Gritille, Hamzan Tepe, Hayaz Höyük, Keçiler Magarasi, Kilisik, Kumartepe, Levzin Höyük, Nevali Çori, Pirun/Pirin, Sögüt Tarlasi, Sürük Mevkii, Tavuk Çay, Yeni Mahalle/Yeni Yol, Ziyaret Tepe
Gürcütepe, Küçükhedbe
Birtlan/Bögürtlen Höyük, Coba Höyük/ Sakçegözü Magarasi, Direkli Magarasi, SAK 4/5, Sakçegözü Magarasi, Sehzade Höyük/Turlu, Yaglik/Yaglak, Yamaçtepe
Akarçay Tepe, Karkamis/Carchemish, Mezraa/Teleilat Höyük
The Southeastern Turkey subregions are meant to be part of the following Upper Mesopotamian subregions: East Taurus intermontane basins belt and Upper Tigris basin, Gaziantep-Urfa-Mardin plateau (Southeastern Turkey), Harran plain and Balikh valley, Syro-Mesopotamian steppes and Middle Euphrates (Southeastern Turkey and Northern Syria) and West Zagros valleys (Northern Iraq).
Comment Southeastern Turkey
The Ergani plain in the Upper Tigris basin, the Karababa basin on the Urfa plateau, and the Sakçegözü plain in the Gaziantep plateau, concentrate most of the sites of those regions. The small number of settlements of the Harran Plain-Cülab/Balikh Valley (2) and of the Middle Euphrates (3) contrast with the large number of sites known for the same regions in Northern Syria. No settlements are known from the Mardin plateau. Apart from this, a cave and rock shelter habitation dating to the Epipalaeolithic has to be mentioned.
As suggested by the CANeW C14 Chart, a distribution line around 8 000 cal BC seems to point out two main types of settlements corresponding to different subsistence strategies (Schmidt 1996): hunter settlements in hills, mountains and high places between 10 000-8 000 cal BC (e.g., Hallan Çemi, Çayönü till cobble-paved phase, Göbekli Tepe, Nevali Çori); and subsequently herder settlements in the valleys or near the rivers after 8 000 cal BC (e.g., Akarçaytepe, Cafer Höyük, Gritille, Kumartepe, Mezraa/Teleilat). This second distribution is easy to follow at the periphery of Southeastern Turkey, on the Middle Euphrates (Halula for example).
As in the South Levant (Perrot 2000), a major change took place around 8000-7500 cal BC in Upper Mesopotamia. From a dynamic point of view, it is becoming clear that from the phase of neolithisation' we went over to an 'achieved Neolithic' (Bischoff 2002, Hauptmann 2002).
Bibliography
