Aşıklı Höyük: The Generative Evolution of a Central Anatolian PPN Settlement in Regional Context

Mary C. Stiner, Mihriban Özbaşaran, Güneş Duru

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

The first Neolithic settlements in Southwest Asia began with a dual commitment to plant cultivation and a sedentary lifestyle. The benefits that foragers-turned-farmers gained from this commitment came with some inescapable constraints, setting new evolutionary pathways for human social and economic activities. We explore the developmental process at the early Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of Aşıklı Höyük in central Anatolia (Turkey), specifically the relationship between internal dynamics and external influences in early village formation. Feedback mechanisms inherent to the community were responsible for many of the unique developments there, including domestication of a variant of free-threshing wheat and the early evolution of caprine management, which gave rise to domesticated stock. Gradual change was the rule at Aşıklı, yet the cumulative transformations in architecture, settlement layout, and caprine management were great. The many strands of evidence reveal a largely local (endemic) evolution of an early Pre-Pottery Neolithic community. However, burgeoning inequalities stemming from production surplus such as livestock likely stimulated greater regional interaction toward the end of the sequence.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)497-543
Number of pages47
JournalJournal of Archaeological Research
Volume30
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2022

Keywords

  • Caprine management
  • Domestication
  • Niche construction
  • Site formation processes
  • Social networks

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Archaeology
  • Archaeology
  • General Arts and Humanities

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