Chronologically the Neolithic was divided into two technological phases: prepottery (or aceramic), which extended from about 11,000 to 6500 b.c., and pottery, which lasted another millennium to 5500 b.c.

The Neolithic also marked the beginnings of village life, and the recent discovery of circular houses dated to the ninth millennium b.c. at Hallan Çemi provided evidence of the earliest permanent settlement known in Anatolia. Yet the inhabitants of this site continued to collect and hunt their food, indicating that sedentarism preceded agriculture and animal husbandry (Özdogan and Başgelen 1999). Quite different in character is Çayönü, situated in the Upper Tigris region near the Ergani copper mines, a location that facilitated the earliest experimentation with metals in Anatolia—namely, the cold hammering of native copper into pins and beads. Four prepottery occupation subphases have revealed an architectural sequence ranging from oval-shaped dwellings through large buildings with grill-plan basements to promote ventilation to cobble-paved buildings and cell-like structures. Moreover, Çayönü has provided vital evidence on the transition to food production, from wild cereals, nuts, and animals (phases I to II) to domesticated emmer, peas, sheep, goats, and pigs (phases III to IV). A different settlement pattern is found at Aşıklı Höyük, comprising blocks of tightly packed houses with double walls (Özdogan and Başgelen 1999; Yakar 1991).

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An aerial view of the ancient site of Çatal Huyük in Turkey, ca. 1987

(Yann Arthus-Bertrand/Corbis)

Subsistence matters aside, striking new information on the religious sensibilities of prepottery communities has been unearthed in the Urfa region. At Nevalı Çori one building was paved with stone slabs and centered with a stone stela. Other stelae were found broken, including one, reused within the wall of a building, of a sculpted human face. Stone sculpture formed a striking feature at Göbekli Tepe, where four T-shaped stone pillars, evidently roof supports, were decorated in the upper part with rampant lions in low relief (Özdogan and Başgelen 1999).

Our best-documented evidence for the ceramic Neolithic comes from the Burdur part of the Lake District, where a number of sites, including Hacılar, Kuruçay, and Bademagacı, have