R07 - Epipalaeolithic and Early Neolithic Hunter-Gatherers in the Eastern Taurus Foothills

Session Organisers: Necmi Karul, Eleni Asouti, Joris Peters

Category: Near East

Session Abstract: The foothills of the Eastern Taurus, including the Upper Euphrates and Tigris basins, contain some of the earliest and best-known habitation sites associated with the beginning of cultivation and herding in Southwest Asia. Since the mid twentieth century, archaeological fieldwork has revealed several late Epipalaeolithic and early aceramic Neolithic habitation sites dating from the 11th to the 9th millennia cal BC. Currently the region is witnessing a resurgence of intensive large-scale fieldwork in the context of the Tas Tepeler project, focused in the Urfa region, alongside ongoing projects in South-Eastern Anatolia generating increasing evidence for a higher density and diversity of settlement than previously thought. Despite some local differences, the available data suggest the existence of societies from the very beginning that were well organized and had a complex social life. The aim of this session is to query old and emerging data from different perspectives including settlement organization, the development of architecture, new technologies, the relationship of sites to the changing landscape and climate, plant and animal resource exploitation and management, and regional networks and symbolic expression, in order to explore the environmental, economic and socio-cultural dynamics that framed the motivation for the transition to settled life. Comparative perspectives with neighbouring regions including the Levant and northwest Zagros, will also contribute novel insights to our understanding of the diversity of the Neolithization process across Southwest Asia.

Room: I

04/11/2024

Start Time - End Time	Authors	Title
13:00 - 13:20	Eleni Asouti, Douglas Baird, Ceren Kabukcu	From cave to village and back: revisiting old theories with new data in the Epipalaeolithic of the Taurus-Zagros arc
13:20 - 13:40	Aslı Erim Özdoğan	Not to Domesticate the Landscape But to Adapt to it! (Local Environmental Crises Motivated New Inventions in Architecture from PPNA to PPNB: Çayönü)
13:40 - 14:00	Ayşe Tuba Ökse	Continuity and Change in the Northern Border of the Upper Tigris Region throughout the Neolithic Period: Evidence from Gre Fılla and Kendale Hecala
14:00 - 14:20	Yutaka Miyake	Special buildings found at Hasakeyf Höyük in the Upper Tigris Valley

Coffee Break

Start Time - End Time	Authors	Title
14:45 - 15:05	Douglas Baird, Eleni Asouti	Comparative perspectives on the south-east Taurus foothills. The view from Jebel Sinjar to the Chamchamal valley in the 11th-8th millennia cal BC.
15:05 - 15:25	Ergül Kodaş	Diversity and similarity of material culture and its interpretation at the beginning of neolithization in Upper Mesopotamia: a general outlook.
15:25 - 15:45	Bakiye Yükmen Edens	Neolithization west of the Euphrates: New evidence from both sides of the Amanos
15:45 - 16:05	Gülriz Kozbe	Settlement Pattern of Şırnak/Cizre, Silopi, İdil and Mardin/Nusaybin Archaeological Survey Area during Neolithic Halaf

Coffee Break

Start Time - End Time	Authors	Title
16:30 - 16:50	Necmi Karul	Karahantepe: in the context of construction of the Neolithic Societies.
16:50 - 17:10	Fatma Şahin	The Beginning of Sedentarisation in the Şanlıurfa Plateau: Çakmaktepe
17:10 - 17:30	Eylem Özdoğan	Sayburç a mid-9th millennium settlement on the Şanlıurfa Plateau.
17:30 - 17:50	Kazuya Shimogama, Celal Uludağ, Ryota Moriwaki, Toshihiro Tada, Nurcan Küçükarslan, Wataru Satake, Kenta Suzuki, Saiji Arai, Fumika Ikeyama, Yoshihiro Nishiaki	A Pre-Pottery Neolithic View from Another Stone Hill: Renewed Excavations at Harbetsuvan Tepesi

05/11/2024

Start Time - End Time	Authors	Title
10:00 - 10:20	Emre Güldoğan	Sefertepe Project
10:20 - 10:40	Mücella Erdalkıran	A Neolithic Mega Village in the Harran Plain: Gürcütepe
10:40 - 11:00	Edward (Ted) Banning	Searching for Answers: Identifying the Evidence we Need to Understand the Taş Tepeler Sites

Lunch Break

Start Time - End Time	Authors	Title
13:00 - 13:20	Joris Peters, Stephanie Emra, Nadja Pöllath, Özlem Sarıtaş, Necmi Karul	Setting the stage for archaeofaunal comparison in the Taş Tepeler project: how different are Göbekli Tepe and Karahantepe?
13:20 - 13:40	Ceren Kabukcu, Ferran Antolín, Eleni Asouti, Hüreyla Balcı, Birgül Ögüt	Archaeobotanical Research In the Taş Tepeler Project: Challenges And Prospects
13:40 - 14:00	Ferran Antolin, Birgül Ögüt	Recent Advances in Plant Research at Göbekli Tepe: Evaluating Previous Findings and Introducing New Insights