Körtiktepe and the Early Neolithization in Upper Mesopotamia

Abstract

Körtiktepe is the only site in southeastern Türkiye that provides securely dated evidence of Younger Dryas occupation. Together with Tell Qaramel and Tell Mureybet in the Middle Euphrates Basin, it played a pivotal role in the origins and early development of the Neolithic in Upper Mesopotamia. Occupied by sedentary hunter-gatherer-fishers from ca. 10,700 to 9,300 BC, the site preserves a continuous sequence spanning the Younger Dryas to the Early Holocene. Excavations have revealed approximately 460 architectural features and around 2,000 single and double burials -half containing painted human skeletons accompanied by an extraordinary range of grave goods- making Körtiktepe one of the richest known Neolithic cultural assemblages worldwide. Its 1,300 years of pre-agrarian settlement history, coupled with abundant plant remains and hundreds of thousands of animal bones, provide a unique opportunity to examine human responses to environmental change during the Younger Dryas-Early Holocene transition. By integrating chronometric datings, architectural traditions, burial customs, and archetypal cultural items, this study positions Körtiktepe within its broader chronological and cultural context and evaluates its legacy in shaping Neolithic lifeways in Upper Mesopotamia.