Wengrow, DavidHassett, BrennaSaglamtimur, HalukMarsh, WilliamBrace, SelinaBirch, Suzanne E. PilaarBarnes, Ian2025-04-162025-04-1620250959-77431474-0540https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774324000398https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12514/8477On the upper reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates, archaeologists encounter evidence that challenges conventional understandings of early state formation as a transition from 'small-scale, egalitarian' to 'large-scale, stratified' societies. One such location is the Early Bronze Age cemetery of Ba & scedil;ur H & ouml;y & uuml;k, which presents evidence of grand funerary rituals-including 'retainer burials' and spectacular deposits of metallic wealth-in an otherwise small-scale, egalitarian setting. A further, puzzling feature of this cemetery is the preponderance of teenagers in the richest tombs. Here we describe the combined results of archaeological and anthropological analysis at Ba & scedil;ur H & ouml;y & uuml;k, including ancient DNA, and consider the challenges they pose to traditional accounts of early state formation.en10.1017/S0959774324000398info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccessArticleN/AQ1WOS:0014460293000012-s2.0-105000949396