Domuztepe (Kahramanmaraş Province, Türkoğlu District, Maraş Plain)
Domuztepe Höyüğü (Kahramanmaraş) · Domuztepe-Eskihöyük
Late Neolithic → Halaf → Northern Ubaid (6200–4800 BCE)·Halaf-Ubaid transitional (North Mesopotamian painted pottery)·🇹🇷 Kahramanmaraş Province, Türkoğlu District, Maraş Plain, Turkey
About
About Domuztepe (Kahramanmaraş Province, Türkoğlu District, Maraş Plain)
Domuztepe (Kahramanmaraş) is the largest Late Neolithic–Halaf mega-site in eastern Mediterranean — 20 ha Neolithic/Halaf mound 5–6 m high with Ubaid coda, excavated 1995–2011 (Elizabeth Carter UCLA, Stuart Campbell Manchester, Hacettepe). Densely agglutinated Halaf village with plastered rectilinear houses, seal-impressed ceramics, obsidian, and infamous Death Pit (c.5700 BCE) mass redeposited human bone suggestive of cannibalism/feast. Earliest horizon 6200 BCE pre-Halaf, Halaf florescence 5800–5400 BCE, Ubaid painted wares to 4800 BCE. Bridges Euphrates Halaf core to Anatolian Neolithic. Now Aksu River low terrace, under orchard and plough.
Why it mattersLargest Halaf settlement providing type-sequence for Halaf-Ubaid transition and ritual violence/feasting — reference for painted pottery social complexity in 6th millennium BCE.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Death Pit as cannibalism vs secondary burial feast?
- 02Why 20 ha agglomeration then abrupt Ubaid dispersal?
Theories
- 01Campbell feasting model vs Kansa cannibalism debate
- 02Halaf collapse as climate vs social-fission
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.6200 BCE pre-Halaf; Halaf village 5800–5400 BCE; Ubaid to 4800 BCE
- Period
- Late Neolithic → Halaf → Northern Ubaid (6200–4800 BCE)
- Culture
- Halaf-Ubaid transitional (North Mesopotamian painted pottery)
- Builders
- Halaf agropastoral communities
- Purpose
- Agglomerated painted-pottery village with communal feasting and craft (seals, obsidian)
- Abandoned
- c.4800 BCE Ubaid contraction, later sporadic Hellenistic-Islamic squatter
- Rediscovered
- Detected 1995 Kahramanmaraş Survey, excavated 1996–2011 Carter/Campbell
- Excavation
- Excavated
1995
Carter/Campbell survey locates 20 ha Halaf scatter
1999
Death Pit (Operation III) mass bone deposit excavated
2011
Hacettepe synthesis: Halaf-Ubaid transition sequence published
On the ground
Structures & features
37.3210° N · 37.0357° E · 520 m · 3 mapped features
Death Pit (Operation III)
middenMass human bone redeposition c.5700 BCE
37.3212° N · 37.0359° EHalaf rectilinear village (central mound)
settlementPlastered house agglutinated quarter
37.3210° N · 37.0357° EUbaid horizon upper fill
settlementNorthern Ubaid painted ware cap
37.3208° N · 37.0355° E
Gallery