Gusir Höyük West (Lake Gusir)
Gusir Höyük West · Gusir Höyük Siirt West
PPNA → early PPNB (9600–8700 cal BCE)·PPNA Tigris (Karul Upper Tigris Neolithic)·🇹🇷 Siirt Province, Kurtalan District, Botan-Tigris confluence, Turkey
About
About Gusir Höyük West (Lake Gusir)
Gusir Höyük is a Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPNA 9600–9300 BCE) sinkhole-lake edge village on western shore of Lake Gusir (karstic sinkhole fed by Kavaközü stream) at Botan-Tigris confluence, excavated since 2010 by Necmi Karul (Istanbul Univ). Aceramic PPNA rectangular pisè houses with terrazzo-like floors, communal building, and chipped-stone (obsidian, flint) plus early cultivation of wheat/barley/legumes. Bridges Göbekli-Çayönü horizon: domestic progenitor use before full domestication. PPNA to Early PPNB continuity documenting Tigris Neolithic sedentarization on lakeshore micro-niche.
Why it mattersOnly PPNA lakeshore Tigris village documenting pathways to domestication in karstic sinkhole niche and rectangular architecture before Çayönü — Botan-Tigris Neolithic reference.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why sinkhole lake locus vs river terrace like Çayönü?
- 02Rectangular so early — migration or independent?
Theories
- 01Karul lake-ritual vs Rosenberg stream niche
- 02Arranz-Otaegui progenitor cultivation continuum
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.9600 BCE PPNA founding; to c.8700 BCE early PPNB
- Period
- PPNA → early PPNB (9600–8700 cal BCE)
- Culture
- PPNA Tigris (Karul Upper Tigris Neolithic)
- Builders
- PPNA forager-cultivators
- Purpose
- Lakeshore village with communal structure and early crop experimentation
- Abandoned
- c.8700 BCE as Mardin threshold villages centralize
- Rediscovered
- Excavated 2010–present Karul, Istanbul Univ & Siirt Museum
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
2010
Karul trench opens Gusir, PPNA terrazzo floors found
2021
Nature Scientific Reports plant domestication pathway paper (Gusir archaeobotany)
On the ground
Structures & features
37.7272° N · 41.8213° E · 535 m · 3 mapped features
PPNA rectangular house cluster
settlementRectangular pisè houses with plaster floors
37.7274° N · 41.8215° ECommunal building
communal structureEarly communal structure near lake edge
37.7272° N · 41.8213° ELake Gusir shore
natural featureSinkhole lake feeding village niche
37.7270° N · 41.8210° E