Hallan Çemi Tepesi
Hallan Çemi Tepesi · Hallan Çemi · Hallan Cemi Hoyuk
Epipalaeolithic / PPNA transitional (Natufian-related → Pre-Pottery Neolithic)·Sason Epipaleolithic → PPNA Upper Tigris foragers·🇹🇷 Batman Province, Sason Stream, Upper Tigris, Turkey
About
About Hallan Çemi Tepesi
Epipalaeolithic–PPNA transition hamlet (c.11100–10500 cal BP) on Sason tributary of Batman River — key for Neolithic origins, excavated 1990–94 Michael Rosenberg (University of Delaware) with Diyarbakır Museum. Three PPNA round semi-subterranean levels with stamped mud floors, central C-shaped communal structure (auroch bucrania, stone bowls) prefiguring Göbekli pillared halls. Earliest pig management (pre-domestication) and obsidian trade. Small 30 m mound but deeply stratified; faunal evidence for goat/sheep experimentation. Heavily vegetated return to forest after abandonment.
Why it mattersType-site for Epipaleolithic→PPNA communal architecture and earliest managed pig; anchors ‘hilly flanks’ Neolithic origin in Upper Tigris.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01C-building as feasting hall vs domestic enlargement?
- 02Pig as managed wild or early domestic threshold?
Theories
- 01Rosenberg sedentism-before-cultivation vs Watkins delayed sedentism
- 02Cauvin symbolic revolution tested at Hallan Çemi small scale
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.11100–10500 cal BP main occupation; earliest 11500 BP pits
- Period
- Epipalaeolithic / PPNA transitional (Natufian-related → Pre-Pottery Neolithic)
- Culture
- Sason Epipaleolithic → PPNA Upper Tigris foragers
- Builders
- Natufian-like forager-cultivators
- Purpose
- Semi-subterranean hamlet with pioneer communal structure (C-building)
- Abandoned
- c.10500 BP abandoned as forest retreat (?)
- Rediscovered
- Excavated 1990–94 Rosenberg & Davis (Univ. Delaware/ Diyarbakır Museum)
- Excavation
- Excavated
1990
Rosenberg test trench locates Epipalaeolithic stamped floors
1994
C-shaped building with bucrania and blood rituals identified
On the ground
Structures & features
38.2240° N · 41.2420° E · 780 m · 3 mapped features
C-shaped communal building
communal structureSemicircular stone-flagged building with bucrania
38.2242° N · 41.2422° EResidential round-houses Level 2
settlementStamped-mud round-houses with hearths
38.2240° N · 41.2420° EMidden with pig bones
middenPig-dominated faunal dump beside communal building
38.2239° N · 41.2419° E