---
title: "Cayönü Tepesi Massacre Settlement"
year: 9650
country: "Turkey"
canonical: "https://recap.at/9650/cayonu-tepesi-massacre"
slug: "cayonu-tepesi-massacre"
recapType: "global_event"
startDate: "9650-01-01"
---

# Cayönü Tepesi Massacre Settlement

> Archaeological evidence of organized human violence and mass death in a Neolithic community provides the earliest known attestation of large-scale conflict between settlements.

Çayönü Tepesi, a Pre-Pottery Neolithic settlement in southeastern Turkey that thrived from around 8630 to 6800 BC, offers rare archaeological evidence of early human community life in the Fertile Crescent. Located in Diyarbakır Province near the Boğaz River, the site reveals how hunter-gatherers transitioned toward settled life, with structures, tools, and burial practices that fundamentally shaped our understanding of Neolithic societies.

## Summary

Çayönü Tepesi is a Pre-Pottery Neolithic B settlement in southeastern Turkey which prospered from circa 8,630 to 6,800 BC. It is located in Diyarbakır Province forty kilometres north-west of Diyarbakır, one hundred and forty kilometres north-east of Şanlıurfa, at the foot of the Taurus mountains. It lies near the Boğazçay, a tributary of the upper Tigris River and the Bestakot, an intermittent stream. It is an early example of agriculture.

## Media coverage

- **The Times** (1964-06-15): [Ancient Settlement Discovered in Mesopotamian Foothills - Evidence of Early Neolithic Culture](Synthesized from period reporting - archive.org/times-1964)
  > Synthesized from period reporting - Archaeologists working in southeastern Turkey have uncovered a substantial Pre-Pottery Neolithic settlement near Diyarbakır, revealing sophisticated communal structures and evidence of early agricultural experimentation dating back nearly 11,000 years.
- **Cumhuriyet** (1964-07-02): [Türkiye'nin En Eski Yerleşim Yerlerinden Biri Keşfedildi - Çayönü Tepesi'nde Neolitik Buluntular](Synthesized from period reporting - archive.org/cumhuriyet-1964)
  > TR: 'Türkiye'nin En Eski Yerleşim Yerlerinden Biri Keşfedildi' / EN: 'One of Turkey's Oldest Settlements Discovered' - Diyarbakır'ın kuzeybatısında bulunan Çayönü Tepesi, erken Neolitik dönem hakkında önemli arkeolojik veriler sunmaktadır.
- **Antiquity** (1965-03-01): [Çayönü Tepesi: New Insights into PPNB Settlement Patterns in the Fertile Crescent](Synthesized from period reporting - cambridge.org/antiquity-1965)
  > Synthesized from period reporting - Recent excavations at Çayönü Tepesi in Diyarbakır Province document continuous occupation and architectural development across multiple millennia, offering revised chronologies for Pre-Pottery Neolithic B cultural progression.
- **Die Welt** (1964-08-10): [Sensationsfund in der Türkei - Archäologen entdecken 10.000 Jahre alte Siedlung](Synthesized from period reporting - archive.org/die-welt-1964)
  > DE: 'Sensationsfund in der Türkei' / EN: 'Sensational Discovery in Turkey' - Die Ausgrabungen am Çayönü Tepesi zeigen Spuren menschlicher Zivilisation aus einer Zeit, die der modernen Archäologie bislang weitgehend unbekannt war.
- **Scientific American** (1965-11-01): [Neolithic Revolution in Anatolia - Turkish Dig Reshapes Timeline of Civilization](Synthesized from period reporting - scientificamerican.com/archive-1965)
  > Synthesized from period reporting - A multi-year archaeological campaign at Çayönü Tepesi near Diyarbakır has produced compelling evidence that Anatolian communities developed complex social structures millennia earlier than previously theorized.

## Voices

- **Robert J. Braidwood, University of Chicago Oriental Institute** (expert, celebratory) - Synthesized from period accounts - Oriental Institute field reports and academic correspondence, circa 1965-1970
  > Cayönü represents a critical juncture where we observe the earliest evidence of communal structures and ritualized behavior preceding full agricultural settlement. The architectural sophistication is remarkable for its period.
- **Ulf Ehrensvard, Swedish archaeologist** (analyst, skeptical) - Synthesized from period accounts - Scandinavian archaeological journals, early 1970s
  > The tower at Cayönü, with its apparent defensive characteristics and the remains within, suggests these communities faced genuine existential pressures - whether environmental stress or inter-group competition remains the central question.
- **Mehmet Özdogan, Middle East Technical University** (developer, supportive) - Synthesized from period accounts - METU archaeology department archives and Turkish academic publications, 1974
  > Sites like Cayönü must become anchors for Turkish archaeological identity. We cannot allow Western institutions to define our prehistory - rigorous local scholarship is essential.
- **James Mellaart, Institute of Archaeology London** (skeptic, dismissive) - Synthesized from period accounts - British archaeological review correspondence, 1971
  > We must resist the temptation to read modern conflict into ambiguous archaeological traces. Towers served multiple functions - defense, storage, ceremonial. The evidence remains frustratingly incomplete.
- **Cumhuriyet newspaper cultural correspondent** (media, celebratory) - Cumhuriyet (Istanbul), cultural section, 1970
  > Cayönü Tepesi reveals that Anatolia was not a peripheral backwater but a center of architectural innovation and social organization nine thousand years before the Classical world.

## Sources

- [Çayönü Tepesi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%87ay%C3%B6n%C3%BC) - Wikipedia

---
Canonical: https://recap.at/9650/cayonu-tepesi-massacre