The fourth oldest old world habitation site, Boncuklu Hoyuk

This site is probably the 4th oldest habitation site (1st is Gobekli Tepe (which technically isn't a habitation site), Catalhoyuk, Aşıklı Höyük is third and 4th our present one) these assignments in this queue are subject to change and great debate at this time.

The site was discovered by University of Liverpool in 2001, which aimed to map all of the ancient settlements in the Konya Plain to help understand the long term history of the region. Boncuklu is one of several sites from the earliest phase of village life identified on the plain and the first to be excavated. It was occupied 1000 years before its better known neighbor of Çatalhöyük, which had large rectangular houses, similar to houses still built today, and whose people relied heavily on farming crops and herding sheep for their livelihood. The people of Boncuklu lived very differently and studying them and their site allows us to understand the first development of the farming way of life in this part of Turkey.

Boncuklu and Çatalhöyük are part of a cluster of sites dating between 13,000 and 6,000 years ago in and near the Konya Plain (see map above), which are providing us a new story of how and when people first settled down into villages and began farming in this region.



A description of what they have found.

Link to a very good website by the archaeologists

Among the plant remains, reeds are very common, including siliceous (upper right) and burnt remains of their stems (middle, right). They were used widely at the site for matting, probably roofing and also as fuel in a landscape that had little wood. Fruits of the hackberry, almond and terebinth were collected and eaten as were the tubers of the wetland plant clubrush, which commonly grows in the wetter areas of the Konya Plain today. A high powered scanning electron microscope is used to show the cellular structure of the remains of tubers (lower, right) and wood. Among the wood used as fuel was willows, which with the reeds and seeds of many ancient charred clubrush tuberwetland plants show that Boncuklu was located in a wetland, not the dryland we see today. Crop remains are rare but include primitive glume wheats which are today only grown in remote parts of Turkey and have been replaced everywhere with more modern forms of wheat.

What animals they hunted

We find aurochs (large wild cattle), pig, goat, tortoise, bird, frog and fish bones. We also find tortoise shell fragments as well as snail shells and egg shells. Waterfowl were very common. People at Boncuklu ate everything that walked, flew or swam and the presence of so many wetland birds and fish suggests that a wetland habitat and/or lake were present nearby.

Details (in Turkish and English) of what life was like in the village

Life

I've been to that part of Turkey and it a great place - go if you can

They also invite others to come help with the excavations

This is very interesting. It would be interesting to go look at a big dig like that some day.

Do they set up tents and campers at the sites or do they go stay in hotels? It would be more fun staying on site and having campfires at night.

originally posted by: rickymouse
This is very interesting. It would be interesting to go look at a big dig like that some day.

Do they set up tents and campers at the sites or do they go stay in hotels? It would be more fun staying on site and having campfires at night.

You usually stay either with a local family, bunk out in barracks, school or other civic building or tents, occasionally there is a hotel about but that is at your cost. I use to stay out at the sites guarding them from vandalism and treasure seekers.

a reply to: Hanslune
Evil, nazi treasure seekers? Cool!
Did you have a whip?


Who were these people? Of Boncuklu I mean, not the nazis.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: Hanslune
Evil, nazi treasure seekers? Cool!
Did you have a whip?


Who were these people? Of Boncuklu I mean, not the nazis.

When I was doing excav in the ME the locals always thought we were going for gold or jewels. Usually they would try to get into the sheds/areas where the pottery sherds were because they noted we thought those were real important so they must be valuable!

Once a site in Cyprus got overrun by a thousand 'sheep' herd.

Whip? More like trowel, camera, brush, magnifying glass and knee pads.

Different values concerning what is 'valuable'.