A drowned record of settlement
On the banks of the Tigris River in southeastern Anatolia, the archaeological mound of Hasankeyf Höyük contains a remarkable record of early human settlement. Before its inundation by the Ilısu Dam, rescue excavations revealed that the site's earliest layers date to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) period, beginning in the second half of the 10th millennium BCE. These deposits represent one of the first known sedentary communities in the region.
The PPNA occupation at Hasankeyf Höyük is defined by over thirty round or oval-shaped subterranean buildings, with diameters ranging from 4 to 6 meters. These structures suggest a community of complex hunter-gatherers. Analysis of skeletal remains from this period shows evidence of a diet based on wild resources, with minimal signs of plant cultivation. The inhabitants hunted wild animals and gathered wild plants such as almonds, pistachios, and lentils. The layers contain many tools made from flint and obsidian, remnants of a society adapting to a settled existence before the advent of full-scale farming.
The agricultural revolution in stone
The layers built directly on top of the round PPNA structures tell a story of deep change. In the subsequent Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) period, the architecture of Hasankeyf Höyük shifts dramatically. The inhabitants began constructing rectangular, multi-roomed buildings. This transition from circular to rectilinear structures is common across the Near East during the Neolithic and shows shifts in social organization, family structure, and concepts of space and property.
This architectural evolution corresponds directly with evidence for the beginnings of agriculture. The stratigraphy at the site captures the transition from foraging to farming. Lower, older layers contain the seeds of wild plants, while the layers immediately above them, associated with the new rectangular buildings, hold the first domesticated versions of cereals and legumes. This provides a clear, layered snapshot of pre-domestication cultivation giving way to true agriculture. The community at Hasankeyf Höyük was at the forefront of the Neolithic Revolution, a process that would reshape human society across the globe. The entire archaeological record, however, is now submerged. The filling of the Ilısu Dam reservoir began in 2019, and the waters of the Tigris have covered the site, preserving its secrets but making further excavation impossible.