A. ÖzdoganMehmet Özdogan

Çayönü. A Conspectus of Recent WorkIn: Paléorient. 1989, Vol. 15 N°1. pp. 65-74.

RésuméÇayönü, important site du 8ème millénaire de notre ère, en Turquie du sud-est, a été la scène d'une intense activitéarchéologique au cours des 8 dernières années. Cet article se livre à un rapide survol des dernières découvertes, et s'attardeplus spécialement sur la séquence archéologique. L'un des thèmes majeurs dont l'on débattra est la continuité dans l'occupation,comme en témoigne l'évolution progressive des types de constructions, du plan circulaire au «grill-plan», puis au plan cellulaire.L'on examinera aussi quelques modèles sociaux.

AbstractÇayönü, a major site of the 8th millennium B.C. in South-eastern Turkey, has been the scene of intensive archaeological activityduring the last 8 years. This paper will be a brief overview of the latest evidence with special emphasis on the archaeologicalsequence. One of the major issues to be discussed is the continuity in occupation as evidenced by the gradual evolution of thebuilding types from the round-plan to the grill and to the cell-plan. Some social patterns will also be discussed.

Citer ce document / Cite this document :

Özdogan A., Özdogan Mehmet. Çayönü. A Conspectus of Recent Work. In: Paléorient. 1989, Vol. 15 N°1. pp. 65-74.

doi : 10.3406/paleo.1989.4485

http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/paleo_0153-9345_1989_num_15_1_4485

ÇAYÔNU

A Conspectus of Recent Work

M. ÔZDOGAN and A. ÔZDOGAN

ABSTRACT. - Çayônii, a major site of the 8th millennium B.C. in South-eastern Turkey, has been the scene of intensive archaeological activity during the last 8 years. This paper will be a brief overview of the latest evidence with special emphasis on the archaeological sequence. One of the major issues to be discussed is the continuity in occupation as evidenced by the gradual evolution of the building types from the round-plan to the grill and to the cell-plan. Some social patterns will also be discussed. RESUME. — Çayônii, important site du 8ème millénaire de notre ère, en Turquie du sud-est, a été la scène d'une intense activité archéologique au cours des 8 dernières années. Cet article se livre à un rapide survol des dernières découvertes, et s'attarde plus spécialement sur la séquence archéologique. L'un des thèmes majeurs dont l'on débattra est la continuité dans Г occupation, comme en témoigne Г évolution progressive des types de constructions, du plan circulaire au «grill-plan», puis au plan cellulaire. L'on examinera aussi quelques modèles sociaux.

Since the presentation of a report on the Çayônii excavations at the "Préhistoire du Levant" colloquium of 1980 (1), six more major field campaigns have taken place, thus contributing to a better understanding of the site. Most of the facts outlined at the 1980 colloquium have been further elaborated and some of our conclusions have undergone revisions and changes. Prior to the excavation campaign of 1980, the total area exposed at Çayônii was about 2 100 m2; with the field season of 1987, it reached 4 900 m2, comprising 12 % of the whole site (2). Accordingly, the overall picture of the site has changed to a degree which would have been even hard to imagine before. In the early eighties, Çayônii was mainly renowned for its sophisticated architecture and its monumental buildings; it was an isolated case, far away from any other excavated site of its time range. Salvage operations along the Euphrates basin have now made it possible to define an indigenous cultural complex in southeastern Turkey, and Çayônii is no more an exceptional case. However, it is still the main source of our information for what many call the "pre-neolithic" horizon (3), mainly due to the largeness of the excavated area, to the complexity of the architecture and of the settlement pattern. But, what is now the outstanding aspect about the Çayônii culture is the apparent intricacy of the social system which the architecture of the

(1) ÇAMBEL, 1980. (2) According to surface collections the site covers an area of

45 000 m ; however, almost half of this is within the boundaries of the pottery mound. It is clear that the pre-pottery layers continue, at least to the north, under the pottery mound, and therefore it is impossible to estimate the exact extent of the main Phase I. A rough estimate of 20-30 % being excavated for the cell sub- phase.

(3) Needless to say, our preferences is for "effective food producing stage" than to "pre-pottery neolithic".

site must represent, at the very beginning of an effective food producing way of life.

As the location, aims of research, history of excavation, area descriptions as well as the descriptions of main buildings have already been published (4), they will not be repeated here. However, we feel it necessary, at the start, to stress two points. First, from the beginning of our excavations in 1964, the effort has been under the combined field staffs of H. Çambel and of RJ. Braidwood, who were later joined by W. Schirmer and M. Ôzdogan; experienced staff of Istanbul, Chicago and Karlsruhe Universities have also been an essential part in all decision-making steps of excavation. Quite naturally, especially since the senior members of so thoroughly joint a staff have come out of different scholarly traditions, different approaches to the interpretation are certainly to be expected. Thus, this paper may differ s

omewhat from opinions expressed in our earlier reports and so also may reports yet to come.

Secondly, it must also be emphasized that the various industries within the Çayônii artifactual categories and the special detailed studies in the non- artifactual categories are yet to receive their full due, as to exhaustive analysis and interpretation.

I - STRATIGRAPHY

Before making a description of the vertical stratigraphy of the site, a few explanatory remarks will help to clarify the confusion on the sequential denotations of Çayônii. Since the early years of the excavation, customary usage of numerical denotations

(4) See especially BRAIDWOOD and BRAIDWOOD, 1982.

65 Colloque Préhistoire Levant II Maison de Г Orient-Lyon 30 mai-4 juin 1988 Editions du CNRS, Paris, 1989

for stratigraphie units was intentionally avoided, as such a categorical division might lead to over-simplifications. Moreover, in the course of the 25 years that have passed since the first field season, understanding of the site has evolved considerably; some of the major stratigraphie horizons, which are now understood to be of substantial significance in the history of the site, either did not occur in our earlier trenches or the evidence was too fragmentary to be properly understood. It became inevitable to elaborate or, at times, to alter our system of recording as the exposures became larger. If the Çayônii excavations had come to a close after excavating a few hundred m2, as is the case with most of the sites of this general time range, we could have produced an easy sequential series which would have been far from reality. We now have a much better understanding of the site and its sequence; though there are some details that are unclear, it is possible to correlate different sectors of the mound.

a) Main phases of occupation

In earlier reports (5), three main phases of occupation of the Çayônii mound were defined. Phase I was seen as representing the main pre-pottery settlement. At that time, Phases II and III were recognized through surface collections and also through a few intrusive pits. Even though there still have been no major efforts to excavate phases II and III, they can be more thoroughly defined :

Phase III : Represents minor and discontinuous layers in various parts of the mound; the latest of these dates from the Early Iron Age which concentrates mainly in the northeastern and eastern sectors of the mound. Occasionally, deep storage pits of this period are also encountered. There are also a few possible 2nd millennium sherds from the same area. The Çayônii mound seems to have been used as a burial ground in late EBA II and early EBA III periods. Pits of this period are more common in the eastern and the northern sections of the mound. As no habitation layers were recovered, we assume that the EBA II-III settlement is somewhere in the vicinity, possibly on the other side of the stream, near to the present-day village of Hilar.

Phase II : This is a long-lasting, substantial phase, which almost completely circles around the pre-pottery mound. The thickness of the deposit is at least 2.5 m, but may possibly be much thicker. There are also indications that the original height of the Çayônii mound was much higher than it is today with an overburden of later material. It is impossible to understand what resulted from the levelling of the main height of the mound; it is possible, though, that layers of Phase II were preserved only around the

(5) Ibid, and ÇAMBEL, 1980.

outskirts of the mound, leaving in the centre of the mound the remains of Phase I, near the surface.

What is preserved of Phase II comprises mainly pre-Halafian layers. Most of the pottery bears direct resemblance to the early "Dark Faced Burnished Ware" of the Keban region, but there are also some distinct wares, such as a certain "knobbed decorated" ware, which, for the time being seems to be unique at Çayônii. There is at least one Halafian sherd which seems to indicate that the settlement persisted up to that period. As of now, no Obeid or related material has been recovered at Çayônii, possibly indicating a break of occupation. However, mainly in the Western section of the mound, there is a fair number of pits yielding typical "chaff-faced" pottery of the Late Chalcolithic period and EBA I sherds all along the northern periphery.

Phase I : This is the main early prehistoric phase of Çayônii, comprised of five sub-phases and composed of numerous architectural layers. The divisions of the sub-phases were made according to changes of the main building types, such as grills, cells, etc. This seemed evident in the earlier excavation campaigns as the ground plans of these buildings were fundamentally different from each other and as each architectural layer consisted only of a single type of house plan. The architecture and the lay-out of each sub-phase was so distinct that it might even have suggested interruptions in the sequence of occupation, if only building plans were considered. However, large exposures on the western section of the mound have now revealed numerous examples of "transitional" building types, demonstrating the gradual development of building concepts at Çayônii and thus indicating continuity in occupation (6).

b) Description of phase i

Round Plan Sub-Phase. Prior to the season of 1984, our knowledge of the earliest sub-phase was based on restricted soundings, randomly scattered over various parts of the mound. Nevertheless, the presence of an oval building, with walls constructed in "wattle and daub" technique was attested as early as 1978. In 1986 and 1987, some 200 m2 were ex

cavated down to virgin soil in the eastern section of the mound; remains of two more round buildings and parts of at least five others were recovered.

Round or oval plan type seems to be the characteristic of this earliest sub-phase. However, when building details are considered, there is a considerable diversity : some have stone-laid foundations, while others are of wattle and daub without any foundations.

(6) The material assemblage of Çayônii is also indicative of an unbroken continuity.

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In the eastern section of the mound, where this earliest sub-phase is better documented, the thickness of the deposit between the overlying grill sub- phase and the virgin soil is about 20-30 cm, and in most parts it is disturbed by the building activities and pits of later periods. Moreover, mainly due to the very hard, unyielding soil matrix of Çayônii, it is impossible to detect a simple structure constructed of wattle and daub, unless it had been burned or had stone foundations. Accordingly, for the time being, we are not able to determine how many successive layers there were, as there are no clear indications of the contemporaneity of different structures that have been recovered. Only in one structure, building RA, three distinct rebuilding phases could be detected, but how these relate to the other structures is not clear at all. Whether or not the different building techniques employed in these round buildings is indicative of gradual development within the sub- phase is also unclear.

One of the buildings, building RB, has a slightly sunken floor, no stone foundations, walls of wattle and daub reinforced from the exterior by a pebbly soil; its floor was cut into virgin soil. Parts of at least three other huts, RE, RD and RF, were also recovered just on or partly cut into virgin soil. On the other hand, building RA has a stone sub-structure in all of its three rebuilding phases; its floor is again hollowed-out but the stones were not laid-out like a foundation, but more like a facing on the sides of this shallow pit, leaving a very narrow opening to the south. Another building, BN, is much more impressive with neatly laid foundations of flat cobbles. Unfortunately, neither the floor or any remnant of its upper structure was preserved, but one can surmise that its living floor was still above the level of the foundation stones.

As the level of the round-plan buildings have not yet been reached on western, central and northern parts of the mound, it is impossible to guess the extent of the settlement at the time of this sub-phase. However, judging from the apparent depth of the deposit, it seems probable that the settlement extended along the river to the west and not to the north.

Grill-Plan Sub-Phase. This sub-phase, which is immediately superimposed over the round plan sub- phase, without an interruption, is well documented at Çayônii from an area of about 1000 square m. The presence of this building type was first attested as early as the first excavation campaign, and the main elements of these structures have already been described elsewhere. During the last campaigns, it has become clear that the typical grill-plan evolved from a much simpler "grill" type, and that the grill buildings excavated prior to 1984 were of the developed form. The three stages in the development of this building type can be summarized as follows :

a) Simple grill. In this earliest version of the building, the main part of the building, at its northern end, consists of parallel lines of foundations

ged like a grill, but without any interconnecting walls; i.e. both ends of the spaces between the grills are left open, and the building does not have an outer wall. The grills are constructed of small pebble-like stones, rather loosely placed, not at all strong enough to carry any heavy upper structure. At least one such grill, building GH, displays the triple division of grill : inner court, cellular divisions, and the grills. This triple division is characteristic of later grills.

The stratigraphical position of this simple grill type is rather clear. In at least two cases, in buildings GH and GK, the basic plan appeared below a superimposed series of developed grills. Wherever this type was encountered, it always appeared immediately above the level of the round buildings. However, it is not yet very clear how many building layers were involved in this type of grill building. In building GG this type of grill plan was repeated for three consecutive rebuilding levels and in building GH for at least two rebuildings. There are some doubts as to whether or not these two buildings were in use at the same time.

b) Meandering grill. Almost all known examples of this meandering type are directly superimposed on the earlier type of simple grills. At least in two buildings, where the plans are more or less complete, the meandering grill is bigger than the preceding simple grill. It is not very clear whether or not this plan type persisted for one or two rebuilding phases.

c) Closed grill. As a further development of the grill plan, both ends of the openings between the grill-like foundations were closed, so that the building, for the first time, was encircled with a regular exterior wall. This plan type seems to have been used for only one layer. However, as most of the upper grills were found to be rather disturbed by the building activities of the succeeding sub-phases, the actual number of building layers of this type may have been more than one.

Transitional Grills and Channeled Buildings. Since the appearance of the simplest grills, up to the time of the advanced grills, subsequent rebuilding activity was almost always repeated at the same location. In every building layer the grills were built parallel to each other, and in every new rebuilding layer the general orientation of the grills shifted by a few degrees, though still keeping the same location and an orientation parallel to the others. However, after the destruction of the closed grills, there was a complete change both in orientation and in location of the newly built buildings, which still carried on the basic grill plan. The existence of these mis-oriented or deviating grills had been attested as early as 1970, but as the examples on the eastern section of the mound were in a poor state of preservation and the ones to the south were almost completely eroded, their structural significance remained unclear until the season of 1987.

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In 1987, in the western section of the mound, in well stratified context and immediately underneath the paved-floor buildings of the intermediate sub- phase, two superimposed and rather well preserved buildings were recovered. Of these, the lower one, building DP, was roughly aligned with the above mentioned mis-oriented grills, displaying distinct similarities to them. The grill-like foundations were considerably broader than the normal grills and the openings between the wall much narrower. Accordingly, the floor or the foundation of the building attained the appearance of a paved floor, occasionally interrupted by parallel drainage channels. This is evidently a further development of the "grill concept" where the grill-like foundation walls have actually become a part of the floor and the previous ventilation openings have become the channels. As no capstones were used to cover the channels, there must still have been a flooring above the pavement. However, in the following layer (building DI) the channels were covered neatly with flat capstones, thus causing the building to loose the appearance of a grill building.

Intermediate Sub-Phase. This sub-phase which covers the time range between the grill and the cell sub-phases, is now understood to have been not only a flourishing period of the site with substantial buildings, but also a time of important social and technological achievements. In spite of its significance and its relatively long duration lasting for at least three building layers the existence of this sub-phase had not been attested until the excavation campaign of 1984. The absence of such a substantial sub-phase from earlier reports needs to be described here in small detail : most of the largest exposures of early excavation seasons had either stopped at the level of the cell sub-phase, for the sake of preserving architecture remains, or were located along the southern slope of the mound, where anything above the grill sub-phase had been eroded. In one area, on the eastern section of the mound a stratigraphie sequence was obtained from the uppermost sub-phase down to the grill sub-phase, but unfortunately in this particular area, we now know that the fill of the intermediate sub-phase had been intentionally removed for the preparation of the big so-called "plaza" of the cell sub-phase. This plaza of the cell sub-phase covered an area of at least 50 x 25-30 m. and the foundation of this plaza was made by levelling the building remains of the intermediate sub-phase, scraping off the highest parts and filling in the hollow parts. Occasional remnants of the wall fragments, paved floors and numerous pits were always recovered within the foundation fill of the plaza, but, up to 1984, their identity was rather obscure, as to whether they belonged to the uppermost grills or cells. Nevertheless, they never seemed indicative of a major sub-phase. Other pre-1984 trenches, which were dug down to the virgin soil as deep soundings, by chance had always coincided with the open areas between

buildings. Indeed, as an aside, it is of interest to stress that no architectural remains of this major sub- phase, comprising three building levels with well- preserved buildings were exposed in the considerably large exposures of pre-1984 Çayônii. What implications can we draw from these remarks as regards smaller sites ?

The intermediate sub-phase has at least three building layers and the building plans display a gradual development throughout the sub-phase. The earliest type of building is, both in plan and construction, very much like the channeled type at the end of the previous sub-phase with the exception that the channels are missing. The paved floor covers the entire space of the room without any break. The buildings are again long and rectangular like the grill plans and they also indicate a triple division of rooms. However, in the buildings of the intermediate sub-phase, the domestic activities that were carried out in the inner courtyards of the grill buildings have been transferred to the area beyond the buildings, to the open yards. The houses completely lacked fireplaces and working platforms. On the other hand numerous hearths, pits and working areas were encountered in the open areas between the buildings which were much more spaciously placed.

In the second rebuilding layer of the sub-phase, though the main plan of the buildings remained the same, there were small buttresses like projections along the walls. The third building layer of the sub- phase is more like a transitional stage to the cells : for the first time in the buildings such as CM, the narrow axis of the building is divided into two rooms at its back. Small buttresses like projections and large front rooms persist, but the massive pebble flooring disappears. The buildings are again spaciously placed; most of the activities such as cooking, storing and manufacturing are taking place in the open areas.

Cell Plan Sub-Phase. Architectural layers of this cell sub-phase are directly over the building remains of the intermediate buildings, without any sign of a break in the settlement. As the buildings of the cell sub-phase are considerably more massive than the buildings of the other sub-phases, they have been well preserved almost all over the site. Accordingly, various aspects of this sub-phase had been attested in earlier campaigns, and already described in a number of reports mentioned above. It should only be made clear that the cell sub-phase has three main architectural layers which can be observed rather consistently in all areas of the mound. There are also a number of rebuilding activities and pockets of earth within these layers, but they are all discontinuous and evidently represent minor activities that took place in restricted areas. The flooring of the main plaza, in the eastern section of the mound, which is also clearly attributable to the cell sub-phase, has been renewed completely several times by laying new earth, and has also undergone two minor repairs.

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Large-Room Sub-Phase. As it has been mentioned above, the upper layers of the pre-pottery Çayônti mound were badly disturbed. As early as the 1964 season, buildings with a single or more large rooms had been recovered, stratified above the cell plan-types. In later seasons more examples of such buildings were excavated, mainly in the northern part of the eastern exposure. One of them partly overlaid the Terrazzo building. In the western section of the mound, only one, but a rather dubious example of this plan was recovered. However, most of the buildings were badly eroded and the detailed stratification of this sub-phase was never clear. In the campaign of 1987, in trench 25 K, which is now understood to be the peak of the pre-pottery mound, a stratified sequence of buildings belonging to the large-room sub-phase was recovered. In this area three architectural layers were exposed, the last one being within the plough zone. It is thus highly probable that there were even more architectural layers

of this sub-phase. It also became clear that the buildings of this sub-phase consisted of more than one room, which compared to the rooms of the cell buildings, are considerably larger and are arranged in a different order.

Due to surface erosion and later disturbances, it is not at all clear how the pre-pottery occupation of Çayônii came to an end, and whether or not pottery came in use at the very end of Phase I.

II - STRATIGRAPHICAL POSITION OF THE SPECIAL BUILDINGS

There are at least four buildings at Çayônii which can be named buildings of special function; all of them are different in plan, in techniques of construction and in material yield from the domestic

yuvarlak planli rounded plan

i zg ara planli grill plan •o 5 л £•■

« ? tat dottmtli yapilar

pebble paved floor type S i. «" 5' hdcre planli

cell plan g t n i » od ah

large room

GHA DP YAPI GELÍSÍMÍ - ÇAYÔNÙ - SEQUENCE OF BUILDINGS

FIG. 2. - Schematic drawing of main building types according to sub-phases at Cayonu.

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buildings of the site. Two of them, the flagstone and the terrazzo buildings , which were excavated in earlier campaigns, were so different from the other buildings of Çayônii which are very consistent in their plan types throughout their respective sub-phases, that they were taken as being a separate sub-phase in earlier reports. This seemed evident as both buildings shared a common flooring and plan concept. The flagstone building had been cut into the slope of the mound without any stratigraphical connections to the main architectural layers, which led to the misinterpretation of the sequence.

In fact, the special buildings of Çayonii do not represent a separate sub-phase; they were in use, together with other types of buildings, in most of the sub-phases. Still, with the exception of the terrazzo building, the exact correlation of the special buildings to architectural layers is not possible, as the others were cut into the slope of the mound, usually by terracing. Nevertheless, they can be attributed to the Phase I sub-phases.

Bench Building. Building BK, excavated in 1978, is the smallest of the special buildings; it consists of a single room with massive stone benches running along its walls. Its floor is neatly laid with fine sand, and it has a drainage channel to the south. The southern wall of the building is built over the back wall of the flagstone building so that the drainage opens directly to its floor. Even though it is obvious that the construction of the bench building is later than the flagstone, the latter must have still been standing and possibly been in use.

The back side of the bench building was cut into the slope of the mound by destroying one of the earlier grills. It indicates its more recent origin. Rubbles coming from the destruction of the intermediate sub- phase by the earliest cells were covering the top of the bench building. Thus, building BK is earlier than the cells, being either contemporary with the upper grills or with the intermediate buildings. There are some indications suggesting that it was in use at the time of the latest phase of the so-called "skull-building"; though with some reserve, we are inclined to consider it within the time range of the intermediate sub-phase.

Flagstone Building. This massive building (FA), excavated in 1964, is also cut into the southern slope of the mound. It sits directly on the virgin soil with the exception of its northeastern corner, where there are the remnants of an earlier building. Its northern, massive retaining wall, which is earlier than the bench building cuts through wattle and daub layers. The top of its walls were covered with the same rubber layer as the bench building. As a result, the stratigraphie position of the building is below the later part of the intermediate and above the earliest sub- phase.

The Skull Building. This massive and interesting building (BM) was excavated, in parts, from

1980 onwards. Until the excavation campaign of 1985, only the latest and best preserved phase of this building was known; it yielded some 70 human skulls, and so, came to be known as the "skull building". However, later work revealed that the building had at least five major rebuilding phases; the earliest buildings were not only employed for storing skulls, but also contained skeletons or parts of skeletons which are now known to represent at least 400 in

dividuals. Nevertheless, the nomenclature "skull building", somewhat misleadingly, has been kept for all phases of the building.

The stratigraphie position of the latest phase of this building seems clear. It belongs to the later part of the intermediate sub-phase. On the other hand, preceding versions of the building are rather difficult to correlate into stratigraphie system, as they are all cut into the slope of the mound. Remnants of the earliest building, which, with the exception of one round wall, are badly preserved, sit right on the virgin soil. If the resemblance of this round wall to the ones of the earliest round plan sub-phase is not coincidental, the five rebuilding stages of the skull building must cover the entire time span of the wattle and daub, grill and intermediate sub-phases. On the other hand, there is still a possibility that all five rebuildings are more recent than the grill plan sub- phase.

The second earliest version of the building, which is somewhat better-preserved, is very similar to the flagstone building. It has a floor made of large stone slabs with standing stones set into the floor. Whether this version was in use simultaneously with the flagstone building, or whether it has been built after the destruction of the flagstone building is not clear.

The Terrazzo Building. This significant building (ВТ), first exposed in the 1970 season, has already been described in a number of earlier reports. In stratigraphy, it obviously belongs to the cell sub- phase, and possibly to its second or even to its latest architectural layer. Even though the terrazzo building was found quite near the top soil, parts of a large- room building (BF) belonging to the uppermost sub- phase was built over its northern side. Immediately below the walls of the still in-place terrazzo building, walls of two earlier buildings are detectable. The techniques of their wall construction, at least one of them having small buttresses, indicate that they were also special buildings. However, without the removal of the terrazzo building, these lower buildings cannot be exposed. It seems very possible that the tradition of special buildings moved further north to the place of the terrazzo building after the destruction of the skull building.

The Plaza. A large prepared open area, that appears to have served some special purpose within the Çayonii settlement deserves a description. There are indications that the concept of an open space first starts within the intermediate sub-phase; though it is

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at the beginning of the cell sub-phase, that this "plaza", firmly established, covered an area of 50 by 25- 30 m. Throughout the cell sub-phase, it remained in use; its floor was renewed, at least three times, by the addition of alternating layers of clayey soil and beaten burnt mudbrick debris. Repairs of the plaza corresponded with the ones of the buildings that bordered it to the north.

After the end of the cell sub-phase, the plaza still preserved its presence through the uppermost sub-phase as an open area. However, in the later part of its history, it was no longer well-kept as in the cell period; its floor was not remade and levelled. On the contrary, gradual deposition of debris resulting from the activities that took place in the plaza accumulated.

Ill - CONTINUITY IN OCCUPATION

One of the debated issues of the Çayôniï sequence is whether or not there was a break in the sequence. As most of the building types that symbolize the sub-phase are, seemingly, very different from each other, the possibility of discontinuity between the round plan sub-phase and the grill and cell sub-phases has often been considered, as well as the possibility of external influences on changing building types. There is, however, a general impression of continuity in the development of each of the ar- tifactual groups. The recognition of an intermediate sub-phase, in the later seasons, between the grill and the cell sub-phases, clearly demonstrates a gradual development from grill plan to the cell-plan, and eliminates the possibility of a break within this part of the sequence. The transition from the round-plan to the grill one is still poorly documented; here we see a shift from round buildings to rectangular ones. Even though this shift appears as if it were a revolutionary change in the concept of building, reexa- mination of the available evidence indicates that it is also the outcome of a gradual development :

Throughout the entire life span of the pre-pottery occupation, one of the main concerns of the Çayônti people seems to have been to isolate their living floors from the ground. Considering how heavy and sticky the muddy clay soil of the area can get even after a summer rain, this is perfectly understandable. In the grill sub-phase the living floors were raised by means of closely placed grill-like foundations, in the intermediate sub-phase by solid platforms and in the cell sub-phase by basement like sub-structures. The only sub-phase in which the living floor was not raised seems to have been the earliest one, where, at least in one building, the oval hut has a sunken floor. Given the soil matrix of Çayônii, it is impossible to imagine people living on a hollowed- out floor as it would be filled with water after the first rain. Accordingly we would assume that the

concavity functioned to drain off the rain water and that the main living floor was above it, possibly resting on branches stretched across the pit. It is also of interest to note that, where preserved, all of the round-plan buildings have their openings to the south, towards the river in accordance with the slope of the mound.

The earliest and simplest grill-plan buildings have no side walls; the grill walls on which the living floor of the building was raised are arranged like branches over a pit. Accordingly, the main difference between the round-plan buildings and the grill-plan buildings is that in the former the isolation is achieved by hollowing out the substructure of the building, and in the latter by raising the level of the floor. As a natural consequence of using rows of stone, i.e. the grills, for supporting the floor, the building became rectangular.

The side walls of the round-plan buildings were made of mud-daubed wattle, thatch and twigs with occasional supporting thick branches. In the 1987 excavation season it became evident that the upper structures of the grill-plan buildings were also of light material, supported by rows of posts. Extensive use of mud for walls only appeared for the first time in the late intermediate period and by the cell sub- phase shaped bricks were in use. To conclude, throughout Çayônii a gradual evolution of architectural techniques have been evidenced, as well as continuous experimentation in building techniques and in the use of materials.

IV - SOCIAL SYSTEM, SOME CONSIDERATIONS

A striking aspect of Çayônii as a settlement is the homogeneity of building types in each building layer. As has been described before, the building types of each layer were different from both the preceding and from the succeeding ones, but throughout a single layer, without any exception, all the building plans were uniform. Up to now, approximately one hundred buildings have been recovered, but only one building (GS) of the grill sub-phase, has shown irregularity, and only in architectural details.

The settlement pattern within the site is very standardized. The most extreme case for standardization can be observed in the grill sub-phase : not only was the orientation of the buildings in every building layer the same, but also their location is neatly determined. In excavating the grill layers, it is now possible to define almost exactly where the next building will appear and what the plan and orientation will be like. None of the grills have any added annexes or later alterations. This all leads one to think that on certain occasions the settlement was intentionally destroyed and rebuilt according to a definite plan. The fact that all the buildings of a buil-

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ding layer were standard in building details, suggests that the reconstruction might have been done collectively starting at one end of the settlement.

Other details further support this interpretation, ïn every building layer, the foundations of the new building are always directly on top of the preceding one, without disturbing or re-using its stones. If there had not been some kind of a social inhibition, the stones previously used and obviously still visible above the ground would have served as easy building material.

Another fact which is mainly observed in the buildings of the cell sub-phase is the blocking up of doorways. With the exception of a few buildings which had been destroyed by fire, passages leading from one room to another are always found to be blocked by an irregular fill of stones. The same phenomenon was also observed in the latest phase of the skull building; all inside doorways were blocked

with stones. Usually the blocking is so irregular that, if the buildings were still in use, the stones would certainly have fallen down. This also indicates that the buildings were deserted intentionally and that there was a kind of superstition in closing up the spaces. It is also of interest to note that many artifacts which are still intact were abandoned within the cell rooms.

Another surprising fact of the Çayônii settlement is the evidence of social stratification that can be best observed within the cell sub-phase where the exposures are most extensive. At the time of this sub- phase, the eastern section of the mound was the "plaza", which certainly had some communal function. Most of the tools found in association with the plaza layers are chipped discs, perhaps indicating that butchering was done there. A huge grooved stone, measuring more than a meter in length, which we assume

PI. I : 1 Skull building : early stage with flagstone pavement, standing stones, crypts; at north still earlier stages of the building with round walls.

2 Earliest grill type, (building GH) overlying round building RA. 3 Channeled building types indicating transition from grill plan to the intermediate; Buildings DI and DP. 4 Buildings DA and CZ of the intermediate sub-phase with stone-paved floors.

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to have been a communal axe-sharpening place, was found lying on one of the plaza floors.

Along the northern side of the plaza, a group of buildings were found, aligned behind raised platforms, which have revealed the most unusual finds of the Çayônii excavations. Among these were a clay house model, various elegantly worked groundstone objects including beads and pendants of semi-precious stones. The buildings were of the same uniform plan types as the other buildings of the site, but they were slightly larger, with more massive walls. Even the stones used in the walls of these buildings are considerably larger than the normal stones used in other buildings of the same plan type.

The two rows of standing stone that were set into the plaza are also of interest. At least one of them had traces of red paint, and another had indications of some modelling. The standing stone varied greatly in size and shape, the largest one exceeded 2 m in height and the smallest one was about a meter high. The only other places where standing stones have been encountered are in the special buildings, in the flagstone building and in the skull building. It is also of interest to note that some of the standing stones were intentionally broken and then buried under the subsequent reflooring of the plaza.

To the west of the plaza within the cell sub- phase the large exposure indicates a modest living quarter with various witnesses of domestic activities. Towards the western end of the site, the buildings became smaller and flimsier and open areas in between the buildings became larger. Most of the open areas were occupied by industrial working areas such as flint and obsidian chipping ones. A 70 m. long trench that we excavated in the 1985 season, extended to the westernmost end of the site. It clearly showed changes in the social pattern, in that it revealed numerous small working areas and poorly made structures. If the excavation of the site had first started in the westernmost area in the 1964 campaign and concentrated in that area for a few seasons, the overall picture of Çayônii would have been completely different. Probably it would have seemed so

dest a settlement that there would have been no motivation for the excavators to continue digging on the site !

In order to make a more substantial interpretation of the Çayônii evidence, the final analysis of the different artifact groups must be available. Nevertheless the architectural lay-out and the preliminary assessment of the evidence indicates that the social structure of the community was much more complex than we would at first ever have envisaged.

Mehmet ÔZDOGAN and Asii OZDOČAN Prehistorya Amabilim Dali

Istanbul Universitesi Istanbul, Turquie

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