Archaeologists are examining bones at Çayönü Hill in the Ergani district of Diyarbakır, southeastern Türkiye, to reveal genetic information about the people who lived there 12,000 years ago.
Çayönü, located on the Ergani Plain along the Tigris River, has settlement layers dating back to 10,000 B.C. The site was first discovered in 1963 during a surface survey, and initial excavations were launched in 1964 by Halet Çambel and professor Robert J. Braidwood.
The site is considered one of the earliest places where humans transitioned from nomadic to settled life and from hunting and gathering to agriculture, shedding light on early civilization. Excavations, which were suspended in 1991 due to security concerns and resumed a decade ago, continue to uncover the full spectrum of continuous human life at Çayönü.
Under the permission of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, excavations led by Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Museology Department, Savaş Sarıaltun and coordinated by Hacettepe University Anthropology Department professor Ömür Dilek Erdal began in May 2025. Teams of archaeologists and anthropologists from across Türkiye participated, and the previous season concluded in December.
Artifacts uncovered at the site are documented individually at the Çayönü Hill Excavation House before being sent to Hacettepe University’s Anthropology Department for laboratory analysis, where experts gather data on the life histories of individuals.
Among recent discoveries is a 9,500-year-old “Public Structure” believed to have been used for gatherings and events, Neolithic grid-planned buildings, a Bronze Age water channel and eight burial sites, highlighting Çayönü Hills’ significance for understanding human civilization.
Sarıaltun told Anadolu Agency (AA) that 3,200 square meters (over 34,400 square feet) were excavated over eight months in 2025, with contributions from scholars at 10 Turkish universities.
“We uncovered a public structure, four grid-planned buildings from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period, dating to 9000-8500 B.C.,” he said. “Toward the end of the excavation, we encountered dense architecture from the Pottery Neolithic period, dating to 7000-6000 B.C. Since 2024, excavating large areas from the Early Bronze Age has helped us understand settlement patterns and cultural layers better. One of our significant findings is a cemetery dating to 2900-2750 B.C. We identified an extensive architectural burial area and worked on eight graves, seven from the Early Bronze Age and one from the Neolithic.”
Sarıaltun explained that these graves provide insights into social structures, age differences, diseases, societal organization and socioeconomic conditions. Almost all graves contained offerings, including pottery, copper and bronze items, tools and daggers. Two seals found near the cemetery suggest trade networks or social hierarchies at the time.
Excavated finds are first processed at Çayönü Hill laboratories before further specialized studies are conducted at researchers’ home institutions.
Sarıaltun said results, including DNA analyses, will be shared publicly in the coming years. “We are studying how these people fit into sociocultural networks and their connections to Mesopotamia, the Caucasus and Anatolia through DNA. This research will take years. Since 2024, we’ve been working intensively, and by 2026-2027, we hope to present a comprehensive picture.”
Erdal said skeletons are transported from archaeological centers to the lab with ministry permission, where they are cleaned, restored and analyzed according to international standards.
“About 255 individuals have been studied so far. The community was very heterogeneous with significant cultural variation, showing interactions with other groups,” Erdal said. “We see diverse burial traditions, but the community appears to have been peaceful. Skeletal analysis reveals daily life patterns, including early involvement of children in agricultural and household tasks. Each layer of the site shows distinct architectural features, reflecting a highly organized settlement.”
Erdal noted that uniform housing layouts suggest governance structures, though no strict social hierarchy was evident. “People from large and small houses engaged in similar activities such as farming, livestock and burial rituals. Labor was divided by gender: males showed traces of livestock work, females of domestic production. DNA evidence indicates connections with Mesopotamia and the Caucasus, with individuals from those regions settling at Çayönü.”
