Turkish archaeologists in the fifth season of excavations at the Canhasan 3 Mound in Karaman uncovered one-meter-wide passages between houses that were evaluated as the earliest streets known in Central Anatolia, indicating early urban planning. The team also identified a street structure one meter wide and eight meters long within the settlement and said it dated to around 7,450 BCE, according to Haberler.
The passages provided access within the settlement and were described as one of the first examples of early urban understanding in Anatolia..
Dating studies were conducted on carbon samples from the excavations, and the Canhasan 3 Mound dated to 7,750 BCE, or about 9,750 years ago. “We continue our work to clarify the dating issue with new samples,” said Associate Professor Dr. Adnan Baysal of Ankara University’s Department of Prehistoric Archaeology.
“In the excavations we started in 2000 with surface surveys, we first encountered the wall plans of the houses. One of the most important discoveries that increased this excitement was the street concept. For the first time in Central Anatolia, we identified gaps of up to one meter between houses, that is, passages. These narrow passages provided transportation between spaces and appeared as an early example of modern urban understandingת” said Baysal.
“There are very interesting tools made of obsidian, a volcanic glass, here. There are cutters, scrapers, knives, and arrowheads. Among the arrowheads, we came across those with very fine patterns made on them. We also came across an obsidian mirror. That is one of the rare objects,” said Baysal. “The architectural structure that emerged is extremely interesting. We are facing examples of one of the rare architectural types seen in the pre-pottery Neolithic period in Central Anatolia,” he said.
“This place is one of the pioneering settlements that prepared Çatalhöyük. We can say that the street we found dated to around 7,450 BCE,” said Baysal.
The Canhasan Mounds were described as important for Karaman and among the rare settlements in Central Anatolia where horizontal mound formation was seen. The team worked in a 10-by-30-meter area at Canhasan 3 Mound, and the project was planned as a 20-year effort.
The preparation of this article relied on a news-analysis system.