Aşıklı Höyük and Anatolia’s First Settlements

Aşıklı Höyük lies about 1 km south of Kızılkaya village in the Gülağaç district of Aksaray, on the banks of the Melendiz river. It is the first known village in Central Anatolia where hunter-gatherers and nomads settled down, and one of the most important sites in the world for understanding humanity’s transition to farming.

The mound was continuously inhabited between 8200 and 7400 BC by at least 30–35 generations. In this guide we introduce Aşıklı and the other mounds of Aksaray to help you get the most out of your visit.

Discovery and excavations

The mound was first surveyed in 1964 by Ian A. Todd, who collected more than 6,000 pieces of obsidian from the surface and drew attention to the site.

Full excavations began in 1989 as a rescue dig by Istanbul University’s Department of Prehistory, when plans to raise the Mamasın Dam threatened to flood the mound. The first phase was led by Prof. Ufuk Esin and, in 2000–2003, by Prof. Nur Balkan Atlı. From 2006, Prof. Mihriban Özbaşaran and Dr Güneş Duru began a second, interdisciplinary phase with specialists from several countries.

This new phase also became a community project: craft and archaeology workshops were held with women and children from Kızılkaya, and the site opened to visitors in 2009.

Daily life at Aşıklı

In the 9th millennium BC, daily life took place in the open spaces between buildings. Cooking, hide and fur processing, obsidian knapping, bone and antler work, basketry and bead-making were done in open work areas, some covered with a few posts.

Large cooking pits, animal bones, plant remains, bone tools (mostly awls) and obsidian debris are the traces of this daily life. The most hunted animals were sheep, goats, wild cattle, pigs and several species of deer.

A village of firsts

Aşıklı Höyük is home to many firsts in human history.

The first farming

Although mainly hunter-gatherers, the people of Aşıklı were among the first farmers. Barley, wheat and legumes previously gathered in the wild were first cultivated here; both wild and domesticated species have been found in charred layers.

The first terraced village

Aşıklı has the oldest known example of Anatolia’s traditional terraced, rectangular mud-brick architecture. More than 400 rooms have been excavated; houses formed clusters, or “neighbourhoods”, sharing courtyards. The dead were buried beneath the house floors.

The first metalworking

Copper beads found around the necks and arms of the dead in two graves show that copper was worked both hot and cold — considered the earliest metalworking in the region.

The earliest known brain surgery

A hole in the skull of a woman who died aged about 20–25 is the earliest known trepanation. The bone around it had begun to regenerate, showing she was alive during the operation and may have lived for about a week afterwards. The skull is on display in the Aksaray Museum.

Obsidian: the steel of the Neolithic

Obsidian (volcanic glass) from the region’s volcanoes was the raw material for the tools Aşıklı’s people used for hunting, butchery and leatherwork. Proximity to sources around Mount Hasan underpinned a trade reaching as far as today’s Cyprus and Iraq. An obsidian bracelet found at Aşıklı shows the advanced skills of the time.

Aksaray’s other mounds

Nearby Musular served as a satellite site of Aşıklı in the 8th millennium BC and is known for its lime-floored buildings and obsidian finds.

Acemhöyük, west of Aksaray, belongs to a much later age — the Assyrian Trading Colony period of the 20th–18th centuries BC. One of Anatolia’s largest mounds, it is identified with the city of Purushattum in Akkadian and Hittite texts and is famous for the Sarıkaya Palace. Visiting both shows you some 6,000 years of human history in Aksaray.

Visiting tips

Aşıklı Höyük is about 25 km, or a 25–30-minute drive, from Neva Apart. Visiting the Aksaray Museum first lets you complete the story of the finds on site. You can step inside the full-scale reconstructed Neolithic houses at the entrance.

In the excavation season (usually summer) you may see archaeologists at work. It is easy to add the mound on the way back from Selime Cathedral and the Ihlara Valley; see our Aksaray itineraries. Check opening hours on muze.gov.tr before you go.

Where to stay in Aksaray

Neva Apart offers fully equipped serviced apartments with kitchens in Aksaray city centre, a few minutes’ walk from the Zinciriye Madrasa and the Grand Mosque. It is an ideal base for day trips to Ihlara, Selime, Güzelyurt and the Seljuk caravanserais.

Browse our apartments, read guest reviews or contact us for bookings and route tips. Every stop is listed on our things to do in Aksaray page.

Sources

• Kültür Portalı – Aşıklı Höyük (T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı)
• Wikipedia – Aşıklı Höyük
• Kültür Portalı – Acemhöyük

Image credits

• View north-west from the top of the Aşıklı Höyük mound – Kvaestad, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
• General view of the Aşıklı Höyük excavation by the Melendiz stream – Joe Wallace, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
• Reconstruction of mud-brick Neolithic houses at Aşıklı Höyük – Joe Wallace, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
• General view of the Acemhöyük settlement mound – Ingeborg Simon, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons