Aşıklı Höyük

Aşıklı Höyük lies about 1 km south of Kızılkaya village in Aksaray’s Gülağaç district, on the bank of the Melendiz River. According to Kültür Portalı, it is the first known village in central Anatolia, where hunter-gatherers and nomads settled down.

The Aşıklı community lived on the same spot for at least 30–35 generations, from the second half of the 9th millennium to the end of the 8th millennium BC. This 10,000-year-old settlement is one of the most important places in the world for understanding humanity’s shift to farming and village life, and has been open to visitors since 2009.

History and excavations

The mound was first examined in 1964 by Ian A. Todd, who collected more than 6,000 pieces of obsidian from the surface alone. Large-scale excavation began only in 1989 as a salvage project led by Prof. Ufuk Esin of Istanbul University, because the waters of the nearby Mamasın Dam were due to rise.

The latest dates place the occupation between 8200 and 7400 BC, making Aşıklı one of the earliest aceramic (pre-pottery) Neolithic settlements on the Anatolian plateau and, in the words of researchers, “a prime example of a first foray into sedentism”.

The first farmers

While mainly hunter-gatherers, the people of Aşıklı were among the first farming communities. Research shows that farming began here after people settled: barley, wheat and lentils, previously gathered wild, were cultivated for the first time, and both wild and domesticated varieties were found in charred layers.

Animal remains show that sheep, goats, aurochs, boar, red deer, fallow deer and roe deer were hunted most often.

Architecture: the first terraced village

Aşıklı has the oldest known example of Anatolia’s traditional contiguous, rectangular mud-brick architecture. More than 400 rooms have been excavated, and the dead were buried beneath house floors.

Full-size copies of a group of excavated houses have been rebuilt at the entrance using experimental archaeology, so visitors can step inside a home of 10,000 years ago.

The earliest known brain surgery

A first in the history of medicine also happened at Aşıklı: a young woman underwent the earliest known brain surgery (trepanation). The skull bearing the traces and other finds from the mound are on display in Aksaray Museum.

The obsidian trade

Obsidian (volcanic glass), a product of the region’s volcanic geology, was the raw material for the tools and weapons the people of Aşıklı used for hunting, butchery and working hides. Proximity to obsidian sources around Mount Hasan underpinned trade reaching as far as today’s Cyprus and Iraq.

Getting there from Neva Apart

Neva Apart is in Aksaray city centre, a few minutes’ walk from the Zinciriye Madrasa and the Grand Mosque; the distances below are measured from our aparthotel.

Aşıklı Höyük is about 25 km south-east of Aksaray, a 25–30-minute drive from Neva Apart. Buses run from the city centre to Kızılkaya village at certain times of day, and the mound is a 5-minute walk from the village. It is easy to add on the way back from Ihlara and Selime.

Tips for your visit

Visit Aksaray Museum first and then the mound to complete the story of the finds on site. During the excavation season (usually summer) you may see archaeologists at work.

Opening hours and admission fees change seasonally; please check the official sources of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism (muze.gov.tr, kulturportali.gov.tr) before you set off.

We tell the full story in our Aşıklı Höyük guide.

Other places nearby

• Selime Cathedral and Rock Monastery – At the northern end of Ihlara Valley, a rock-cut monastery with a three-aisled cathedral, kitchens and stables — one of the largest religious buildings in Cappadocia.
• Yaprakhisar Fairy Chimneys – At the northern end of Ihlara Valley between Selime and Belisırma, tuff cones with rock-cut rooms and a quiet Cappadocian village on the Melendiz.
• Aksaray Museum – Home to a 10,500-year-old skull bearing the earliest known brain surgery, the Ihlara and Çanlı Kilise mummies and the Luwian Aksaray Stele — 10,000 years of local history.
• Saratlı Kırkgöz Underground City – Beneath the town of Saratlı in Gülağaç, an underground settlement of galleries, rooms and narrow passages carved into Cappadocian tuff.

Sources

• Kültür Portalı – Aşıklı Höyük (T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı)
• Wikipedia – Aşıklı Höyük
• T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı – Müzeler ve Ören Yerleri

Image credits

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