Aşağı Pınar
Aşağı Pınar · Asagipinar · Aşağı Pınar Höyüğü · Kirklareli Asagi Pinar
Early Neolithic to Chalcolithic (6200–4800 BCE)·Fikirtepe → Karanovo I–III / Starčevo·🇹🇷 Kırklareli Province, Turkish Thrace, Turkey
About
About Aşağı Pınar
Tell settlement in eastern Thrace (c.6200–4800 BCE) forming the Anatolian–Balkan Neolithic bridge, excavated since 1993 by Parzinger & Özdoğan (DAI). Shows Karanovo-Starčevo–Fikirtepe sequence: wattle-and-daub longhouses, graphite-painted pottery, intramural burials and a 2 ha Neolithic village overlain by Chalcolithic rampart. Demonstrates how western Anatolian farming spread into Thrace and the Struma valley at 6200 BCE, coeval with Köşk Höyük and Hacılar but with Balkan affinities (Sitagroi).
Why it mattersWesternmost Early Neolithic expansion from Anatolia to Balkans; anchors 6200 BCE rapid spread model and Fikirtepe–Karanovo linkage.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why Aşağı Pınar sequence lacks Çatalhöyük sharp symbolism change?
Theories
- 01Thrace as staging ground for Danube Neolithic leap
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c. 6200 BCE (Early Neolithic)
- Period
- Early Neolithic to Chalcolithic (6200–4800 BCE)
- Culture
- Fikirtepe → Karanovo I–III / Starčevo
- Builders
- Thracian early farming communities
- Purpose
- Agrarian village on Thracian plain corridor
- Abandoned
- c.4800 BCE (Late Chalcolithic hiatus)
- Rediscovered
- 1979 Istanbul University survey; excavated 1993– DAI–Istanbul
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
c.6200 BCE
Founding houses with monochrome pottery
c.5500 BCE
Graphite-painted Karanovo III phase
1993
Systematic excavation begins
On the ground
Structures & features
41.7350° N · 27.2210° E · 220 m · 1 mapped feature
Neolithic longhouse
houseWattle-and-daub house with clay platform and burials beneath floor
41.7352° N · 27.2213° E