Çukuriçi Höyük
Çukuriçi Höyük · Cukurici Hoyuk · Çukuriçi Mound · Ephesus Prehistoric Tell
Late Neolithic through Early Bronze Age II (c.6700-2750 BCE)·Aegean-Neolithic to Chalcolithic to Western Anatolian EBA·🇹🇷 İzmir Province, Selçuk District, Ephesus plain, Turkey
About
About Çukuriçi Höyük
Neolithic-Early Bronze Age shoreline tell just east of Ephesus — Austria's flagship Aegean-Anatolian contact site. 6680 BCE, Level XIII), Chalcolithic copper workshop (earliest Aegean metallurgy with arsenical slag and crucibles), and EBA I-II walled apsidal-house settlement. 5 m alluvium-buried stratigraphy with Melian obsidian, marble figurines and plaster floors bridges western Anatolian Neolithisation (Ulucak) to Aegean EBA. Anchors the Küçük Menderes delta sequence before shift to Ayasuluk/Ephesus hill.
Cross-references nearby Bakla Tepe and Liman Tepe within Küllüoba-Demircihöyük Anatolian EBA sphere.
Why it mattersEarliest Aegean copper workshop and best 7th-3rd millennium stratification linking Anatolian Neolithic to Aegean EBA — Küçük Menderes type-site.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why EBA village abandoned for nearby Ephesus hill?
- 02Direct Melian obsidian or down-the-line exchange?
Theories
- 01Horejs maritime interaction vs inland diffusion
- 02Alluvial progradation forcing relocation
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.6680 BCE Initial Neolithic; EBA I-II village 3000-2750 BCE
- Period
- Late Neolithic through Early Bronze Age II (c.6700-2750 BCE)
- Culture
- Aegean-Neolithic to Chalcolithic to Western Anatolian EBA
- Builders
- Neolithic founders, Chalcolithic coppersmiths, EBA Aegean-Anatolian villagers
- Purpose
- Coastal farming, copper atelier and EBA maritime trade gateway
- Abandoned
- c.2750 BCE (shift to Ephesus hill)
- Rediscovered
- Excavated 2007-present Barbara Horejs (Austrian Academy OAW & Ephesus Museum)
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
6680 BCE
Basal pit-houses (Level XIII) — earliest occupation
c.3500 BCE
Copper slag horizon — earliest Aegean metallurgy
2007
Horejs opens OAW project; bedrock sounding
On the ground
Structures & features
37.9292° N · 27.3594° E · 12 m · 3 mapped features
Chalcolithic copper workshop
workshopCrucible, slag and mould debris (Level VII-VIII)
37.9294° N · 27.3595° EEBA apsidal house quarter
domesticEBA I-II apsidal mudbrick houses with benches
37.9296° N · 27.3596° ENeolithic basal village (Level XIII)
settlement6680 BCE pit-houses, impressed ware, plaster floors
37.9298° N · 27.3597° E