Erbaba Höyük
Erbaba Höyük · Erbaba · Beyşehir Erbaba · Erbaba Hoyuk
Late Neolithic (Hacilar I equivalent)·Beyşehir-Hacilar transition·🇹🇷 Konya Province, Beyşehir Lake west shore, Turkey
About
About Erbaba Höyük
Late Neolithic lakeside tell (c.6400–6000 BCE, with Chalcolithic reuse c.5500 BCE) on Beyşehir Lake terrace, excavated 1969–71 by Bordaz & Alpes team and later re-studied by Steadman/Arbuckle. Dry-stone founded mudbrick rectilinear houses with white plaster floors, dark burnished Hacilar-like pottery and marble vessels. Faunal re-analysis shows Sheep/goat + cattle herding plus deer hunting — classic 'secondary products before revolution' lake village bridging Central Anatolian and Lake District cultures.
Why it mattersKey Beyşehir sequence linking Central Anatolian Late Neolithic to Lake District Hacilar; faunal herding evidence.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why Beyşehir basin Neolithic density spike?
- 02Marble vessel source — Aegean exchange?
Theories
- 01Lake-mosaic Neolithization — each lake basin independent
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.6400–6000 BCE (Level III–I)
- Period
- Late Neolithic (Hacilar I equivalent)
- Culture
- Beyşehir-Hacilar transition
- Builders
- Beyşehir lake farmers-herders
- Purpose
- Lakeside agropastoral village
- Abandoned
- c.6000 BCE then Chalcolithic squatters
- Rediscovered
- 1965 Bordaz; 1969–71 Bordaz exc
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1969
Bordaz Level III opens
c.6200 BCE
Plaster-floor house horizon
On the ground
Structures & features
37.7200° N · 31.7160° E · 1125 m · 3 mapped features
Level III House 8
houseStone-footed house with plaster floor
37.7201° N · 31.7161° EBeyşehir shore midden
middenLake shell + cattle bone deposit
37.7199° N · 31.7159° EMarble vessel cache
depositFlat marble bowls in situ
37.7200° N · 31.7160° E