Gusir Höyük
Gusir Höyük · Gusir Hüyük · Güsir Höyük · Lake Gusir Mound
Pre-Pottery Neolithic A–B to Pottery Neolithic (9300–5500 BCE)·Upper Tigris PPN (Northern Fertile Crescent)·🇹🇷 Siirt Province, Southeastern Anatolia, Turkey
About
About Gusir Höyük
Aceramic Neolithic lakeside village (c.9300–7500 BCE) on the western shore of Lake Gusir (a karst sinkhole fed by Kavaközü stream) at the Tigris–Botan confluence, Siirt. Excavated since 2010 by N. Karul, it shows PPNA oval semi-subterranean houses with stone foundations and PPNB rectilinear plastered buildings, dense archaeobotany documenting early lentil and wheat progenitor use, and chlorite vessels. Provides critical pathway-to-domestication data bridging the Upper Tigris (Çayönü, Gre Fılla) and Zagros foothills.
Why it mattersKey archaeobotanical archive for lentil domestication; links Tigris headwaters PPN to Zagros piedmont (Karim Shahir–Gusir gradient).
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why lake-edge siting persisted through climatic downturns?
Theories
- 01Wetland refugium facilitating sedentary foraging before farming
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. 9300 BCE (PPNA)
- Period
- Pre-Pottery Neolithic A–B to Pottery Neolithic (9300–5500 BCE)
- Culture
- Upper Tigris PPN (Northern Fertile Crescent)
- Builders
- Early sedentary foragers–farmers
- Purpose
- Lakeside fishing–farming village with ritual structures (stele building)
- Abandoned
- c. 5500 BCE (Chalcolithic hiatus)
- Rediscovered
- 2010 Karul – NEOLITHIC IN TURKEY project excavations
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
c.9300 BCE
Oval houses founded on lake terrace
c.8500 BCE
Rectilinear plastered architecture phase
2010
Systematic excavations begin
On the ground
Structures & features
37.7271° N · 41.8211° E · 535 m · 2 mapped features
Stele building
buildingPPNB building with limestone stele and plastered bench
37.7272° N · 41.8212° ELake Gusir shoreline midden
middenDense fish bone and shell midden on lake edge
37.7269° N · 41.8209° E