Ilıpınar Höyük
Ilıpınar Höyük · Ilipinar · Ilicapinar
Late Neolithic to EBA (Marmara Neolithic, Chalcolithic)·Marmara Neolithic (Fikirtepe) → Late Chalcolithic (İznik) → EBA·🇹🇷 Bursa Province, Orhangazi, İznik Lake southwest, Marmara, Turkey
About
About Ilıpınar Höyük
Northwest Anatolian lakeside Neolithic tell (5800–3500 BCE) — Classic Marmara Neolithic type-site, excavated 1987–2008 Jacob Roodenberg (Netherlands Institute Istanbul, Leiden) with Istanbul Prehistory. Early Farming village with wattle-daub houses (5800 BCE), early stockbreeding (cattle/pig), bone tools, and unique wooden sickle handles preserved in waterlogged lower levels. Evolution: Neolithic rectangular timber → Chalcolithic fortified mound with ditch and palisade, EBA Hacilar-like burnished ware. Lake Iznik palaeoshoreline 2 km NE.
Why it mattersType-site for Marmara Neolithic lake settlement and timber preservation — Balkan-Anatolian Neolithic transition east of Bosphorus.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Was Ilıpınar colonized from Central Anatolia or indigenous Marmara Mesolithic uptake?
- 02Lake transgression role in Chalcolithic ditch — flood defence?
Theories
- 01Roodenberg colonization vs Özdoğan indigenous adoption for Marmara
- 02Ditched Chalcolithic as Balkan Vinča influence
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.5800–5700 BCE Level X villages; 5600 BCE early Chalcolithic palisade; 4000 BCE EBA
- Period
- Late Neolithic to EBA (Marmara Neolithic, Chalcolithic)
- Culture
- Marmara Neolithic (Fikirtepe) → Late Chalcolithic (İznik) → EBA
- Builders
- Marmara forager-farmers (Balkan-Anatolian Neolithic)
- Purpose
- Lakeside tell hamlet exploiting İznik wetlands and timber
- Abandoned
- c.3500 BCE EBA scatter contraction
- Rediscovered
- Tested 1987–2008 Roodenberg Leiden/NINO; 1995 waterlogged levels
- Excavation
- Excavated
5800 BCE
Wattle-daub village with wooden sickles on İznik southwest terrace
1987
Roodenberg opens waterlogged bottom — preserved wood and seeds
On the ground
Structures & features
40.4920° N · 29.5780° E · 80 m · 3 mapped features
Neolithic waterlogged village (X-VI)
settlementWattle-daub houses with wooden tools below water table
40.4922° N · 29.5782° EChalcolithic ditched mound
fortificationPalisade and ditch 40 m around mound
40.4920° N · 29.5780° EEBA scatter surface
featureBurnished ware scatter above ditch
40.4919° N · 29.5778° E