Pınarbaşı Höyük
Pınarbaşı Höyük · Pinarbasi · Karaman Pınarbaşı · Epicentre of Sedentism
Epipalaeolithic to Early Ceramic Neolithic·Central Anatolian Epipalaeolithic → Neolithic·🇹🇷 Karaman Province, Central Anatolia (Konya Plain fringing lake), Turkey
About
About Pınarbaşı Höyük
Epipalaeolithic rockshelter (c.14,000 BCE) and open Neolithic settlement (c.9000–7000 BCE) at a karstic spring on the Konya plain edge that now supplies the first human aDNA proving Central Anatanans were the genetic ancestors of Boncuklu and Çatalhöyük. Baird's sequence runs from Natufian-like microliths through caprine-managed PPN to early pottery, with a small lake basin showing seasonal sedentism turning permanent — the 'pınar' (spring) that may have seeded Konya's Neolithic.
Why it mattersGenetic bridge between 14 ka foragers and Neolithic farmers in Central Anatolia.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01How did spring permanence create sedentism without Levantine crops?
- 02Epipalaeolithic social structure before village life
Theories
- 01Local Anatolian refugium population not Levantine migrants
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.14,000–7000 BCE (rockshelter then open settlement)
- Period
- Epipalaeolithic to Early Ceramic Neolithic
- Culture
- Central Anatolian Epipalaeolithic → Neolithic
- Builders
- Konya Basin hunter-foragers and early cultivators
- Purpose
- Seasonal camp → permanent spring-side village
- Abandoned
- c.5200 BCE (plain desiccation)
- Rediscovered
- 1994 Baird Konya Plain survey; 2003– excavations
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
c.14000 BCE
Epipalaeolithic microlithic occupation in rockshelter
2024
aDNA paper links Pınarbaşı to Boncuklu–Çatal ancestry
On the ground
Structures & features
37.4833° N · 33.0167° E · 1050 m · 3 mapped features
Rockshelter (Area A)
caveTufa rockshelter with Epipalaeolithic middens over spring
37.4835° N · 33.0170° EOpen PPN settlement (Area B)
settlementLow mound with oval hut footings east of shelter
37.4831° N · 33.0165° ESpring head
springKarstic pınar that gave site its name
37.4834° N · 33.0169° E