Spatial Analysis of Ekşi Höyük Neolithic Buildings
Project no. 954 · Status: Kapanmış · 2017
Summary
Ekşi Höyük Excavations were initiated following the results obtained from the surface surveys conducted in the Upper Menderes Basin. Ekşi Höyük is one of the identified seventeen settlements which were settled during Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic periods. The fact that Ekşi Höyük was not resettled farther than the 13th century cemetery area after the Early Chalcolithic period enabled the Early Chalcolithic and Neolithic layers to be reached just below the surface of the settlement. Building on the preliminary results of the Upper Meander Basin systematic survey conducted in the Upper Menderes Basin Archaeological Survey, Ekşi Höyük began in 2015 with the aim of to obtain stratigraphic information regarding the Neolithization process of the basin, as well as exploring the organization of the early village communities and their land use. Ekşi Höyük was occupied in the first quarter of the 7th millennium BC. The Neolithic period layers of the settlement are represented by lime-based structures with rectangular plans in the 7th and 6th layers. Except for a few examples, there are no ceramics found in these layers. The 5th and 4a-b layers, which we can define as Late Neolithic Period layers, are represented by rectangular and apsidal structures. Numerous data on bones, terracotta and stone tool production were obtained from these structures. All these architectural and small finds summarized within the scope of the project were evaluated and reported.