5,000- and 11,000-Year-Old Burials Unearthed at Çayönü: Shedding Light on Neolithic and Bronze Age Anatolia

Archaeologists working at the Neolithic settlement mound of Çayönü, in Ergani district of Diyarbakır, Türkiye, have unearthed six ancient burials—five from the Early Bronze Age, about 5,000 years old, and one dating back 11,000 years to the Neolithic period. The discovery provides crucial evidence of how one of humanity’s earliest farming communities buried and remembered their dead.

The 2025 excavation season, led by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Savaş Sarıaltun of Çanakkale University, focused on funerary contexts and domestic spaces. According to Sarıaltun, the finds demonstrate that the Çayönü community—among the first in the world to adopt farming and animal husbandry—maintained complex mortuary traditions for millennia. “This year we are fortunate: not only did we uncover Bronze Age burials, but also a Neolithic grave dating back to around 9,000 BCE, offering a rare glimpse into the earliest settled life in Anatolia,” he noted.

The burials include simple pit graves, a damaged jar burial, and elaborate stone cist tombs. In some cases, vessels and offerings were placed beside the deceased, while separate “offering pits” contained goods but no human remains. These practices reveal a nuanced ritual system, blending practical burial methods with symbolic gestures toward the afterlife.

Dr. Ömür Dilek Erdal from Hacettepe University’s Department of Anthropology emphasized the significance of skeletal analyses. Over 600 skeletons have now been recovered at Çayönü, most from the Neolithic layers. DNA and isotopic studies show that the community was part of a wider interaction sphere, linking Mesopotamia, Iran, Iraq, and the Caucasus. “Çayönü represents a heterogeneous society that transmitted its cultural and biological legacy into the Bronze Age and beyond,” Erdal explained.

Excavated since 1964, Çayönü is recognized as one of the world’s most important Neolithic sites. It documents the decisive shift from hunting and gathering to settled farming life, with evidence of early metallurgy, domestic structures, and animal domestication. The newly unearthed burials now add another dimension to this legacy, demonstrating how early Anatolian communities conceptualized death, ritual, and identity over a span of nearly 7,000 years.

Cover Photo: Excavation area at Çayönü Tepesi in Diyarbakır’s Ergani district, where archaeologists uncovered 5,000- and 11,000-year-old burials along with pottery offerings. Credit: IHA