Balıklı: On the Edge of Time and Everything

Year 2025, Issue: 32, 1 - 18, 25.07.2025

Güneş Duru

https://doi.org/10.26650/anar.32.1701248

Abstract

This paper examines the findings from recent excavations at Balıklı, a lesser-known Neolithic settlement located on the Central Anatolian Plateau, with the aim of questioning established models of Neolithization in the region. In contrast to long-term and architecturally stable settlements like Aşıklı Höyük, Balıklı represents a shorter-term and more flexible occupation. This contrast reflected in differences in architecture, duration of occupation, and modes of subsistence, suggests that Neolithization in Central Anatolia did not follow a singular, linear trajectory but instead involved multiple strategies, timings, and social organizations. The study contributes to a reassessment of the geographic and cultural diversity of the Neolithization process in Central Anatolia.

Keywords

Central Anatolia , Neolithic , Epipaleolithic , Cultural Diversity , Interaction

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