Remains of six-millennia-old settlement found in eastern Türkiye

Archaeologists have uncovered traces of a settlement dating back approximately 6,000 years during excavations at Degirmenler Mound in Erzurum, eastern Türkiye.

"We first uncovered a medieval cemetery at a fill depth of approximately 1.5 meters, after which the Iron Age layer began," said excavation coordinator Associate Professor Gulsah Altunkaynak, adding that they encountered much more architectural fill than expected.

"Degirmenler Mound will likely provide a more extensive Kura-Araxes fill, allowing us to obtain findings we have not seen before," added Altunkaynak, who is also an archaeologist at the Erzurum Museum.

The Kura-Araxes culture is a prehistoric culture that flourished in the South Caucasus and surrounding areas during the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, approximately from 3400 to 2000 BCE.

Since July 1, excavations in the area have uncovered settlement layers, human and animal bones, and ceramics, which are being analysed.

‘Trying to reach earliest settlement'

Researchers have determined that the site was inhabited as far back as 6,000 years ago, and they expect that further excavation will reveal even older layers. The area could soon become an archaeological park.

Mehmet Isikli, the scientific adviser of the project and a professor at Ataturk University in Erzurum, says that a different period began in Eastern Anatolia after the Kura-Araxes culture.

According to Isikli, a strong societal structure in the region lived on livestock farming and agriculture around 4,000 years ago.

Highlighting the valuable results from their findings, Altunkaynak noted that her team is "trying to reach the earliest settlement as quickly as possible" by leaving a step in each layer using the step trench method and uncovering the periods and building phases.

"Contrary to what is known, there were settlements in this region in very early periods. Our current findings go back 5,500 to 6,000 years; we can see the Kura-Araxes culture, but we need to dig deeper to find earlier periods," she adds.