The state of the Late Neolithic Pottery of Domuztepe in the Turkish Eastern Mediterranean

Published in Origini n. XXXIX/2016. Rivista annuale del Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità – “Sapienza” Università di Roma | Preistoria e protostoria delle civiltà antiche – Prehistory and protohistory of ancient civilizations | The geographic definition of the Turkish Eastern Mediterranean includes Cilicia, Amuq and the Aksu-Euphrates valley, which show similar characteristics within the Late Neolithic period. In the Turkish East Mediterranean, the excavations carried out at Sakçagözü, Yumuktepe, Tell al-Judaidah, Tell Kurdu and Carchemish have shown they were key sites for the Near Eastern Late Neolithic period. In the publications issued until now, the results of the ongoing Domuztepe excavations, one of these sites in the region considered, have been assessed within Mesopotamian archaeology. Located in the northern part of this geographic region, Domuztepe was excavated by a British-American team in 1996-2012, and since 2013, a Turkish team took the work over. In this study, the general characteristics of the Late Neolithic Pottery uncovered during the 2014-2015 seasons at Domuztepe are analysed in the framework of the cultural developments in the Turkish Eastern Mediterranean.