Aşıklı Höyük

Aşıklı Höyük is a pre-ceramic Neolithic tell sitting at roughly 1,100 metres on the Anatolian plateau, beside the Melendiz River some 25 km southeast of Aksaray. Its occupation layers date back to around 8200 BCE, making it one of the oldest known permanently settled sites in human history — predating even Çatalhöyük. Excavations begun in the 1960s revealed densely packed mud-brick structures with no discernible street plan, burials placed beneath house floors, and some of the earliest evidence of sheep herding in the region. The site remains an active dig with ongoing seasonal fieldwork, drawing archaeologists and prehistory enthusiasts to what is otherwise a wind-scoured mound rising quietly from the Central Anatolian steppe.