28.08.2025 02:24
At the Canhasan 3 Mound in Karaman, which stands out with its approximately 10,000-year history, one of the earliest street plans of Anatolia from the Neolithic Age has been uncovered.
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The fifth season of excavation work at Canhasan 3 Mound, located in the village of Alaçatı, which is affiliated with the center and dates back approximately 800 years earlier than Çatalhöyük, is being carried out within the scope of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism's 'Heritage for the Future Project'. The excavation work, led by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Adnan Baysal from the Department of Prehistoric Archaeology at Ankara University, is considered one of the first examples of early urbanism in Anatolia, as the emergence of one-meter-wide passages between houses is observed.
"FOR THE FIRST TIME, WE ENCOUNTERED A STREET CONCEPT IN CENTRAL ANATOLIA" Providing information about the excavations, Baysal stated, "Currently, we are at Canhasan 3 of the Canhasan Mounds. This project is being conducted on behalf of Ankara University with the approval of our esteemed President and with the permissions and support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, as part of the 'Heritage for the Future Project'. Our project has entered its fifth season. Our work is planned for a 20-year period. We continue these studies with the permission of our Ministry through annual applications we make."
"THE EARLIEST URBAN PLANNING" In 2000, we first conducted surface scraping and then started excavations. The first thing we encountered was the walls and plans of the houses. This was a very exciting situation for us. There were other discoveries that further increased this excitement. One of them is the street concept seen right behind us. Perhaps this should be considered the beginning of the earliest urban planning. Although similar street concepts exist in many settlements in Anatolia during the Neolithic period, it appears for the first time in Central Anatolia. We are on top of a settlement that dates back approximately 750-800 years before Çatalhöyük. People in other settlements have continuously built their houses adjacent to each other, but here we see gaps of up to one meter between houses for the first time. These gaps allow passage from one area to another; in other words, a formation that we can call a street emerges. These narrow passages between houses have facilitated people's access from one space to another within the settlement. This can be considered an early example of the street concept we think of in modern cities. The work we are conducting here represents one of the first steps in the understanding of urbanism. We thank our Ministry and our university for their support. However, we believe that if local support increases even more, we will achieve much better results."
"IT HAS A 10,000-YEAR HISTORY" Currently, in the studies we are conducting at Canhasan 3 Mound, there are carbon samples dating back to the 1960s. Our work continues to clarify this dating issue with new samples. According to the information obtained, this place dates back to 7,750 BC; that is, approximately 9,750 years ago, which, if rounded, extends back to about 10,000 years. The Canhasan Mounds are an important settlement for Karaman. We believe it will provide significant contributions in terms of tourism. With the visitor center and excavation house we plan to build in the future, both our work will be facilitated and it will greatly contribute to the tourism of Karaman. I hope we can realize this project quickly in the near future," he said.
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