The 2026 excavation season has also produced new evidence of cultural continuity at Çayönü.
Archaeologists working in the western area found high-quality pottery associated with the early stages of the Pottery Neolithic and the Proto-Hassuna culture.
The finds are provisionally dated to about 6800-6600 B.C. Their chronology will be refined through ongoing radiocarbon and other archaeometric analyses.
The mining workshop is considered one of the most significant discoveries of this year's excavation season because its architecture can be identified as a dedicated production area, while raw materials and products at different stages of manufacture were found together, and the workshop could be documented as a complete unit.
