Bleda S. Düring

Winner Dissertation Prize 2006

Dissertation
Constructing Communities. Clustered Neighbourhood Settlements of the Central Anatolian Neolithic ca. 8500-5500 Cal. BC

Supervisor: Prof. dr J.L. Bintliff, Dr D.J.W. Meijer
Nomination: Leiden University, Faculty of Archaeology

Report by the selection committee

This study is about a group of settlements to be dated in the Neolithicum of Central Anatolia. These settlements are characterized by a grouping of living quarters in clusters of 30 to 60 buildings. The buildings were built so close to each other that no room was left for streets. The entrance was presumably via a ladder through the roof. Centrally located houses could only be reached by the roofs of adjacent buildings. The author uses ethno-archaeological and sociological theories in order to find explanations for the organisation and structure of these neolithic societies.