9,000-year-old mining workshop found in Diyarbakır

DİYARBAKIR

Eighteen malachite pieces were found at the center of the workshop, while another 24-25 samples were recovered in and around the structure.

Archaeologists have uncovered a roughly 5-square-meter mining workshop dating to 6900-6800 B.C. at Çayönü Hill, a prehistoric settlement in southeastern Türkiye that provides important evidence of the transition to settled life and early agriculture.

Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said on Sept. 1 that the discovery in the Ergani district of the eastern province of Diyarbakır included raw and semi-processed malachite, processed malachite pieces, copper beads and other copper objects, as well as a stone-paved working area.

The discovery adds to evidence that people at Çayönü were working with copper and malachite as early as 9100 B.C., suggesting that the settlement had a long tradition of mineral processing and early metalworking.

Çayönü, located in the foothills of the Taurus Mountains, is one of the key archaeological sites for understanding the Neolithic period, when communities in the region increasingly adopted settled lifestyles, agriculture and specialized forms of production.

The excavation team, led by Savaş Sarıaltun of Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, found the workshop in the western part of the settlement.

At least six postholes were identified around the roughly 5-square-meter area, while a stone-paved working surface was found at its center. The arrangement suggests the area may have been covered by a shade structure and deliberately organized for production activities.

Eighteen malachite pieces were found at the center of the workshop, with another 24-25 malachite samples recovered in and around the structure. The number of malachite and copper finds from the wider working area has reached about 42.

The finds include raw malachite, material that had been partly processed and finished pieces, as well as copper beads and other copper objects.

The combination of raw material and objects at different stages of production in the same area provides evidence that processing and manufacturing activities took place at the site rather than the materials simply being brought there as finished products.

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.