Description : Boncuklu, dating from 10,300 to 9,500 years ago, was a small settlement near to the modern-day city of Konya. Its inhabitants were originally foragers relying on wild nuts and fruits, who began cultivating barley, emmer wheat and legumes . Boncuklu is characterised by oval, mud-brick buildings with distinctive painted red floors, interspersed with wide open areas. Each building could have housed two adults and several children, and so were likely family homes . These dwellings had the distinguishing feature of being divided into a ‘kitchen’ area – a sunken, uneven area with a hearth, typically in the northwest of the house – and a cleaner living and sleeping space . Burials occurred under the floors of houses, as well as under the open spaces between homes. Recently, evidence of early rudimentary pottery has been discovered at Boncuklu, despite the fact that it was occupied during the aceramic Neolithic era. This is possibly the earliest pottery found in West Asia, and included vessels and figurines .
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