Abstract

Archaeological excavations at fourth millennium BCE Çadır Höyük in central Turkey offer the opportunity to examine architectural design and planning in the context of social impacts resulting from cultural change. Initially, kin-related groups occupied contiguous architectural compounds organized around open courtyards and expedient passages. These compounds eventually separated into individual houses, with the apparent control of non-resident labor within house courtyards, and the construction of semi-monumental architecture. Late in the millennium residents built defensive walls and retreated into the interior of the settlement. However, a distinct persistence of social memory preserved the relationship of public and private space by continuing to respect the wall-based boundaries set by the earliest architecture. While Çadır’s architectural footprint underwent elaborate reorganization reflecting economic and political change, the division and use of public and private space remained consistent. Çadır’s prehistoric architecture tells the tale of residents responding to major social change, while at the same time preserving the spatial organization of their settlement through seven centuries.