The First World Neolithic Congress was held in Şanlıurfa, Turkey, 4–8 November 2024 at Harran University. This landmark event was attended by over 1,500 scholars specializing in all aspects of the Neolithic in different regions across the globe. The conference sessions were organized within the broader grouping of the Neolithic: global perspectives, regional, and recent finds and discoveries. Simultaneous sessions were held in over two-dozen rooms, and it was difficult to choose between so many interesting options.
The conference was bookended with optional excursions to archaeological, cultural, and historical sites, with a a full day of site visits to active excavations in the middle of the conference. Tours were given by the directors, and archaeological sites included: Çakmaktepe, Sayburç, Göbeklitepe, Sefertepe, Karahantepe, and Harbetsuvan. These sites are part of the Şanlıurfa Neolithic Research Project, also known as Taş Tepeler, which is investigating the archaeology, paleoenvironment, cultural heritage management, and ethnoarchaeology of southeastern Anatolia.
A reception was held at the Şanlıurfa Archaeology and Mosaic Museum with access to the incredible collection which features the latest finds, such as the painted boar from Göbeklitepe and to-scale recreations of Pre-Pottery Neolithic architecture, including the famous “T”-shaped pillars. Mehmet Özdoğan was presented with a Festschrift in honor of his contributions to the field.
I presented two papers. The first, “Say ‘Cheese’? Rim-perforated pans and basins of the Aegean Neolithic,” was part of the Southeast Europe/Europe and Eastern Europe, Regional Session 14. This session, titled Regional and Inter-Regional Palimpsests of Neolithization Processes: Southeastern Europe, was organized by M. Budja, D. Borić, Z. Hofmanová, and M. Brami. This talk was a draft of a paper that I am working on with other colleagues on the typology, function, and date of so-called “cheese-pots.”
The second paper I presented, “Island Neolithic of the Aegean Sea,” was part of the Southeast Europe/Europe and Eastern Europe Regional Session 15. This session was titled Neolithic of the Aegean and Beyond: Supra-Regional Networks and Local Communities, organized by A. Reingruber, Z. Derin, E. Özdoğan. The session reassessed the conventional dating and traditional narratives based on that dating.
It was a life-changing experience to finally visit the places that first fascinated me as an undergraduate at Cornell University in a course with Peter Ian Kuniholm, to meet in person all the specialists whose work has inspired me over the years, as well as to meet the new generation of students and young scholars.