Çayönü & Hilar Caves
Çayönü Tepesi ve Hilar Mağaraları
A Neolithic settlement about 10,000 years old, one of humanity's earliest farming villages. Nearby, Roman-era tomb chambers are carved into the Hilar cliffs.
Çayönü lies near Ergani and dates to roughly 10200–6500 BCE. Archaeologists have uncovered a complete sequence of the transition from hunting and gathering to settled farming, including some of the earliest domesticated wheat and peas, as well as public buildings with a “House of Skulls” and terrazzo-like ground-stone floors. The site is important in Neolithic archaeology. It has walking paths and information boards and is modest in size, and its main finds are housed in the Diyarbakır Archaeology Museum. Nearby, the Hilar Caves are Roman-era tombs and dwellings carved into limestone cliffs, and they can be visited up close. The site is about 65 km from Diyarbakır and reachable only by private car, and it can be visited on the same day as Eğil.
Opening hours
Open daytime
Nearby sights
- Eğil Castle & Prophets' Tombs
- Diyarbakır City Walls
- Virgin Mary Syriac Orthodox Church
- Cahit Sıtkı Tarancı Museum
- Dengbêj House
- Behram Pasha Mosque
- Cemil Paşa Mansion (City Museum)
- Great Mosque of Diyarbakır