Cayönü is a neolithic settlement in eastern Turkey. It is located 40 km NW of Diyabarkir, at the foot of the Taurus mountains. It lies near the Bogazcay, a tributary of the upper Tigris and the
Bestakot, an intermittent stream.
Excavations, first under the direction of Robert Braidwood took place between 1964-1978 and 1985-1991.
The Settlement covers the periods of PPNA, PPNB, and the pottery neolithic.
The stratigraphy is divided into the following subphases according to the dominant architecture:
-round, PPNA
-grill , PPNA
-channeled, Early PPNB
-cobble paved, Middle PPNB
-cell, Late PPNB
-large room, final PPNB
Cayönü is probably the place where the pig (Sus scrova) was first domesticated. The wild fauna includes wild boar, wild sheep, wild goat and cervids. The neolithic environment included marshes and swamps near the Bogazcay, open wood, patches of steppe and almond-pistachio forest-steppe to the south.