ISTANBUL, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- As dawn breaks over the Ulucak Mound in western Türkiye, the light reveals the traces of an early craft tradition. Among circular hearths, clay loaves and bone tools, archaeologists said they have found evidence of a major turning point in human history: a shift from basic survival to specialized production.
Earlier in November, researchers announced the discovery of an 8,000-year-old pottery workshop at the site. They said it is the earliest physical proof of organized ceramic production in Anatolia and challenges long-held ideas about how manufacturing began in the region.
But the findings are raising broader questions as well. They are reshaping theories about how early societies divided work by gender.
For years, many anthropologists argued that as communities became more complex, and as household crafts gave way to organized workshops, women lost influence and skilled trades became dominated by men. The discoveries at Ulucak suggest that in Neolithic Anatolia this divide was not so clear.
Ozlem Cevik, excavation director from Thrace University, said the 1,500-square-meter space is one of the oldest known workshops in the Near East.
Researchers have long believed that pottery became specialized around 6000 B.C., based on standardized clay mixtures. But until now, no direct evidence of such workshops had been found in the area stretching from northern Mesopotamia to Greece.
"The evidence is unmistakable," Cevik said, noting that the space was clearly a professional workshop, not a household area. It contains flat circular plates used as early rotating bases for shaping clay, bone spatulas for smoothing surfaces, and traces of red pigment and stone molds.
Forensic analysis has added a personal touch to the discovery. Fingerprints preserved in the fired clay belong to both men and women, directly challenging the idea that specialist pottery production was divided by gender.
"Handmade ceramics are usually linked to women, while wheel-made ceramics of the 4th millennium B.C. are associated with men," Cevik said. "But the Ulucak workshop shows there was no gender separation."
Evidence from a later period supports this broader view of women's roles. At nearby Yassitepe, a 5,000-year-old site where early villages had grown into cities, the clues shift from fingerprints to symbolism.
Zafer Derin, excavation director at Ege University, said the imagery on Yassitepe pottery challenges the idea that women's status declined as cities emerged. Large storage jars that held grain and liquids essential to the urban economy were often decorated with female motifs. Some jars served as burial containers, their forms symbolizing rebirth. Raised rings on others appear to reference female features, linking women with fertility and agricultural plenty.
While this does not prove who made the vessels, Derin noted that male-associated items tended to be smaller drinking cups. The contrast suggests that even as society urbanized, the female form remained the key symbol of storage, abundance, and daily survival.
Together, the findings at Ulucak and Yassitepe paint a more complex picture of early Anatolian life. From the fingerprints at the earlier site to the symbolic imagery at the later one, the evidence suggests that women played central roles in skilled production and spiritual life far longer than previously believed. ■
