Çayönü, important site du 8ème millénaire de notre ère, en Turquie du sud-est, a été la scène d'une intense activité archéologique au cours des 8 dernières années. Cet article se livre à un rapide survol des dernières découvertes, et s'attarde plus spécialement sur la séquence archéologique. L'un des thèmes majeurs dont l'on débattra est la continuité dans l'occupation, comme en témoigne l'évolution progressive des types de constructions, du plan circulaire au «grill-plan», puis au plan cellulaire. L'on examinera aussi quelques modèles sociaux.

Many burned skeletal remains have been found in the Çayönü Skull Building. The upper layer yielded 71 skulls and some post-cranial remains which might have been burned during the intentional burning of the building. In the earlier layer BM la, there were also many burned human remains. A burned bone deposit from this layer was studied using taphonomic approach so as to reconstruct the burial phases. It appears that the bones were selected prior to their deposit in the pit ; they were then broken in situ by natural process and finally burned may be due to the burning of the building. Although burned human bones are frequently uncovered at Near Eastern Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic sites, a relation with mortuary practices can rarely be established. The earliest cremations date back to the end of the Neolithic period (Halaf culture) but burned human bones have been uncovered from a number of older sites. Most of them were probably accidentally burned. At a few sites (Kebara, Jerf el Ahmar, Dja' de el Mughara, Aşikh, Nahal Hemar), the burning of the human remains might be connected to mortuary practices. It appears that the practice of plastering skulls during the PPNB period is the only mortuary practice involving fire with certainty, even if indirectly.