Çayönü Tepesi is a Neolithic settlement in southeastern Turkey which prospered from circa 8,630 to 6,800 BC.

It lies near the Boğazçay, a tributary of the upper Tigris River and the Bestakot, an intermittent stream.

The stratigraphy is divided into the following subphases according to the dominant architecture:[5] An analysis of blood found at the site suggested that human sacrifice occurred there.

Domestic animals appear in the final aspects of Phase I (preceramic); prior to that, the bones of wild game are relatively abundant.

[8] Arbuckle and Kassebaum outline several stages of cattle management at Cayonu, and they present a rather complicated picture.