The “Aegean Settlement Pattern” in Coastal Western Anatolia From the Neolithic Age to the End of the 3rd Millennium Bc

Extending over a wide geographical area Anatolia has a rich architectural diversity. The Western Anatolia Region isdivided into two sub-regions as Coastal Western Anatolia and Inland Western Anatolia. Even though similar buildingtechniques and similar materials were used in both sub-regions, the settlement patterns differ from each other distinctively.While the buildings open onto streets and alleys in Coastal Western Anatolia, the structures leant on thedefense system open onto a courtyard in the center of the settlement in Inland Western Anatolia. The structures openingonto streets and alleys in Coastal Western Anatolia starting from the Neolithic Age had turned into an analogoussettlement pattern in Coastal Western Anatolia, the Eastern Aegean Islands, the Sporades, the Cyclades, and Crete bythe 3rd millennium BC. When especially the interregional trade and cultural relations in the 3rd millennium BC areconsidered, it is seen that an architectural idea was culturally formed in the area surrounded by the Aegean Sea. Thisarchitectural planning system plays an important role in understanding the social structures, organizational forms,hierarchical structures of the societies and the interrelations with the neighboring cultural regions.