The Spine of the Network: Göbekli Tepe, the Middle Euphrates Corridor, and Pre-Pottery Neolithic Exchange from the Anatolian Highlands to the Southern Levant

This paper tests whether the Taş Tepeler sites of southeastern Anatolia, including Göbekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe, were isolated ritual phenomena or nodes within an extensive Pre-Pottery Neolithic exchange network. Applying the Constraint-Based Evaluation Framework and Anomalous Convergence Hypothesis methodology (CBEF/ACH — a constraint-based adaptation of competing hypotheses analysis developed in Copas 2026h, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20023197), four competing hypotheses are evaluated against fifteen constraints and nineteen evidence items drawn exclusively from published orthodox sources. The orthodox isolation hypothesis is eliminated with twenty-three inconsistency points, robust under all seven sensitivity tests including an extreme stress test. The surviving hypotheses — regional node network, pilgrimage-driven exchange, and extended corridor — are complementary rather than competing: the network existed, it was driven by prestige goods exchange and pilgrimage, and it constitutes a precursor to the later Ubaid and Uruk trade corridor along the same Euphrates spine. The paper identifies the Middle Euphrates valley as the principal axis of the proposed network, with Taş Tepeler occupying a lateral nodal position rather than a terminus. Eight confirmed Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites along the Tigris corridor substantially resolve the principal constraint deficit. The terrain-inevitable character of the network is demonstrated through contemporary route analysis, hollow ways research, and multi-period route persistence evidence. The assessment generates four testable predictions for future survey and sourcing studies.