This networked character also has implications for thinking about the transmission of the monumental building tradition.

The appearance of similar T-pillar architecture at multiple sites across the region, connected by a broader shared cultural horizon, suggests that the tradition was transmitted through the social networks connecting PPN communities rather than being reinvented independently at each site.

How exactly this transmission occurred — through the movement of skilled builders, through the sharing of specific knowledge and traditions, or through some combination — is not definitively established, but the regional consistency of the architectural tradition speaks to sustained communication and shared identity across the PPN communities of Upper Mesopotamia.

The Ongoing Research