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Urban historical environments are one of the most prominent and effective ones of some components to whom citizens can consubstantiate themselves to cities, and give identity to them and time perspective to living spaces of the cities. These areas are not only the histories of a society but also its memory, culture and even future. Therefore, the conservation of urban protected areas is not just a responsibility for local people living in these areas also a responsibility for all society. Conserving and ensuring sustainability of these areas is just possible with a process on which area participants involve. In order for the area shareholders to play an effective role in this process, they should be aware of the benefit of the area for them. It is continuously emphasized in the studies that education is important in providing this awareness. In the scope of this study, it is tried to be identified how the education levels of people who live in and around Kastamonu Protected area, who visit and administrate Kastamonu affects the perspective of the protection of this area. It is identified that the view that the protection of the area negatively affects the life of the shareholders is inversely related to the education level by evaluating 376 questionnaire studies with regression analysis. It is considered that the perception that the increase in education level positively affect the life conditions of protected areas, and protecting these kinds of areas gain favor to all shareholders and become easier and more sustainable. [This study was presented as oral presentation in The International Conference of Modern Education Studies. Note: The page range (1-11) shown on the PDF is incorrect. The correct page range for this article is p97-107.]

Over the last twenty years, due to the growing concern with the human-environment relationship in the contemporary world as well as in the study of the ancient world, Resilience Theory (RT) has been adopted and adapted from the study of ecosystems to the study of stress dynamics within socio-political systems. The adaptation is indebted to the seminal work of Holling and Gunderson (2002. "Resilience and Adaptive Cycles." In Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Systems, edited by L. H. Gunderson, and C. S. Holling, 25–62. Washington, DC: Island Press), reviewed recently for application in archaeology in a volume edited by Faulseit (2016b. "Collapse, Resilience, and Transformation in Complex Societies: Modeling Trends and Understanding Diversity." In Beyond Collapse: Archaeological Perspectives on Resilience, Revitalization, and Transformation in Complex Societies, edited by R. K. Faulseit, 3–26. Visiting Scholar Conference Volumes. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press). While social scientists, anthropologists and archaeologists interested in system theories have welcomed this new interpretative tool for the study of rapid change in socio-political systems, RT has been considered unsatisfactory and substantially rejected by several scholars in the humanities because of the lack of freedom and intention assigned to human actors. After a short presentation of these premises, the paper seeks to affirm a different model for a social cycle of formation-growth-maturity-release, in which resilience is only one among a number of possible outcomes of the release phase, depending on the collective/political choice/orientation of a society. Put simply, the new model suggests reorganization and transformation as two alternative outcomes alternative to resilience. The model is applied to the case study of the Late Bronze Age (LBA) – Early Iron Age (EIA) transition in Anatolia and north Syria, corresponding to the time of the fall and aftermath of the Hittite empire. It will be shown that the adoption of the model offers a productive interpretive key to understand different outcomes in the new fragmented reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has identified Northwest Turkey as a key region for the development of dairying in the seventh millennium BCE, yet little is known about how this practice began or evolved there. This research studies Barcın Höyük, a site located in Bursa's Yenişehir Valley, which ranges chronologically from 6600 BCE, when the first evidence of settled life appears in the Marmara Region, to 6000 BCE, when Neolithic habitation at the site ceases. Using pottery sherds diagnostic by vessel category and type, this paper aims at identifying which ones may have been primarily used to store, process, or consume dairy products. Organic residue analysis of selected samples helped address the process of adoption and intensification of milk processing in this region over time. The lipid residue data discussed in this paper derive from 143 isotopic results subsampled from 173 organic residues obtained from 805 Neolithic potsherds and suggest that bowls and four-lugged pots may have been preferred containers for processing milk. The discovery of abundant milk residues even among the earliest ceramics indicates that the pioneer farmers arrived in the region already with the knowhow of dairying and milk processing. In fact, these skills and the reliance on secondary products may have given them one of the necessary tools to successfully venture into the unfarmed lands of Northwest Anatolia in the first place., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Özbal et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

This paper presents a review of recent archaeological work in Ionia and Caria, located in southwest Anatolia. In this paper we focus on archaeological research conducted in the past decade and we present a synthesis of recent discoveries and published research. Southwest Anatolia is a region where the earliest archaeological work dates back to the 19th century. However, there are research areas that have been long neglected, and archaeological work has been stifled until recent decades. As a result, the last decade of research has seen significant transformations in approaches and methodologies, with new research agendas to report. Owing to their presentation in historical accounts, Ionia has been perceived as more embedded within the world of Greek archaeology, whereas Caria, viewed from an Atheno-centric perspective, has been regarded as peripheral and provincial. Therefore, it is interesting to present a synthesis of archaeological research for both regions together. It is promising that archaeological practice in both regions has begun to embrace a longue dureé approach and has shifted research focus from major urban centres and monuments to new research foci by making use of interdisciplinary research, including rural landscapes, domestic space, cultural identities, and daily practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The medieval Turks of the eastern Asian steppe are known for funerary finds exalting horsemanship and military heroism that thrived on intertribal warfare. Existing bodies of research on various categories of objects-which include architecture, stelae, grave goods and inhumations-are in depth but highly regionalized. As a result, our understanding of the archaeological culture of the Turks on a spatio-temporal scale commensurate with territorial shifts in their political dominion throughout the period of the Turk khaganates (mid-6th to mid-8th centuries CE) remains disjunct. The present paper addresses this problem of disparate data. We present a synthesis of the archaeological research of medieval Turks spanning Mongolia, southern Siberia, and Xinjiang in view of results of the excavation of medieval burials at Tunnug 1 in Tuva Republic-where Turkic remains are dispersed and not easily distinguishable from other funerary cultures of connecting time periods. We argue that Turkic funerary culture can be better characterized as polymorphic-the presence of different regional amalgams of burial traditions. The horse-and-human burials and commemorative ogradka known to be quintessentially Turkic are but one of the more dominant amalgams. This pattern of differential practices is congruent with the history of medieval Turks evolving as peoples of mixed lineages and political groupings, rather than people of a unitary culture., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

This paper develops a regional dataset of change at 381 settlements for Lycia-Pamphylia in southwest Anatolia (Turkey) from volume 8 of the Tabula Imperii Byzantini-a compilation of historical toponyms and archaeological evidence. This region is rich in archaeological remains and high-quality paleo-climatic and -environmental archives. Our archaeological synthesis enables direct comparison of these datasets to discuss current hypotheses of climate impacts on historical societies. A Roman Climatic Optimum, characterized by warmer and wetter conditions, facilitating Roman expansion in the 1st-2nd centuries CE cannot be supported here, as Early Byzantine settlement did not benefit from enhanced precipitation in the 4th-6th centuries CE as often supposed. However, widespread settlement decline in a period with challenging archaeological chronologies (c. 550-650 CE) was likely caused by a "perfect storm" of environmental, climatic, seismic, pathogenic and socio-economic factors, though a shift to drier conditions from c. 460 CE appears to have preceded other factors by at least a century., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Describes a doctoral student's experiences on a trip to Turkey. Discusses the Southeast Anatolia Project involving dam building on the headwaters of the Euphrates to provide electricity and irrigation. Suggests the experience as an example demonstration of complexities of human and environmental interaction and other themes of geography. (DK)

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This article presents a unique pyramidal object uncovered during a recent archaeological site survey conducted in the Elmalı Basin (Antalya, Turkey) at the site of Kocapınar Höyük. The execution of its technical features is apparent in its precise construction in truncated pyramidal form, indicating a conscious effort to ensure its functional efficacy. The decorative elements, on the other hand, consist of twenty-four motifs carved on four facets and base that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also symbolically meaningful. Allthough the definitive identification of its function and purpose poses a challenge, the comparative analyses establish a potential association between the Kocapınar pyramidoid and the decorated multifaceted pyramidal seals/seal-amulets, which had their heyday during the Late Bronze Age. In this regard, the present paper makes a critical contribution to the archaeology of pre-classical Lycia in several ways. Firstly, it introduces a previously unknown mound-type settlement, providing new insights into the archaeological landscape of second-millennium Lycia. Moreover, the discovery of a multifaceted pyramidoid adds to the growing corpus of Late Bronze Age material evidence, emphasising the importance of the Elmalı Basin and raising the possibility of interactions between coastal and highland sites during the period in question for future research. Additionally, this unusual find offers valuable supplementary support to existing explanations, highlighting that the main challenge in understanding pre-classical habitations in this region is not the scarcity of archaeological materials, but rather the absence of rigorous systematic investigations. Consequently, the Kocapınar pyramidoid casts doubt on the prevailing assumptions that the Lukka Land(s) was desolate or inhabited by primitive nomadic tribes before the Lycians of the 1st millennium BC. and offers complementary material evidence that provides broader perspectives on the long-term history of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The origins of agriculture in Southwest Asia over 10,000 years ago and its subsequent spread into Europe during the Neolithic have been the focus of much archaeological research over the past several decades. Increasingly more sophisticated analytical techniques have allowed for better understanding of the complex interactions that occurred amongst humans, animals, and their environments during this transition. The Aegean Islands are critically situated where Anatolia and the mainland Greece meet, making the region pivotal for understanding the movement of the Neolithic into Europe. Located on the largest Turkish Aegean island of Gökçeada, the site of Uğurlu Höyük dates to the early Neolithic and has been the subject of ongoing excavations and research integrating a rigorous dating program with comprehensive zooarchaeological research. This paper focuses on the combination of bone collagen and tooth enamel stable isotope data with existing archaeological data to develop a fine-resolution picture of the spread of the Neolithic, particularly the importation and management of domestic fauna on Gökçeada, with broader relevance for understanding Aegean-Anatolian interactions. The stable isotope values from the fauna at Uğurlu have been used for both diachronic intrasite analyses and intersite comparisons between contemporaneous mainland sites. Integrating stable isotope and zooarchaeological datasets makes Uğurlu one of the first island sites to provide a comprehensive understanding of the geographic origin of Neolithic livestock populations and the timing of their spread from Anatolia into Europe during the process of Neolithization., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Although the ultimate aim of the dominant heritage discourse and practice is to preserve culture in a way that contributes to peace and human prosperity, its paradoxical outcome has been to erase the variety of ways that people can relate to the past and to normalize ethnic and religious conflicts as well as globally deepening inequalities of class, race and gender. In this context, searching for civilization in the past has become an increasingly irrational activity, specifically in geopolitically important zones such as the Middle East and Turkey, where millions of immigrants, along with numerous minorities and economically impoverished populations, are currently denied access to the living standards of modern civilization. This paper aims to highlight these paradoxes inherent in the dominant heritage discourse and practice through the example of a recent heritage awareness-raising and capacity-building project, Safeguarding Archaeological Assets of Turkey (SARAT). Furthermore, based on two ethnographic case studies of treasure hunting from Turkey and Greece, it is also argued that the past is embodied in our questions of who we are and in our difficulties of belonging in today's social landscape. Heritage, therefore, will continue to be in conflict and danger, unless people come to understand that they relate to the past in a variety of ways as regards the very core of the thick history of world politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the historical and archaeological evidence for ‘valuables’ passing through Suakin, as part of the Red Sea-Indian Ocean trade. The main locations on Suakin Island Town investigated 2002-2013 are briefly described. Interviews show that at Suakin, in the later 19th century/early 20th century, imported valuables included fabrics from Europe, perfume oils, cloths and wooden chests from India; porcelain from China and Turkey; rugs from Persia/Iran and glass from Italy. Interviews and early modern European accounts indicate the range of products from the hinterland, such as cotton, gold, ivory, ostrich feathers, slaves, horses, gum arabic, ebony, musk, tobacco, rubber and coffee. Local fishermen supplied fish, shells, pearls and mother-of-pearl. The archaeological evidence indicates pottery and porcelain from the Arabian Peninsula, south-west Asia, south Asia, China and south-east Asia, while identifications of wood samples indicates teak from south and south-east Asia. A combination of archaeological, historical and ethnographic evidence is needed to build up a picture of the trade in valuables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of the Faculty of Letters / Trakya Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi is the property of Trakya University, Faculty of Letters and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of World Prehistory is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

From 1936–39 and 1946–49 Sir Charles Leonard Woolley excavated the site of Tell Atchana/ancient Alalakh in southern Turkey on behalf of the British Museum. The statue of King Idrimi, found in 1939, became one of the British Museum’s many prized objects and is on display to this day. At the close of the excavation season in June 1939 the statue became the subject of a dispute between Woolley and the government of the Hatay State, solved only after the intervention of the British Consul of Aleppo, the British Ambassador at Ankara and the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This paper traces the statue’s journey from its discovery to the British Museum and back to the New Hatay Archaeological Museum in the form of a hologram. Abbreviations:TNA: The National Archives, London; BMCE: British Museum Central Archives [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Fragments of possible fired clay found at Boncuklu Höyük, central Turkey, appear to derive from rudimentary vessels, despite the later ninth- and early eighth-millennium cal. BC and thus 'Aceramic' dates for the site. This paper will examine the evidence for such fired clay vessels at Boncuklu and consider their implications as examples of some of the earliest pottery in Anatolia. The discussion will examine contextual evidence for the role of these fragments and consider their relative rarity at the site and the implications for the marked widespread adoption of pottery in southwest Asia c. 7000-6700 cal. BC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores ephemeral landscapes of smell using datasets from ethnographic fieldwork, archaeological survey, and sediment geochemistry in western Anatolia. Our analysis brings together regional datasets from the late Ottoman period to the present to understand the places that mark the transition from the agropastoral migratory lifeways of Yörük tribes to settled communities. We explore one Yörük-legacy (Tekeli tribe) compound to understand 'settled' lifeways over three generations, and how study of these legacy traditions may be a valuable contribution to experimental archaeology. Our entry into this discussion is a study of food - its preparation, storage, and consumption - and its associated olfactory landscapes. While ethnography helps determine how aromas define active and contemporary spaces and spheres of intimacy, sediment geochemistry offers a method for investigating archaeologies of aroma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Electronic Turkish Studies is the property of Electronic Turkish Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Albert von Le Coq's archaeological exploits are well known from Peter Hopkirk's bookForeign Devils on the Silk Road. His name is not unknown among local people in Xinjiang (both Han Chinese and Uyghur) as one of those Europeans who “plundered” the region's heritage. One of a handful of like-minded and determined scholars who took part in the international race to appropriate the ancient treasures of this region, Le Coq's interests went beyond pre-Islamic archaeology and art history. He displayed more curiosity in contemporary society and culture than most other traveller-scholars of his time. His non-archaeological publications reveal his keen interest in the ethnography of the Turkic-speaking Muslim population, and his popular writings combine highly specialised information about the cultural and material history of the region with entertaining episodes from his personal adventures. Using diverse theoretical frameworks such as those advanced by Mary Louise Pratt, Jürgen Osterhammel and others, this paper scrutinises Le Coq's output as a travel writer. It considers to what extent his travel and ethnographic publications fit contemporary paradigms of imperial travel writing, while drawing attention to those features which mark them out as unique. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The use of digital technologies in archaeological research has become considerably more widespread in recent years. While the earliest records of the use of electronic data in archaeology date from the 1950 and 1960s, the field has kept growing with the increasing interest in digital tools such as digital photography, three-dimensional imaging, GIS, virtual and artificial reality applications, CAD and facial reconstruction. Such digitization practices are used frequently for documenting, record keeping, and preserving and representing the data recovered from archaeological contexts, and are linked to other fields, such as cultural heritage studies and museology. Facial reconstruction is used to recreate the faces of individual from the past using their skeletal remains. It has been practiced for different reasons in the fields of forensics, anthropology, and archaeology. This study focuses on the facial reconstruction of a skull unearthed from Juliopolis. The reason for choosing this skull in this study is that it is the first and only known deformed skull dated to the Roman period in Anatolia. For the facial reconstruction application, authors created a 3D modelling of the skull by photogrammetry. Then, the missing parts of the skull are completed using the virtual donor library. The results are presented in different forms, as grayscale, in colour with eyes closed or open. Also, the type of deformation is demonstrated in the skull. This study adopts a digital process and is more strongly linked to data interpolation related to the external surface of the face. The prominent advantage of the methodology is being strongly supported by information obtained from computed tomography (CT) scans of living individuals, leaving a little room for the artistic issue in relation to the basic aspect resulting from the interpolation of data. The benefit of facial reconstruction is especially important since it is a way of preserving and presenting archaeological and anthropological data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores Turkey’s cultural heritage system from the perspective of the ‘Heritage Chain’, which sees the heritage sector as an interconnected series of relationships and activities including protection and conservation, archaeological activity, research and museum presentation. By reviewing quantitative data along each step of the chain, we construct a holistic perspective that shows interrelationships between activities and illustrates which parts of the system are underdeveloped. By demonstrating the effects of Turkey’s distinct combination of bureaucratic fragmentation and centralisation on professional practice among conservators, archaeologists and museums, we argue for increased attention to administrative issues within heritage studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes results from excavations at Uçağizli Cave (Hatay, Turkey) between 1999 and 2002 and 2005. This collapsed karstic chamber contains a sequence of early Upper Paleolithic deposits that span an interval between roughly 29,000 and 41,000 (uncalibrated) radiocarbon years BP. Lithic assemblages can be assigned to two major chronostratigraphic units. The earliest assemblages correspond with the Initial Upper Paleolithic, whereas the most recent ones fit within the definition of the Ahmarian. Substantial assemblages of stone tools, vertebrate faunal remains, ornaments, osseous artifacts, and other cultural materials provide an unusually varied picture of human behavior during the earliest phases of the Upper Paleolithic in the northern Levant. The sequence at Uçağizli Cave documents the technological transition between Initial Upper Paleolithic and Ahmarian, with a high degree of continuity in foraging and technological activities. The sequence also documents major shifts in occupational intensity and mobility.

In the early seventh millennium BC an expansion of the Neolithic economy and sedentism took place in Asia Minor. This occurred nearly two millennia after the emergence of Neolithic societies in southern central Anatolia, which raises the question of how this expansion occurred, and why it came about at this particular moment. This paper considers various elements that might have played a role in this expansion episode, such as climate change, demography, and agricultural and social changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Potters' marks are one of the major topics deliberated by the scholars in the Near Eastern archaeology. There are some explanations about the meaning of these marks which are still under discussion. The excavations in the Urartian sites demonstrate that the application of pot marks were taken place in the Urartian culture. In this paper, I will debate the meaning of the pot marks in Urartu mainly focusing on the archaeological results from Ayanis Fortress in Eastern Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mound of Tarsus-Gözlükule is located in the Cilician Plain in southern Turkey at the crossroads of important trade routes tying the central Anatolian Plateau to the Mediterranean and Syro-Anatolian worlds. This paper presents a technological assessment of two different pottery production processes at Tarsus-Gözlükule during the Early Bronze Age--namely, the Light Clay and the Red Gritty Ware types. The Red Gritty Ware appears abruptly at the beginning of the Early Bronze Age, reaches high levels of distribution within the settlement, and remains a distinct production process from the other dominant ware type, the Light Clay Ware, for the duration of the third millennium B.C. Mineralogical, morphological, and chemical analyses from selected Early Bronze Age pottery samples are incorporated into more traditional stylistic analysis to define the technological framework of each production process and to investigate their interaction with the economic and social structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The East Mediterranean Radiocarbon (Inter-)Comparison Project (EMRCP) has measured time series of radiocarbon ages for known age samples of German oak (GeO) and for samples from the near-absolutely placed Gordion juniper dendrochronology from central Anatolia. In this paper, we review the data for the calendar years from 1730 to 1480 , relevant in particular to controversy and debate concerning the absolute date of the Minoan eruption of the Santorini (Thera) volcano. We consider the issue of the radiocarbon (C) dating of the Santorini eruption, and the problem of how this relates to the archaeological record and historical chronology of Egypt in light of the C data. We find that these C data, and other recent radiocarbon work, provide good grounds to be confident in the possibility of a robust radiocarbon-based chronology for the eastern Mediterranean. In contrast, as the radiocarbon case becomes stronger, questions must be asked about some archaeological dating: in particular, at the site of Tell el-Dab'a in the Nile Delta of Egypt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper evidences the importance of old aerial and satellite photos of ancient topography studies, with examples concerning archaeological and geo-archaeological research conducted in Italy and Turkey, during a cooperation between the Ancient Topography, Archaeology and Remote Sensing Laboratory (AnTAReS Lab) of the Institute for Archaeological and Monumental Heritage of the Italian National Research Council (IBAM-CNR) and the Ancient Topography and Photogrammetry Laboratory (LabTAF) of Salento University. The historical aerial photos, i.e. those before the big transformations of the 1950's and 1960's, and the space photos taken in the 1960's and 1970's, particularly useful for the Near East, represent a fundamental tool for the study of the territory. In many cases, in fact, they document landscapes that have been modified by urbanization, building of large infrastructures, transformations in the land use and diffusion of mechanized agricultural methods. Only through the detailed analysis of these aerial and space photos it is possible to recover a fundamental documentation concerning the existence, the location and the layout of archaeological evidence and paleo-environmental elements otherwise lost; so, their use during research is very important for the reconstruction of the ancient topography of urban and territorial contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Anatolian Studies (British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara) is the property of British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper investigates the change of discourse related to the inculcation of national pride through archaeology in the first 15 years of the Turkish Republic. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, archaeological knowledge was used by Turkish scholars in the propagation of national identity and pride by illustrating that Turks were an ancient people with a long and remarkable past. After the commencement of the first Turkish excavations in 1934, archaeology assumed a different role. More than the data produced, the practice of archaeology itself became a source of national pride because it was an important indicator that Turkey was a modern country that could contribute to international scholarship. This change of discourse can be followed in archaeological field reports and in the papers presented at the first two meetings of the Turkish Historical Society in 1932 and 1937. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological data from the highlands of Eastern Turkey unfortunately does not provide tangible evidence for the transformation of the earliest village communities into the institutional societies of the Urartian State period. The first cities, advanced agricultural activities, mass production and developed commercial activities, however, started to appear after the establishment of the Urartian State, as a result of central authority and institutionalization. There is a sharp difference between the pre-Urartian and Urartian State periods, which makes it difficult to understand the stages of the state transformation process. This article discusses political and social changes and stages of state formation through the archaeological data, chronologically. The emergence of the first elites in the Eastern Anatolian plateaus goes back to the Middle Bronze Age with the appearance of the kurgan burials, which is mostly observed in Northeastern Anatolia. After a while, another organizational process started in the Van Lake Basin during the Late Bronze-Early Iron Age, which is characterized by the construction of fortresses and cemeteries including bronze and iron weapons. This means the state formation in the region and the establishment of the Urartian State rises from the organizational process of the semi-nomadic tribes dealing with animal husbandry during the Early Iron Age, rather than farmer societies engaged in agriculture. In other words, the state formation in the Eastern Anatolian highlands did not develop from the agricultural model of “village, city and state”. Rather, it is observed in the form of “village, state and city”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeologists have adopted the Gini coefficient to evaluate unequal accumulations of material, supporting narratives modelled on modern inequality discourse. Proxies are defined for wealth and the household, to render 21st century-style economic tensions perceptible in the past. This 'property paradigm' treats material culture as a generic rather than substantive factor in unequal pasts. We question this framing while suggesting that the Gini coefficient can prompt a deeper exploration of value. Our study grows from multi-material evaluation of inequality at Çatalhöyük, Turkey. Here we use the Gini coefficient to scrutinise distributions of burial practices among houses. To the expectations of the property paradigm, the result is unintuitive – becoming slightly more equal despite rising social complexity. We explore possible explanations for this result, each pointing to a more substantive link between past futures and differentiated lives as a framework for archaeologies of inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the archaeological heritage and development projects in Turkey. He mentions the collection of archaeological objects in Istanbul Archaeological Museum and notes that it originates from the Byzantine and Ottoman periods. The rescue operation during the Zeugma Event is also tackled.

The Nabataean period (c. 312 BC-AD 106) stands out as a period of prosperity, expansion, cultural growth and a relative political unity. It is clear that the Nabataean commercial activities as well as their involvement in the lucrative trade of aromatics had been the major acknowledged influence on the Nabataean urban settlements, economic development and architectural renaissance. This paper focuses on the international Nabataean relations with the west and their influences on the Nabataean cultural achievements. The specific question of this work investigates the influence of international maritime and long distance trade as well as the influence of Asia Minor on the Nabataean culture. It discusses the south-western Asia Minor archaeological evidence uncovered in Nabataea. Attention focuses on the nature and extent of the Nabataean material remains found in the Mediterranean and south west Anatolia and discusses the south-western Anatolian influence on the cultural achievements of the Nabataeans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trephination is known as one of the oldest forms of brain surgery. It has been identified in the remains from many archaeological sites from the Old and New continents. Anatolia also has several historical stratigraphy and trephination cases that have been described from various time spans and from different locations. Anthropological studies on Anatolian skeletal remains determined that trephination had been practised from Neolithic times to the period of the Ottoman Empire. This paper focuses on one of the ancient brain drilling surgical methods that was discovered on a skull at Acemhöyük, Aksaray-Turkey the site corresponds directly to the Old Assyrian Colony Period in Central Anatolia. Surgery had been performed on the left lambdoid suture of a middle aged female individual. During the first step in macroscopic analysis no significant evidence of healing was observed. However, radiological observation demonstrated that the individual did, indeed, survive for a certain time after the drilling surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How communities reorganize after collapse is drawing increasing attention across a wide spectrum of disciplines. Iron Age Boğazköy provides an archaeological case study of urban and political regeneration after the widespread collapse of eastern Mediterranean Late Bronze Age empires in the early twelfth century BC. Recent work at Boğazköy has significantly expanded our understanding of long-term occupation in north central Anatolia. This work counters previous suggestions that Boğazköy was abandoned after the collapse of the Hittite Empire during the Early Iron Age. In this paper, we focus on the Iron Age occupations at the site to show how growth in the scale and complexity of ceramic production and trade during this period provides another line of evidence for economic and political re-emergence. Based on the increasing diversity of non-local ceramics and ceramic emulations during the Iron Age, we suggest that only in the Late Iron Age, 500–700 years after Hittite collapse, did Boğazköy re-emerge as a significant polity in central Anatolia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Anatolian Studies (British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara) is the property of British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract: The ruins of Hierapolis are located a few kilometres North of Laodicea in the Lycus Valley (western Turkey). This area is characterised by a large geothermic field that produces several hot water springs along tectonic structures (fractures and faults). Inside Hierapolis is the Temple of Apollo, the principal deity of the city. While the foundations of this temple go back to late Hellenistic times, the present remains of the upper structure are from the 3rd century AD. Next to it there is an underground chamber (called the Plutonion) from which poisonous gases emerge. This paper presents the results of a geophysical survey carried out to explore firstly the buried cavities or structures beneath the Temple of Apollo, knowledge of which is important to understand whether the Plutonion could be entered from the inside of the temple for completing the sacrifices; secondly to contribute to the ongoing evaluation of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) as tools for research into subsurface archaeological features (voids, walls, etc.). Two-dimensional ERT imaging was used to detect the presence of an active normal fault passing under the Temple of Apollo, as shown by geological, geomorphological and archaeoseismological observations. The resistivity profiles reveal the presence of conductive material (clay) covering the archaeological structures. The presence of active normal faults is indicated by the displacement of the bedrock and the conductive material on top of it. Three-dimensional GPR imaging was used to detect man-made structures located under the Temple of Apollo. The results of the two survey methods applied were compared, assessing the relative merits and demerits of each technique. Their combined use is discussed in terms of providing enhanced views that are more informative than a single method. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article reviews the Ban Chiang, Northeast Thailand, Volumes 2A, 2B, and 2C edited by Joyce C. White and Elizabeth G. Hamilton with the aim of bringing a new perspective to the understanding of archaeometallurgy in Anatolia. Regardless of specific subject focus such as geology, geomorphology, archaeology, or anthropology, any scholar interested in the field of archaeometallurgy will find a comparanda of their research in the Thai archaeology monograph volumes. White and Hamilton suggest a new paradigm favoring diversity and an anthropological technology-driven model for archaeometallurgical research, which I believe presents an excellent case to change and revise the presumptions of scholars studying metals' role in ancient Anatolia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analysis and reinterpretation of current evidence for houses, streets and shops in fifth- to twelfth-century Byzantine Constantinople, focussing on archaeological evidence. Previously unidentified townhouses and residential blocks are located. These show greater similarities to Roman-period domestic architecture than might be expected. Changes in the architectural style may be related to social change in the seventh century. Berger’s reconstruction of the early Byzantine street plan is shown to be archaeologically untenable. This has implications for the identification of formal planning and the boundaries of urban districts in the Byzantine capital. The limited archaeological evidence for streets and shops is also discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Copyright of Electronic Turkish Studies is the property of Electronic Turkish Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Computational Research on the Ancient Near East (CRANE) Project, directed by Tim Harrison of the University of Toronto, has united scholars from a variety of disciplines across several institutions around the globe since 2012. Originally focused on the Orontes Watershed of southern Turkey and northwestern Syria, the goal of the project is to provide researchers with a collaborative framework in which to leverage the full array of data produced by archaeology in order to shed light on the rise and development of complex societies in the region. The pooled resources and skills of collaborators have allowed the project to visualize and model connections between social, economic, and environmental factors across a range of temporal and regional scales (https://crane.utoronto.ca/). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Anatolia / Anadolu is the property of Ankara University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Summary: Fossil grass silica short cell phytoliths (GSSCP) have been used to reconstruct the biogeography of Poaceae, untangle crop domestication history and detect past vegetation shifts. These inferences depend on accurately identifying the clade to which the fossils belong. Patterns of GSSCP shape and size variation across the family have not been established and current classification methods are subjective or based on a 2D view that ignores important 3D shape variation.Focusing on Poaceae subfamilies Anomochlooideae, Pharoideae, Pueliodieae, Bambusoideae and Oryzoideae, we observed in situ GSSCP to establish their orientation and imaged isolated GSSCP using confocal microscopy to produce 3D models. 3D geometric morphometrics was used to analyze GSSCP shape and size. Classification models were applied to GSSCP from Eocene sediments from Nebraska, USA, and Anatolia, Turkey.There were significant shape differences between nearly all recognized GSSCP morphotypes and between clades with shared morphotypes. Most of the Eocene GSSCP were classified as woody bamboos with some distinctive Nebraska GSSCP classified as herbaceous bamboos.3D morphometrics hold great promise for GSSCP classification. It accounts for the complete GSSCP shape, automates size measurements and accommodates the complete range of morphotypes within a single analytical framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of dams is an ever-growing threat to cultural heritage, particularly in an age of climate change and narrowly focused development policies. In analyzing as a case study three major reservoirs in the Middle Euphrates river valley in southeastern Turkey (Atatürk, Birecik and Karkamış), we developed a Post-Flooding Damage Assessment (PFDA) to evaluate the impact of dams on archaeological sites. Our PFDA, consisting of an analysis of cross-correlations between multi-temporal Landsat imagery, geographical spatial datasets and archaeological data from surveys and excavations, provides an unprecedented detailed overview of the loss of especially significant cultural landscapes, and also highlights the limited accuracy of pre-flooding archaeological surveys and excavations. We conclude with recommendations for improving how rescue archaeological projects targeting endangered cultural landscapes are designed, with an immediately achievable target of better documenting cultural heritage threatened by dams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Adalya is the property of Koc University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Safeguarding Archaeological Assets of Turkey (SARAT) project is aimed at increasing knowledge, capacity, and awareness for the better protection and appreciation of Turkey's archaeological assets. Within the scope of SARAT, a nationwide public opinion poll for mapping the relationship between archaeology and society in Turkey was designed and conducted. The fieldwork was carried out on 12–13 May 2018 across 103 districts of 29 Turkish provinces. Structured questionnaires were administered to 3,601 individuals above the age of 18 by employing face-to-face interview methodology. The results shed light on various aspects of the relationships between a community as diverse, dynamic, and populated as Turkey's, and archaeology and archaeological assets located in this country. They have also been put into use as guidelines for designing various activities of the project that seek to increase public appreciation and awareness of archaeological assets. These activities include workshops with journalists on informed and accurate archaeological reporting, an online certificate programme for safeguarding and rescuing archaeological assets, workshops on Archaeology in Local Contexts as well as social media campaigns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze the processing of cereals and its role at Early Neolithic Göbekli Tepe, southeastern Anatolia (10th / 9th millennium BC), a site that has aroused much debate in archaeological discourse. To date, only zooarchaeological evidence has been discussed in regard to the subsistence of its builders. Göbekli Tepe consists of monumental round to oval buildings, erected in an earlier phase, and smaller rectangular buildings, built around them in a partially contemporaneous and later phase. The monumental buildings are best known as they were in the focus of research. They are around 20 m in diameter and have stone pillars that are up to 5.5 m high and often richly decorated. The rectangular buildings are smaller and–in some cases–have up to 2 m high, mostly undecorated, pillars. Especially striking is the number of tools related to food processing, including grinding slabs/bowls, handstones, pestles, and mortars, which have not been studied before. We analyzed more than 7000 artifacts for the present contribution. The high frequency of artifacts is unusual for contemporary sites in the region. Using an integrated approach of formal, experimental, and macro- / microscopical use-wear analyses we show that Neolithic people at Göbekli Tepe have produced standardized and efficient grinding tools, most of which have been used for the processing of cereals. Additional phytolith analysis confirms the massive presence of cereals at the site, filling the gap left by the weakly preserved charred macro-rests. The organization of work and food supply has always been a central question of research into Göbekli Tepe, as the construction and maintenance of the monumental architecture would have necessitated a considerable work force. Contextual analyses of the distribution of the elements of the grinding kit on site highlight a clear link between plant food preparation and the rectangular buildings and indicate clear delimitations of working areas for food production on the terraces the structures lie on, surrounding the circular buildings. There is evidence for extensive plant food processing and archaeozoological data hint at large-scale hunting of gazelle between midsummer and autumn. As no large storage facilities have been identified, we argue for a production of food for immediate use and interpret these seasonal peaks in activity at the site as evidence for the organization of large work feasts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a new transcription and translation of the TOPADA inscription. According to the new interpretation, the inscription narrates the events of a four-year-long war between a western coalition led by an unnamed Phrygian king and a coalition of post-Hittite rulers from south-central Anatolia, led by Great King Wasusarma. The careful study of paleography, scribal practice, script development, and literary aspects yields a dating of the inscription to the late tenth or early ninth century BCE. In view of the growing archaeological evidence for the central Anatolian Dark Ages, the new interpretation of the inscription has far-reaching implications for the overarching historical picture of the early first millennium BCE in Western Asia. It also provides the earliest attestation for the kingdom of Phrygia, and the sole occurrence of the toponym Phrygia and derivatives outside of the western Greco-Roman sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human history was transformed with the advent of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent with wheat as one of the founding crops. Although the Fertile Crescent is renowned as the center of wheat domestication, archaeological studies have shown the crucial involvement of Çatalhöyük in this process. This site first gained attention during the 1961–65 excavations due to the recovery of primitive hexaploid wheat. However, despite the seeds being well preserved, a detailed archaeobotanical description of the samples is missing. In this article, we report on the DNA isolation, amplification and sequencing of ancient DNA of charred wheat grains from Çatalhöyük and other Turkish archaeological sites and the comparison of these wheat grains with contemporary wheat species including T. monococcum, T. dicoccum, T. dicoccoides, T. durum and T. aestivum at HMW glutenin protein loci. These ancient samples represent the oldest wheat sample sequenced to date and the first ancient wheat sample from the Middle East. Remarkably, the sequence analysis of the short DNA fragments preserved in seeds that are approximately 8400 years old showed that the Çatalhöyük wheat stock contained hexaploid wheat, which is similar to contemporary hexaploid wheat species including both naked (T. aestivum) and hulled (T. spelta) wheat. This suggests an early transitory state of hexaploid wheat agriculture from the Fertile Crescent towards Europe spanning present-day Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A mural excavated at the Neolithic Çatalhöyük site (Central Anatolia, Turkey) has been interpreted as the oldest known map. Dating to ∼6600 BCE, it putatively depicts an explosive summit eruption of the Hasan Dağı twin-peaks volcano located ∼130 km northeast of Çatalhöyük, and a birds-eye view of a town plan in the foreground. This interpretation, however, has remained controversial not least because independent evidence for a contemporaneous explosive volcanic eruption of Hasan Dağı has been lacking. Here, we document the presence of andesitic pumice veneer on the summit of Hasan Dağı, which we dated using (U-Th)/He zircon geochronology. The (U-Th)/He zircon eruption age of 8.97±0.64 ka (or 6960±640 BCE; uncertainties 2σ) overlaps closely with 14C ages for cultural strata at Çatalhöyük, including level VII containing the “map” mural. A second pumice sample from a surficial deposit near the base of Hasan Dağı records an older explosive eruption at 28.9±1.5 ka. U-Th zircon crystallization ages in both samples range from near-eruption to secular equilibrium (>380 ka). Collectively, our results reveal protracted intrusive activity at Hasan Dağı punctuated by explosive venting, and provide the first radiometric ages for a Holocene explosive eruption which was most likely witnessed by humans in the area. Geologic and geochronologic lines of evidence thus support previous interpretations that residents of Çatalhöyük artistically represented an explosive eruption of Hasan Dağı volcano. The magmatic longevity recorded by quasi-continuous zircon crystallization coupled with new evidence for late-Pleistocene and Holocene explosive eruptions implicates Hasan Dağı as a potential volcanic hazard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]