Geoarchaeological and chronological reconstruction of the Aşıklı PPN site spatial development (Central Anatolia, Turkey).


Kuzucuoğlu C., Özbaşaran M., Dumoulin J., Saulnier-Copard S.

in: Different Times? Archaeological and Environmental Data from Intra-Site and Off-Site Sequences, Tsirtsoni Z.,Kuzucuoglu C.,Nondedeo P.,Weller O., Editor, Archaeopress Publishing Ltd, Oxford, pp.43-63, 2020

  • Publication Type: Book Chapter / Chapter Research Book
  • Publication Date: 2020
  • Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
  • City: Oxford
  • Page Numbers: pp.43-63
  • Editors: Tsirtsoni Z.,Kuzucuoglu C.,Nondedeo P.,Weller O., Editor
  • Istanbul University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Aşıklı Höyük is a very important site in the study about the emergence of early sedentary societies in the

Eastern Mediterranean. Located in Central Anatolia, it is one the oldest Neolithic sites of Turkey north of the

Taurus. The occupation spans the whole development of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) in Central Anatolia,

from c. > 8350 to 7300 BC (> 10.3 to 9.25 ka cal BP). Excavated since 1989, the site is composed of five levels

defined on the basis of their cultural characteristics, developments and trends, and 14C dated. It is located in a

flood valley environment that was influenced by Late Glacial deposits and showed environmental variability

before, during and after the settling of PPN population. At that time, the wide Melendiz river valley was still

filled by Late Glacial deposits. Today, this terrace is positioned 4 m above the present river bed. Although not

seen in today’s landscape of the valley because of active lateral erosion during the Holocene, the terrace is

well preserved below colluvium east of the mound, where it forms a ‘gutter’ in which a series of cores, section

studies and soundings have been performed between 2010 and 2015. These cores reveal an unexpected spatial

growth of the site during Level 2 (the latest PPN level). The results of this palaeoenvironmental program,

led in connection with the latest archaeological excavations on the site, produce a parallel chronology and

show entangled relationships between the site’s occupation and cultural development on the one hand, and

the dynamics of its environment on the other hand, which modified the landforms and settlement remains in the surroundings of the site.