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    Arslantepe in the foreground: the economic and social role of the large blades at the end of the 4th millennium BC
    (ELSEVIER, 2024) D'Errico, D.; Pellegrini, D.; Pellegrini, A.; Nobile, E.; Lemorini, C.; Moscone, Daniele; Koç University Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (ANAMED) / Anadolu Medeniyetleri Araştırma Merkezi (ANAMED)
    This paper focuses on the study of large blade assemblages made from chert raw materials at the site of Arslantepe VI-A period (3500-3200 BCE). By applying an analytical approach combining raw material characterization (NM-PCI protocol), technological and use-wear analyses, and experimental archaeology, we discuss our results from a double perspective. At first glance, we demonstrate the great potential that this proxy offers for the reconstruction of technical systems and routine activities in late prehistoric sites. Secondly, we highlight the contribution of large blades for understanding socio-economic dynamics in case-oriented debates. Specifically, large chert blade study provides further pieces of the puzzle to characterize technical and economic behaviors of the social group settled on the mound of Arslantepe at the end of the 4th millennium BC. At this time, a palatine complex with centralized administration and symbols of power, were tools to boost social inequality.
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    PublicationOpen Access
    Bioarchaeology of Neolithic Çatalhöyük reveals fundamental transitions in health, mobility, and lifestyle in early farmers
    (National Academy of Sciences, 2019) Department of Archeology and History of Art; Haddow, Scott Donald; Department of Archeology and History of Art; Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanities
    The transition from a human diet based exclusively on wild plants and animals to one involving dependence on domesticated plants and animals beginning 10,000 to 11,000 y ago in Southwest Asia set into motion a series of profound health, lifestyle, social, and economic changes affecting human populations throughout most of the world. However, the social, cultural, behavioral, and other factors surrounding health and lifestyle associated with the foraging-to-farming transition are vague, owing to an incomplete or poorly understood contextual archaeological record of living conditions. Bioarchaeological investigation of the extraordinary record of human remains and their context from Neolithic Çatalhöyük (7100–5950 cal BCE), a massive archaeological site in south-central Anatolia (Turkey), provides important perspectives on population dynamics, health outcomes, behavioral adaptations, interpersonal conflict, and a record of community resilience over the life of this single early farming settlement having the attributes of a protocity. Study of Çatalhöyük human biology reveals increasing costs to members of the settlement, including elevated exposure to disease and labor demands in response to community dependence on and production of domesticated plant carbohydrates, growing population size and density fueled by elevated fertility, and increasing stresses due to heightened workload and greater mobility required for caprine herding and other resource acquisition activities over the nearly 12 centuries of settlement occupation. These changes in life conditions foreshadow developments that would take place worldwide over the millennia following the abandonment of Neolithic Çatalhöyük, including health challenges, adaptive patterns, physical activity, and emerging social behaviors involving interpersonal violence.
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    PublicationOpen Access
    Bonify 1.0: evaluating virtual reference collections in teaching and research
    (Springer, 2019) Çakırlar, Canan; Svetachov, Pjotr; Nobles, Gary; Researcher; Koç University Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (ANAMED) / Anadolu Medeniyetleri Araştırma Merkezi (ANAMED)
    Accessibility to zooarchaeological reference materials is a key hurdle when determining species classification, particularly in cases where the differences between two species (e.g. sheep and goat) are nuanced. Bonify is a pilot platform allowing the virtual comparison between 3D virtual animal bone models and zooarchaeological specimens. Two technologies were case studied, online web presentation and augmented reality. The two methodologies were tested by a selection of students and domain professionals. While the physical reference collection was viewed as the most usable, it was limited in terms of accessibility; the second best option turned out to be the web based interface while the augmented reality option suffered in terms of its usability. The web interface is available at www.digitalbones.eu.
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    Cultural dynamics and ceramic resource use at Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age Troy, northwestern Turkey
    (Elsevier, 2013) Grave, Peter; Kealhofer, Lisa; Hnila, Pavol; Marsh, Ben; Thumm-Dograyan, Diane; Rigter, Wendy; Department of Archeology and History of Art; Aslan, Carolyn Chabot; Faculty Member; Department of Archeology and History of Art; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; N/A
    Changes in resource use over time can provide insight into technological choice and the extent of long-term stability in cultural practices. In this paper we re-evaluate the evidence for a marked demographic shift at the inception of the Early Iron Age at Troy by applying a robust macroscale analysis of changing ceramic resource use over the Late Bronze and Iron Age. We use a combination of new and legacy analytical datasets (NAA and XRF), from excavated ceramics, to evaluate the potential compositional range of local resources (based on comparisons with sediments from within a 10 km site radius). Results show a clear distinction between sediment-defined local and non-local ceramic compositional groups. Two discrete local ceramic resources have been previously identified and we confirm a third local resource for a major class of EIA handmade wares and cooking pots. This third source appears to derive from a residual resource on the Troy peninsula (rather than adjacent alluvial valleys). The presence of a group of large and heavy pithoi among the non-local groups raises questions about their regional or maritime origin. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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    Don't abhor your neighbor for he is a pastoralist: the GIS-based modeling of the past human-environment interactions and landscape changes in the Wadi el-Hasa, west-central Jordan
    (Academic Press Ltd- Elsevier Science Ltd, 2012) Department of Archeology and History of Art; Arıkan, Bülent; Teaching Faculty; Department of Archeology and History of Art; Koç University Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (ANAMED) / Anadolu Medeniyetleri Araştırma Merkezi (ANAMED); College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 29752
    Recently developed modules in GRASS GIS combine a wide variety of spatial data such as climatic, geological, and cultural in order to estimate how long-term interactions among these factors contribute to the evolution of natural environment and anthropogenic landscapes. Additionally, these modules allow users to visualize anthropogenic impacts of extensive agropastoralism on landscapes by subjecting the pre-defined catchment areas to repeated land use activities. The results emphasize the economic and ecological value of extensive agropastoralism in the marginal landscapes, which make anthropogenic activities more sustainable in the long-term. The results of this research are not only significant for its methodological contributions in anthropological archaeology but also have broader significance for researchers interested in interdisciplinary approaches in assessing the long-term dynamics of human-environment relations. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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    Early Byzantine fish consumption and trade revealed by archaeoichthyology and isotopic analysis at sagalassos, Turkey
    (Elsevier, 2024) Van Neer, Wim; Fuller, Benjamin T.; Fahy, Geraldine E.; De Cupere, Bea; Bouillon, Steven; Richards, Michael P.; Department of Archeology and History of Art; Uytterhoeven, Inge; Department of Archeology and History of Art; College of Social Sciences and Humanities
    We document the dietary and economic role of fish at Sagalassos, a town in ancient Pisidia (southwest Turkey) for the Early Byzantine period (c. 550 – 700 CE) through a detailed analysis of animal bones and stable isotopes. The role of fish in the diet is quantified, for the first time, based on large samples of sieved remains retrieved during the excavation of a number of spaces in an urban residence. The table and kitchen refuse from the mansion shows that fish was a regular part of the diet. However, past isotopic work focused on human individuals excavated in the city's necropolises, slightly postdating the faunal remains examined, did not reflect this consumption of aquatic food. The studied assemblage comprises at least 12 different fish taxa, including five marine species, a Nilotic fish and six Anatolian freshwater species. Since the origin of the freshwater fishes could not be unambiguously determined by zoogeography alone, we analyzed carbon, nitrogen and sulphur stable isotope ratios in archaeological fish bones from Sagalassos as well as in bones of modern fish collected at different sites in Turkey. We show that most freshwater fish, i.e., all cyprinid species, came from Lake Eğirdir. No evidence was found for fish from the local Aksu River basin. The exact origin of pike, which account for 3% of all freshwater fish, could not be directly determined due to a shortage of modern comparative data. Using the data obtained on the provenance of the fish, the ancient trade routes possibly used in the Early Byzantine period are reconstructed using a combination of archaeological, numismatic and historical data on past commercial relations.
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    Heritage interests: Americanism, Europeanism and Neo-ottomanism
    (Sage Publications Ltd, 2018) Department of Archeology and History of Art; Roosevelt, Christina Marie Luke; Faculty Member; Department of Archeology and History of Art; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 235112
    The district of Novi Pazar in southwestern Serbia offers an ideal case study to explore heritage and diplomacy. By analyzing processes of Europeanization and perceptions of Neo-Ottomanism in heritage practices, the article demonstrates how past, present, and future plans for South East Europe are embroiled in development trajectories that encompass partners from not only Europe and Turkey but also the United States, Asia, and the Middle East. The World Heritage Center at UNESCO and its partner organization, International Council on Monuments and Sites, hold firm commitments to the Christian identities of Stari Ras and Sopoani and legacies of medieval Raka as well as the legacies of Imperial Rome. Yet, they operate in a vacuum, neglecting to consider the hyper-connectivity that is transforming not only the physical landscapes of the region and the revitalization of Sandak and Islamic identities but also the corporate and diplomatic spheres of transnational and multidimensional interests.
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    Mortar recipes from the Roman Imperial Bath-Gymnasium and Urban Mansion of Sagalassos – a technological perspective
    (Elsevier, 2024) Quilici, Matilde; Elsen, Jan; Beaujean, Bas; Degryse, Patrick; Department of Archeology and History of Art; Uytterhoeven, Inge; Department of Archeology and History of Art; College of Social Sciences and Humanities
    This work presents the results of the examination of mortars from the archaeological site of Sagalassos in Anatolia (Ağlasun, Burdur Province, Southwest Turkey). The 36 specimens were selected from structures within the Roman Imperial Bath-Gymnasium and Urban Mansion, respectively dating to the 1st-6/7th century CE and the 1st century BCE-7th century CE. These samples underwent macroscopic, microscopic, physical, granulometric and spectroscopic examinations to identify the raw materials and how these were processed. Most importantly, at least five different mortar recipe types were revealed. This diversity emphasises that mortar production was flexible and empirical, probably following a general but not strict procedure. Overall, this research contributes to a better understanding of construction technology at Sagalassos during the Roman Imperial Period and Late Antiquity, a time when mortar materials were systematically used on a large scale.
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    Rome, Portus and the Mediterranean
    (Maney Publishing, 2015) N/A; Sekedat, Bradley M.; Researcher; N/A; N/A
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    The cultural lives of domestic objects in late antiquity
    (Cambridge Univ Press, 2020) Department of Archeology and History of Art; Uytterhoeven, Inge; Faculty Member; Department of Archeology and History of Art; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 27313
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