Neolithic Communities in the Eastern Marmara Region (original) (raw)
The increased amount of archaeological research in Northwestern Anatolia means that not only have many questions about the prehistoric occupation of this region been answered, but also new problems have arisen. Aktopraklık, excavated since 2004, is one of those settlements that contributes significantly to this matter 1 . The data obtained from the strata investigated so far in the settlement shows uninterrupted occupation from the middle of the 7 th millennium BC to the middle of the 6 th millennium BC, including the earliest occurrence of Neolithic pottery in the region and the transition from the Early to the Middle Chalcolithic. The excavations, geomagnetic surveys, and surface scans demonstrate that the different stages of occupation at Aktopraklık were not superimposed on each other, but rather either shifted horizontally and down the slope or from one valley ridge to the other opposite (Karul, 2007: 391-392). Although this circumstance made it difficult for the excavators who started work 6 years ago to establish a reliable stratigraphy, they managed to establish a chronological sequence for each of the different site locations within the settlement called A, B, and C. At Aktopraklık C the earliest Neolithic strata of the settlement were found. This article provides an overview of the pottery that occurred in Aktopraklık C, and ends with an appraisal on the chronology and cultural links with contemporary sites. The many Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic burials from this settlement are the subject of a separate article in this volume by Songül Alpaslan Roodenberg.
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Neolithic Communities in the Eastern Marmara Region: Aktopraklık C / 2011
The increased amount of archaeological research in Northwestern Anatolia means that not only have many questions about the prehistoric occupation of this region been answered, but also new problems have arisen. Aktopraklık, excavated since 2004, is one of those settlements that contributes significantly to this matter 1 . The data obtained from the strata investigated so far in the settlement shows uninterrupted occupation from the middle of the 7 th millennium BC to the middle of the 6 th millennium BC, including the earliest occurrence of Neolithic pottery in the region and the transition from the Early to the Middle Chalcolithic. The excavations, geomagnetic surveys, and surface scans demonstrate that the different stages of occupation at Aktopraklık were not superimposed on each other, but rather either shifted horizontally and down the slope or from one valley ridge to the other opposite (Karul, 2007: 391-392). Although this circumstance made it difficult for the excavators who started work 6 years ago to establish a reliable stratigraphy, they managed to establish a chronological sequence for each of the different site locations within the settlement called A, B, and C. At Aktopraklık C the earliest Neolithic strata of the settlement were found. This article provides an overview of the pottery that occurred in Aktopraklık C, and ends with an appraisal on the chronology and cultural links with contemporary sites. The many Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic burials from this settlement are the subject of a separate article in this volume by Songül Alpaslan Roodenberg.
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A couple of years ago, no excavated archaeological evidences of a Pottery Neolithic occupation in Cappadocia (Özdo¤an, Baflgelen (eds) 1999; Gérard, Thissen (eds), 2002) was known. Despite this lack of information, the potentialities offered by settlements like Köflk Höyük, P›narbafl› Bor or TepecikÇiftlik were known but only discussed theoritically. Up to now and as it was already stressed by M. Özdo¤an (Özdo¤an 1999: 9-12; 2002: 253-261) discussions were mainly focused on the possible links beetween the aceramic site of Afl›kl› which ended around 7400BC cal. and the emergence of the Pottery Neolithic site of Çatal Höyük East, in the Konya plain, with earlier known dates coinciding with the end of Afl›kl›, without regards to the probable aceramic levels. The archaeological facts were not homogeneous enough in time and space: Eastern part of Central Anatolia documented for the aceramic neolithic, showing evidences of local developpments out of the Upper Mesopotamian major influences...
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The first Neolithic archaeological excavations in the Marmara Region were carried out in the Fikirtepe settlement by Kurt Bittel and Halet Çambel between the years of 1952 and 1954. However, proper systematic studies in the region were initiated in 1980s by M. Özdoğan. These series of research revealed that the region had been in interaction with different Neolithic cultural regions on the Aegean-Balkan-Anatolian axis, with every new piece of data resulting in a revision of the neolithisation process and diffusion theories. Research on the Neolithic Period of the region was mainly based on pottery, lithic tool technology and architecture remains, all of which may be classified under the umbrella term “material culture”. Recently, our understanding of the Neolithic Period of the region has been enriched by new perspectives, thanks to data from bioarchaeological sciences such as archaeozoology, archaeobotany and palaeoanthropology. This document with the preliminary results of the archaeobotanical research ongoing in Yenikapı and Pendik Höyük aims to contribute to the discussion of the neolithisation of the region.
A New Prehistoric Settlement in Northwest Turkey: Aktopraklık Höyük / 2010
AbstrAct Aktopraklık Höyük appears on one of the eastern terraces of Lake Ulubat which is about 25 km west of Bursa south of the Marmara Sea. Three mound settlements (A, B, C) shifted in short distances were discovered in the excavations done by the Department of Prehistory of Istanbul University since 2004. 1 The data obtained in each of these three settlements indicate that the prehistoric life started towards the end of the Neolithic period and lasted until the end of the Middle Chalcolithic period. As the tradition in Aktopraklık is of Central Anatolian origin and resembles to its contemporaries in Greece, the settlement may have a potential to answer many questions about the expanse of Neolithic life.
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