An estate at Zincirli? Land use and resource exploitation at the Middle Bronze Age monumental building Complex DD in Zincirli, Gaziantep Province of Turkey

Abstract

Near Eastern monumental buildings once hosted institutions with a variety of economic and environmental footprints. In this article examining a Middle Bronze Age II (seventeenth century BC) building complex at Zincirli, Turkey, we integrate bioarchaeological remains with ceramic and artifactual evidence to evaluate whether this building was a specialized node in a broader network and centralized economy. Combining seed/fruit/chaff analysis with charcoal, phytolith, diatom, and spherulite investigations and zooarchaeology allows for a more holistic identification of the building’s environmental and economic catchments. The pronounced presence of conifer, probably related to the building’s architecture, suggests an elite function of the complex. A broad range of activities took place within the complex, such as the preparation, storage, and consumption of different food and drink products, alongside craft activities. There is evidence for centralized storage of diverse crops and production of wine and textiles. The building seems to have functioned as a kind of estate, possessing access to large areas of land. The bioarchaeological remains evidence the exploitation of the varied environments surrounding the site, where economically valuable resources were locally available and exploited, such as cedar, pine, grapes, and large hunting game. Complex DD provides evidence of wetland exploitation, agropastoral production, wood procurement, and hunting in the semi-steppe batha environments of the Islahiye plain and the woodland forests of the Amanus.