Locating Land Use at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey: The Implications of ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr Signatures in Plants and Sheep Tooth Sequences

Abstract

We evaluate local versus distant land‐use models at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, central Anatolia, using strontium isotope analysis of sheep tooth enamel and charred plant remains. Interpretation of strontium in sheep tooth sequences is constrained by previous oxygen isotope work, which largely excludes summer movement to the mountains but cannot distinguish between herding on the plain and the closest upland‐zone, Neogene limestone terraces. We establish a baseline contrast in modern plant strontium values between the plain and terraces and infer predominant herding on the plain from seven sheep tooth sequences. Archaeobotanical plant strontium values exclude the use of the terraces for cultivation and foraging. Relatively local crop and sheep management, plausibly intensive and integrated to some degree, given limited dry ground, appears likely on the basis of this pilot study.

Geoarchaeological research at Barcın Höyük: Implications for the initial Neolithic occupation of northwest Anatolia

“…As found in geoarchaeological research at the site (Kuzucuo glu et al, 1998;Roberts and Rosen, 2009), Çata-lh€ oyük was founded around 9350 a cal BP (Cessford, 2005) on a natural high point next to a river, surrounded by lower and seasonally flooded marshy basins formed through Late Pleistocene deflation of the old lacustrine sediment bed, partly covered by alluvium. Geoarchaeological and bioarchaeological studies indicate a mosaic landscape with differentiated hydrological conditions (Roberts and Rosen, 2009;Bogaard et al, 2014). This allowed for the exploitation of a range of wetland resources, while arable cultivation near the settlement must have been restricted to small marl hummocks that are assumed to have been elevated above the wetlands (Bogaard et al, 2014).…”

“…Geoarchaeological and bioarchaeological studies indicate a mosaic landscape with differentiated hydrological conditions (Roberts and Rosen, 2009;Bogaard et al, 2014). This allowed for the exploitation of a range of wetland resources, while arable cultivation near the settlement must have been restricted to small marl hummocks that are assumed to have been elevated above the wetlands (Bogaard et al, 2014). Closer to Barcın H€ oyük are the archaeological sites of Late Neolithic Menteş e in the Yenisehir Basin (Roodenberg et al, 2003), Early Chalcolithic Ilıpınar near Lake _ Iznik (Roodenberg, 2008) and Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic Aktopraklik near Lake Ulubat (Karul and Avcı, 2013).…”

“…If the two situations are similar, this would mean that agriculture was likely practiced on drier soils located closer to the hills at the edges of the Yeniş ehir Basin, although no research has yet been performed on this issue. However, other research from Çatalh€ oyük argues that the limited availability of suitable grounds promoted a very diverse and diffuse land use as opposed to a compact package of activities on a distant locality (Bogaard et al, 2014), exemplifying the complexity of localising the areas of activity for such Neolithic sites. It must also be noted that due to the retreating lake margin, particularly south of the site more agricultural land must have become available through time.…”

Revisiting the potential of carbonized grain to preserve biogenic 87Sr/86Sr signatures within the burial environment

“…; Bogaard et al . ). Such studies enable reconstruction of the interactions between people—and their animals—in the past and can contribute to a wider understanding of how mobility related to, and impacted on, concepts of cultural identity that are inferred in other ways from the archaeological record.…”

Animal husbandry in the Early and Middle Neolithic settlement at Kopydłowo in the Polish lowlands. A multi-isotope perspective

“…Increasing numbers of stable isotope measurements of fauna remains have shown how wild animals can be tentatively distinguished from domestic animals Hongo et al 2009) and how the increasing management and later herding of animals can be detected through changes in animal diet as herbivory preference by individual species is replaced by food provided by pastoralists (Pearson et al 2007;Szpak et al 2014;Cucchi et al 2016. The interpretation of these isotopes in combination have been used to good effect at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Central Anatolia (Bogaard et al 2014;Pearson et al 2015) and central Europe (Bickle and Whittle 2013).…”