Methodological Implications of New Radiocarbon Dates from the Early Holocene Site of Körtik Tepe, Southeast Anatolia

Abstract

ABSTRACT.One of the greatest challenges of contemporary archaeology is to synthesize the large amount of radiocarbon and archaeological data into a useful dialogue. For the late Epipaleolithic and the Early Neolithic of the Near East, many 14 C ages have been published without precise stratigraphie documentation. Consequently, for archaeological age models we often must use some more elementary approaches, such as probabilistic summation of calibrated ages. The stratigraphy of Körtik Tepe allows us for the first time to study an extended series of 14 C ages of the earliest Holocene. In particular, we are able to analyze the data according to stratigraphie position within a well-documented profile. However, because of a plateau in the 14 C age calibration curve at the transition from the Younger Dryas to the Early Holocene, dates of this period can be interpreted only if an extended sequence of dates is available. Due to problems remaining in the calibration procedure, the best way to achieve an interpretation is to compare the results of different 14 C calibration software. In the present paper, we use the results of the calibration programs OxCal and CalPal. This approach has important implications for future age modeling, in particular for the question of how to date the transition from the Epipaleolithic to the PPNA precisely and accurately.

Beginnings of the Neolithic in Southeast Europe: the Early Neolithic sequence and absolute dates from Džuljunica-Smărdeš (Bulgaria)

“…As described in Marion Benz et al (2012), the GMC-WM algorithm fits the depth-scaled archaeological data repeatedly to the calibration curve for an optional number of runs (read: age-models) between 1 and 100, each of which is assigned a max. 10 000 statistical iterations (read: input of age-model vari- .…”

A heart-shaped bone artifact from Körtiktepe

“…Here, we report a bone-made artifact from Körtiktepe, a well representation of a complete shape of metaphoric "heart". The artifact was recorded in 2008 excavation (Özkaya et al, 2010), from the Phase III-IV dated between 10050-9390 BC (Benz et al, 2012). Our initial observations on the morphology, manufacture and probable use indicate that the heart-shaped object was probably used as a pendant or amulet for the dead.…”

Auditory exostosis: Exploring the daily life at an early sedentary population (Körtik Tepe, Turkey)

“…Körtik Tepe is composed of two main cultural layers: one dates to the Middle Ages and the other spans from the Late Epipaleolithic through to the Early Neolithic eras (Özkaya, ; Özkaya & Coşkun, ). A sequence of more than 20 radiocarbon dates places its occupation from 10400 to 9250 cal BC (Benz et al, , ; Benz, Willmy, Doğan, Şahin, & Özkaya, ). The people of Körtik Tepe lived at a time of fundamental social changes, the transition from mobile hunter‐gatherer communities to life in permanent villages (Benz et al, ).…”

“…The archaeological data suggest that Körtik Tepe was a permanent and continuous settlement. This includes a number of permanent circular buildings with floors made of hardened earth or slightly dug into the surrounding, multiple layered floors in these houses, many storage pits, and large grinding stones and mortars (Arbuckle & Özkaya, ; Benz et al, , ; Coşkun et al, ; Özkaya, ; Özkaya & Coşkun, ).…”