Abstract:New evidence allows us to demonstrate that a regional trade connected North Syria with both central Anatolia and Babylonia well into the 17th-Century bc. Archaeological evidence indicates that a specific type of vessel, the globular flask, was produced at Zincirli Höyük in the mid-17th century for the purpose of storing and transporting wine. The simultaneous appearance of these vessels as far afield as Kültepe and Sippar-Amnānum lines up with Late Old Babylonian attestations of alluḫarum-pots in 17th-c. texts… Show more
“…Olive oil and wine trade in the ancient Levant are frequently discussed as a combined endeavor [ 106 ], though proving in any specific case is difficult and even techniques utilizing chemical biomarkers or residue analysis struggle to distinguish between different vegetal remains [ 107 ]. However, the combination of textual evidence and pottery can help us gain insight into long-distance trade networks, such as movement of wine from the Northern Levant to Mesopotamia in the 19 th -17 th centuries BC [ 7 ]. From the second millennium BC onwards, the scale of trade from the Levant to areas such as the Aegean increased [ 106 ].…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…It has been long argued that olive and grape cultivation played an important role in the development of past societies and has been further implicated in socio-economic processes such as the consolidation of power and the formation of elites, urbanization, imperial taxation, and trade [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. However, no overview of the macrobotanical evidence for the region has been published, leaving many questions regarding connecting the domestication of olive and grape to their role in population changes and trade, and furthermore the extent of elites possibly driving these changes.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…They provide an array of products that do not easily decay, like dried fruits, oil, and wine. Wine and olive oil especially have been intensively discussed as important trade products in ancient Southwest Asia which played a role in elite formation [3,7,17,18]. The role of elites and the palace in the subsistence economy varied across this space and time and the extent to which elites/palaces were directly involved with fruit tree cultivation is often unclear [3,4].…”
Evaluating archaeobotanical data from over 3.9 million seeds and 124,300 charcoal fragments across 330 archaeological site phases in Southwest Asia, we reconstruct the history of olive and grape cultivation spanning a period of 6,000 years. Combining charcoal and seed data enables investigation into both the production and consumption of olive and grape. The earliest indication for olive and grape cultivation appears in the southern Levant around ca. 5000 BC and 4th millennium BC respectively, although cultivation may have been practiced prior to these dates. Olive and grape cultivation in Southwest Asia was regionally concentrated within the Levant until 600 BC, although there were periodic pushes to the East. Several indications for climate influencing the history of olive and grape cultivation were found, as well as a correlation between periods of high population density and high proportions of olive and grape remains in archaeological sites. While temporal uncertainty prevents a detailed understanding of the causal mechanisms behind these correlations, we suggest that long distance trade in olives, grapes and their associated products was integral to the economic, social, and demographic trajectories of the region.
“…Olive oil and wine trade in the ancient Levant are frequently discussed as a combined endeavor [ 106 ], though proving in any specific case is difficult and even techniques utilizing chemical biomarkers or residue analysis struggle to distinguish between different vegetal remains [ 107 ]. However, the combination of textual evidence and pottery can help us gain insight into long-distance trade networks, such as movement of wine from the Northern Levant to Mesopotamia in the 19 th -17 th centuries BC [ 7 ]. From the second millennium BC onwards, the scale of trade from the Levant to areas such as the Aegean increased [ 106 ].…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…It has been long argued that olive and grape cultivation played an important role in the development of past societies and has been further implicated in socio-economic processes such as the consolidation of power and the formation of elites, urbanization, imperial taxation, and trade [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. However, no overview of the macrobotanical evidence for the region has been published, leaving many questions regarding connecting the domestication of olive and grape to their role in population changes and trade, and furthermore the extent of elites possibly driving these changes.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…They provide an array of products that do not easily decay, like dried fruits, oil, and wine. Wine and olive oil especially have been intensively discussed as important trade products in ancient Southwest Asia which played a role in elite formation [3,7,17,18]. The role of elites and the palace in the subsistence economy varied across this space and time and the extent to which elites/palaces were directly involved with fruit tree cultivation is often unclear [3,4].…”
Evaluating archaeobotanical data from over 3.9 million seeds and 124,300 charcoal fragments across 330 archaeological site phases in Southwest Asia, we reconstruct the history of olive and grape cultivation spanning a period of 6,000 years. Combining charcoal and seed data enables investigation into both the production and consumption of olive and grape. The earliest indication for olive and grape cultivation appears in the southern Levant around ca. 5000 BC and 4th millennium BC respectively, although cultivation may have been practiced prior to these dates. Olive and grape cultivation in Southwest Asia was regionally concentrated within the Levant until 600 BC, although there were periodic pushes to the East. Several indications for climate influencing the history of olive and grape cultivation were found, as well as a correlation between periods of high population density and high proportions of olive and grape remains in archaeological sites. While temporal uncertainty prevents a detailed understanding of the causal mechanisms behind these correlations, we suggest that long distance trade in olives, grapes and their associated products was integral to the economic, social, and demographic trajectories of the region.
“…Indeed, records from Kültepe-Karum II mention "(fine) sweet wine from Mamma" (probably Kahramanmaras), transported in a container called an "aluarum-vessel", as an expensive and desirable product (Barjamovic & Fairbairn 2018: 251-53). Zincirli appears to have been part of the production region for this commodity (Morgan & Richardson 2020).…”
Section: Comparison With Northern Levantine Sitesmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Indeed, records from Kültepe-Kārum II mention “(fine) sweet wine from Mamma” (probably Kahramanmaraş), transported in a container called an “ aluarum -vessel”, as an expensive and desirable product (Barjamovic & Fairbairn 2018: 251–53). Zincirli appears to have been part of the production region for this commodity (Morgan & Richardson 2020). Figure 6.Globular wine flasks found in the Zincirli MB II destruction assemblage, compared with flasks from contemporaneous late MB II sites: A) Zincirli, painted flask C18-46.0B#16 (height = 380mm); B) Kültepe (after Emre 1995: fig.…”
Section: Comparison With Northern Levantine Sitesmentioning
Dates differ by up to 150 years in the protracted debate around the chronology of the Middle Bronze Age Near East. Here, the authors present radiocarbon and ceramic evidence from destroyed buildings at Zincirli, Türkiye, that support the Middle Chronology. Ceramics from late Middle Bronze Age sites in Syria and Anatolia, and Bayesian modelling of 18 well-stratified radiocarbon samples from site destruction contexts attributable to Hittite king Ḫattusili I, indicate a date in the later seventeenth century BC. Since the Northern Levant connects the Mesopotamian and Eastern Mediterranean second-millennium BC chronologies, this evidence supports the convergence of these long-debated schemas, with implications for the start of the Late Bronze Age and the rise of empires.
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.
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