Category: Voices

Voices From the Field (2024-04-29)

We are proud to announce another completed PhD from the Kaymakçı team! This time, Ebru Kaner has earned her doctoral degree with a dissertation submitted successfully to the Department of Protohistory at Istanbul University. See below for details!

The Defense System of Kaymakçı in Second Millennium BCE Western Anatolia

Ebru Kaner

Abstract

This study is fundamentally a case study and progresses in the context of Kaymakçı. The aim of the study is to examine the defense system of Kaymakçı, a second millennium BCE settlement in western Anatolia, in terms of architecture and military functions. First, the fortification’s materials, building elements, and construction techniques are defined. This information is then used in an architectural energetics analysis, an approach that entered archaeology in the 1990s, and cost estimates are calculated for three size estimates for the fortification of Kaymakçı.

The fortification at Kaymakçı is then compared typologically with contemporary settlements in western Anatolia, and its location and importance are considered with relation to Hittite and Mycenaean cultures. In terms of materials used at Kaymakçı, the fortification is similar to its contemporaries in western Anatolia and Hittite culture. In addition, considering defensive strategies of the period, the most efficient of the three size estimates for the defense system of Kaymakçı was determined with the help of viewshed analysis.

Architectural energetics analyses applied to defensive structures of the Mycenaean and Hittite worlds and their resulting cost estimates were compared with the cost estimates for the fortification of Kaymakçı, demonstrating that the Kaymakçı was able to muster comparable levels of labor. As a result of all analyses and comparisons, Kaymakçı still appears to be a candidate for the capital of the geography in which it is located. Its fortification characteristics are more local than not, and it had the ability to provide for very costly construction activities.

Voices From the Field (2024-01-08)

We are pleased to announce another publication on Ottoman-period wetland engagements and attempts at management focusing on longue-durée cyclical histories of desiccation and healthy conditions in Lake Marmara. See below for bibliographic details!

Çelik, Semih, Christina Luke, and Christopher H. Roosevelt. 2024. “Ottoman Lakes and Fluid Landscapes: Environing, Wetlands and Conservation in the Marmara Lake Basin, Circa 1550–1900.” Environment and History 30 (1): 53–76. https://doi.org/10.3197/096734022X16470180631460.

Abstract

The study of Ottoman lakes and wetlands from the perspective of management and conservation is an emerging field. Scholars have explored Ottoman strategies for managing agricultural and extractive landscapes, yet detailed investigation of socio-political responses to dynamic wetlands, particularly during periods of drastic climate shifts, requires deeper investigation. Our research on wetlands and lakes moves from the purview of waqfs (pious foundations) to the emergence of the Ottoman Public Debt Administration (OPDA). By examining the shifting perspectives of institutional authority and community responses to it from the early modern period to the nineteenth century, we discuss the complexities of wetland management in the Marmara Lake Basin within the sancak of Saruhan (contemporary Manisa) in western Anatolia. We argue that intimate knowledge of this specific ecosystem played a critical role in mitigating attempts at reclamation and land grabbing and ultimately in developing legal structures of and policies for Ottoman conservation strategies. We situate our discussion within the paradigm of environing made possible by detailed longue-durée archival narratives; these micro-histories afford a dynamic perspective into non-linear responses to ecological and political changes and provide a local lens into the scalar impacts of human agency.

Voices From the Field (2023-09-04)

We are proud to announce two newly minted MA projects from the Kaymakçı team! This time, Ján Bobik and Kristina Doležalová have earned their Masters degrees with theses submitted successfully to the Institute of Classical Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, of Charles University. See below for details!

Zoomorphic Appliques on Pottery of Western Anatolia in the Second Millenium B.C.E. in a Wider Geographical and Cultural Context

Ján Bobik

Abstract

This work aims to collect, describe, and classify zoomorphic plastic decorations on pottery of western Anatolia in the second millennium B.C.E. The comparison with the neighboring regions of the Aegean and central Anatolia, both with rich visual culture, makes clear the almost complete absence of figurative art in western Anatolia. This gap in the imaginary can be potentially filled with zoomorphic plastic decorations on pottery. These decorations occur in surprising quantities, various forms, and on a number of sites in western Anatolia. The first part of the thesis describes their development, geographical distribution, and ware association, with seven individual types of decoration identified. The second part the thesis examines the local trends of zoomorphic decorations within seven geographical groups, which emerged from the study, with Troy and Kaymakçı serving as two main case studies. In the next step, the collected western Anatolian evidence is compared to zoomorphic decorations in the surrounding regions of central Anatolia and Mycenaean Greece, as well as to the Apennine Peninsula. The thesis highlights similarities between these regions and evaluates them in terms of connections between western Anatolia and the individual regions. The last part of the thesis evaluates the gained results and discusses the possible function, symbolic meaning, and suspicious fragmentation of animal protomes.

The tale of volcanic rocks. Assessing the grinding stones and their chaîne opératoire in 2nd Millennium BCE Western Anatolia

Kristina Doležalová

Abstract

The thesis examines grinding stones from the Anatolian Bronze Age site of Kaymakçı. It aims to reconstruct their chaîne opératoire and to place the new findings in the frame of Western Anatolia in the 2nd Millennium BC. The general processing of the assemblage included morphological, geological, use-wear and spatial study of the assemblage in the context of the settlement. The various aspects of the grinding stone chaîne opératoire identified at Kaymakçı were then compared with two published grinding stone assemblages from Western Anatolia (Aphrodisias and Troy) to identify their repeating patterns for the Bronze Age.

The grinding stone assemblage from Kaymakçı revealed that these artifacts played an important role in everyday life, as well as in trans-regional contacts and trade. While activities related to their use, reuse and disposal have been well attested, raw material extraction and production were not documented so far. As shown by the provenance analysis, people were willing to invest a lot of time and energy to transport them. A certain degree of specialization of production can also be assumed, which is indirectly evidenced by the standardization of the upper grinding stone shapes. These tools were skillfully shaped and enhanced with ergonomic adjustments suitable for comfortable holding during grinding. Interestingly, such aspects have not been observed in the grinding stone assemblages from Troy and Aphrodisias which share only singular features with Kaymakçı such as the absence of immobile grinding structures or the presence of hollowed mortars.

Voices From the Field (2023-08-03)

Our first article on archaeobotanical stable isotope analyses assesses agricultural activities and associated environments at and around Bronze Age Kaymakçı. See below for the bibliographic details of this “online first” article!

Irvine, Benjamin, Nami Shin, Christina Luke, and Christopher H. Roosevelt. 2024. “Stable carbon isotope (δ13C) analysis of archaeobotanical remains from Bronze Age Kaymakçı (western Anatolia) to investigate crop management.” Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 33: 289–300. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-023-00941-1.

Abstract

Here we present the results of stable carbon isotope (δ¹³C) analysis on charred crop seeds from the Bronze Age site of Kaymakçı in western Anatolia. The δ¹³C data, in conjunction with some 14C-dated seeds, allows for insights into the water availability for crops and a comparison among taxa, enabling a relatively high-resolution investigation of field agriculture, crop cultivation, and crop and field management around the site. From this data, we discuss agroeconomic structures and local paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic conditions in the local micro-region, as well as more generally for western Anatolia. A total of 35 single carbonized seeds were analysed, including seeds of wheat, barley, bitter vetch, pulses, and grape. Almost all samples date to the first half of the second millennium BC, based on radiocarbon dating of 24 seeds from the sample assemblage. The δ¹³C data demonstrates that crops at Kaymakçı were generally moderately to well-watered, and water availability was likely not a limiting factor for growth. This water availability is unlikely to result from artificial and man-made irrigation systems, however, but rather crop-management and field-location choices, taking advantage of the humid conditions along the shores of Lake Marmara and in surrounding wetland environs. A seeming paradox is the ubiquity of risk buffering crops (barley and bitter vetch) despite a supposed abundance of water availability. This evidence for mixed approaches further underlines the importance of versatility in local agricultural systems and their underlying structures, favored and implemented by local communities.

Voices From the Field (2023-05-15)

We are pleased to share a new publication in Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı, the annual publication of excavation results put out by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. This article reviews some of the activities conducted during the limited 2021 season at Kaymakçı. See below for details!

Roosevelt, Christopher H., Tunç Kaner, and Christina Luke. 2023. “Kaymakçı Arkeoloji Projesi: 2021 Yılı Kazı ve Araştırma Sonuçları.” [“The Kaymakçı Archaeological Project: 2021 Excavation and Research Results”] Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı 42(2): 9–30.

Voices From the Field (2022-12-15)

A recent chapter in a book focused on the long-term history of Manisa province explores the impact of droughts on the wetland area of Lake Marmara. The work is based on years of hand-collected “Cobra” core data from the lake basin. See below for bibliographic details.

Vardar, Serdar, Roosevelt, Christopher H., and Christina Luke. 2022. “Kuraklığın Kontrolündeki Marmara Gölü Sulak Alanına Paleocoğrafya Açısından Bakış (Gölmarmara-Manisa).” In Manisa: Akademik Araştırma Işığında (Fen Bilimleri & Coğrafya & İktisat) Cilt-4, edited by Yüksel Abalı, Orkide Minareci, Sermin Çam Kaynar, and Leman İncedere, 510–529. Ankara, TR: Berikan Yayınevi. ISBN 9786258365962 / 9786257457521.