Journal

Coring Three Lakes

Gygaia Projects

In the last week of October, a small group of Gygaia Projects team members took advantage of a new collaboration with Dr. Çetin Şenkul of Süleyman Demirel University (İsparta, Turkey) and his PhD students Mustafa Doğan and Yunus Bozkurt, to take sediment cores for paleoenvironmental analyses from three desiccated lakes in Manisa.

The first two of these – Yemişçigöl and Eğrigöl – dried up completely within recent memory, and at least the former had been a marshy wetland canalized already in late Ottoman times (for which subject see a forthcoming publication by Semih Çelik and Christina Luke which will be announced on this site when published).

Taking cores from the dried lakebed of Yemişçiğol

The recent tragic and full desiccation of Lake Marmara, as of August 2021, provided the third opportunity to collect sediment cores.

Several coring projects had already recovered and published core data from Lake Marmara, but – given the presence of water in the lake until recently – none used truck-mounted coring methods capable of penetrating hardened strata and preserving the long, continuous sediment columns essential for longitudinal paleoenvironmental analyses (sedimentology, palynology, etc.).

Coring at the northern (left) and southern (right) fringe of the lake basin in plowed lakebed being readied for agricultural reclamation.

We were grateful for the opportunity to collaborate and look forward to sharing results when possible!

Look forward to more posts from Gygaia Projects soon!

Botanical Explorations

Gygaia Projects

After three years of botanical explorations at what we’ve come to call the Asphodel Research Center (given the preponderance in local landscapes of Asphodel (Asphodelus aestivus) – known locally as Kiriş otu or Kireç otu and elsewhere in Turkey as Çiriş otu – it has become clear that purple flowering Lavender (or lavanta; Lavandula officinalis) and yellow flowering Lavendar Cotton (Sarı lavantin; Santolina chamecyparissus), are quite happy in this adopted environment.

Those plants that didn’t thrive have been replaced this year with more Lavendar and Lavendar Cotton, and we’re looking forward to benefiting from their purples and yellows in new places as well from their wonderful other properties.

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A New Thesis on Cattle at Kaymakçı

Gygaia Projects

We are pleased to announce a new Koç University MA thesis by Şengül Fındıklar on zooarchaeological analyses of cattle bones from Kaymakçı. See below for details!

Mighty Cattle: Zooarchaeological Analyses of Bos Husbandry Practices in Late Bronze Age Kaymakçı, Western Anatolia

Şengül Fındıklar

Abstract: The study aimed to understand the animal management strategies adopted by people at Kaymakçı, how Kaymakçı was situated in Late Bronze Age Anatolia, and the importance of cattle by means of subsistence and symbology. Of specific interest is how these economic practices contributed to and sustained ongoing daily life, such as choices in diet, and management of livestock (meat, dairy, and power). The results of this study establish a baseline for further research in western Anatolian LBA animal management systems and provide a decent comparison of LBA cattle cultures between western and central Anatolia. By means of animal economies, Kaymakçı is characterized as a local western Anatolian community in which adopted strategic behavior towards animals, especially cattle, in accordance with its culture, environment, and sociopolitical interests.

Look forward to more posts from Gygaia Projects soon!

A New Publication on Earthen Materials from Kaymakçı

Gygaia Projects

We are pleased to announce a new publication on earthen materials from Kaymakçı appearing in the latest issue of Studia Hercynia. See below for details!

Made from Mud: Functional Categorization and Analyses of Bronze Age Earthen Materials from Western Turkey

Jana Mokrišová, Christopher H. Roosevelt, Christina Luke, and Caitilin R. O’Grady

Abstract: This contribution presents the results of a pilot study of earthen materials excavated at the Middle to Late Bronze Age site of Kaymakçı, located in western Anatolia. It argues that systematic collection and analysis of fragmentary and difficult‐to‐identify earthen materials is challenging, yet crucial. These materials inform on activities of which traces are preserved in the archaeological record but which have been largely under‐researched. Flourishing studies on earthen findings foreground architectural materials, such as mudbrick, and well‐preserved features and objects. However, earthen objects and architectural features were utilized more widely than in building architecture and only a small portion of excavated sites has good preservation. We, therefore, present the different categories of earthen materials discovered at Kaymakçı, specifically architecture, installations, and portable items. Our work demonstrates that by incorporating new knowledge of archaeological remains at the site and re‐studying the earthen assemblage it is possible to gain a better understanding of the morphological, functional, and social aspects of this dataset.

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A Birdless Watching Tower

Gygaia Projects

The shoreline of the beautiful and ecologically important Lake Marmara has continued to recede since we last wrote about it in late June. Recriminations range from climate change, to dam and drinking-water reservoir policies, to unwise overuse for irrigation. To see the situation up close, a small contingent recently visited the bird watching tower constructed in summer and fall 2020.

The solidly built tower is flanked by well-designed signage that provides information about the lake and wetlands as well as important cautions for when to ascend the six flights of stairs and when not… when lightening is near, for example!

Signs at ground level define the protected zone of the wetland (the Marmara Gölü Sulak Alanı Koruma Alanı) and describe what types of activities are allowed and prohibited within it. One panel displays 30 examples of the more than 100 species of birds that are said to traditionally inhabit the area. Many of these are resident only seasonally during migration periods, yet they contribute to the famously rich biodiversity associated with wetland environments.

Views from the top level of the tower – to north (above left) and to east (above right) – clearly show the retreat of lake shore and the nearly birdless environment left behind. These lands have been quickly reclaimed by regional agriculturalists.

A walk out into the desiccated lakebed shows – with view again to north (above left) and to east (above right) – a mud-cracked texture with dark brown muddy depths surfaced with a dried matt of fine lake weed.

Despite the loss of avian populations, tiny frogs and new wetland vegetation reclaim newly available territory, rare remaining representatives of wetland biodiversity.

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Another Season of Material Analyses…

Gygaia Projects

With this year’s excavations behind us, we welcomed a team of researchers and graduate students to work on detailed analyses of materials. The largest effort, as measured in person hours, was dedicated to ceramics, as is typical of a Bronze Age excavation in Anatolia like Kaymakçı. Significant progress was made also with analyses of small tools in flaked stone and non-flaked stone, ground stone implements, and assorted small finds including terracotta spindle whorls, small craft tools in copper alloys like awls and chisels, and other small metal finds.

Look forward to more posts from Gygaia Projects soon!