Recent PublIcatIons from the Lab's work
THIN SECTION PETROGRAPHY
This paper presents the results of chemical and petrographic investigations on the late chalcolithic (ca. 3700–3300 BCE) pottery from the Burdur Lake region in southwest Anatolia (Türkiye). Twenty-one ceramic sherds and a clay lump from four different levels of the late chalcolithic site of Kuruçay Höyük (Burdur) were examined with thin section petrography, XRF, and XRD to illuminate the element and mineral compositions of the ceramics. The chemical compositions and their statistical evaluation demonstrate the continuous use of at least two local clay sources within each different phase of the late chalcolithic. While sources stay the same, petrographic thin section analysis implies a change in the clay preparation techniques. This is visible via the homogeneity of the clay matrix and the existence of shell and lithic inclusions in the paste. About the end of the late chalcolithic period, clay preparation appears to be enhanced conceivably with the changing technological setting of the period toward the early bronze age.
LAND COVER CHANGE MODELING
Land use in archaeological societies has important consequences for ecosystemic changes in the long-term, which directly affect the sustainability of the economy and socio-political organization. In the Near East; socio-political organization, mode of production, and land use patterns diversified spatio-temporally during the Early Bronze Age-I (ca. 5100–4700 cal. BP) when socially complex entities emerged across the region. During this transformative phase, Anatolia witnessed polities of varying levels of organization and modes of subsistence, all of which translate into diverse land use patterns. This research focuses on the results of agent-based modeling to simulate the long-term impacts of land use/land cover change at two major Early Bronze Age sites; Arslantepe (ca. 5100–4700 cal. BP) in Eastern Anatolia and Hacılar Büyük Höyük (ca. 5100–4900 cal. BP) in Southwest Anatolia. Arslantepe and Hacılar Büyük Höyük are situated in different environments (i.e., climate and vegetation), and show different levels of social organization, and economies. Comparing the land use patterns of these two contemporary but otherwise different polities presents important results in terms of our understanding of how land use patterns diversify and what their ecological results have been in the long term.