EDITED VOLUMES by Adnan Baysal
Lithic Studies: Anatolia and Beyond aims to show networks of cultural interactions by focusing on... more Lithic Studies: Anatolia and Beyond aims to show networks of cultural interactions by focusing on the latest lithic studies from Turkey, Greece, and the Balkans, bringing to the forefront the connectedness and techno-cultural continuity of knapped and ground stone technologies. Lithic studies are mostly conducted on a site by site basis, and specialist studies on lithics tend to focus primarily on technology and typology. As a result, information acquired through lithic research is presented as the identifier of the particular site with the addition of brief local correlations. This creates isolated islands of information. This volume is intended to bring these islands together to build the bigger picture, showcasing the fluidity of technological change, transitional cultural developments, and cultural formation by focusing on the interrelations between sites, localities and regions. Individually and collectively the wide range of papers in the volume give perspectives on Neolithization as seen through stone technologies, highlighting both regional trends and interregional relationships. The volume lays the foundations for creating an integrated understanding of Neolithic lithic technologies across the broad geographical regions of Turkey, Greece and the Balkans.
Time and History in Prehistory, 2019
“The idea of human prehistory, this volume argues, is ‘foggy and misleading’. What happened befor... more “The idea of human prehistory, this volume argues, is ‘foggy and misleading’. What happened before written records deserves instead the unqualified status of history. The wide-ranging papers in Time and History in Prehistory start with farming and end with the rise of cities. With breathtaking conceptual verve, they affirm that understanding time is central to archaeological endeavour. The editors must be congratulated on fashioning a global showcase for the last few millennia of deep human history.”
Clive Gamble, University of Southampton, UK
_________
Time and History in Prehistory explores the many processes through which time and history are conceptualised and constructed, challenging the perception of prehistoric societies as ahistorical. Drawing equally on contemporary theory and illustrative case studies and firmly rooted in material evidence, this book rearticulates concepts of time and history, questions the kind of narratives to be written about the past and underlines the fundamentally historical nature of prehistory.
From a range of multi-disciplinary perspectives, the authors of this volume address the scales at which archaeological evidence and narrative are interwoven, from a single day to deep history and from a solitary pot to a complete city. In doing so, they argue the need for a multi-scalar approach to prehistoric data that allows for the interplay between short and long term, and for analytical units that encourage us to move continuously between scales.
The growing interest in time and history in archaeology and across a wide range of disciplines concerned with human action and the human past highlights that these are exceptionally active fields. By juxtaposing varied viewpoints this volume bridges gaps in narrative, finds a place for inclusive histories and makes clear the benefit of integrative and interdisciplinary approaches, including different disciplines and types of data.
Anadolu Arkeolojisinde Taş Aletler (Teori | Metot | Pratik) , 2018
İletişim Ağları ve Sosyal Organizasyon , 2015
ARTICLES by Adnan Baysal
Anadolu/Anatolia, 2021
In Turkey, archaeological research has developed more with the scientific understanding of 'doing... more In Turkey, archaeological research has developed more with the scientific understanding of 'doing excavation' than a concept of 'the adequacy of digging'. Of course, archaeological research should involve excavation, but scientific understanding cannot be limited to this. Excavation is one of the techniques used by the science of archaeology. When we start from this point, excavation work should be as successful at knowing and understanding the past which is the essence of science, creating knowledge of this and sharing this information, using it and making it accessible to everyone as at excavation itself. However much archaeological work is generally understood as the ritual of excavating the soil to find 'new unknowns' (or 'newly rediscovered), and, having restored them, giving them to museums, this situation only makes up an accumulation of material culture and its visuality. Despite the focus on the enrichment of Turkish archaeology since the 1960s with interdisciplinary research and the putting into practice multidisciplinary research, today it is difficult to move on without asking to what extent this has been successful. Archaeology, even if it has been reduced to the scale of excavation today, is a discipline generally evaluated as the system of the scientific practice of excavation operating within the triangle of theory, method, and practice. Today we can observe that it is in a position where the first of these is largely ignored, the second has not yet been seen and the third is taken directly or sometimes piecemeal from the excavation systems developed by German, American or English archaeology. Within this archaeology, based on the third process of the triangle, interpretation, which needs to take place after excavation, is among the most important of the missing components. Based on this general view, this study of ground stone industries, which have long been neglected in the archaeology of this country, is shaped in such a way as to be an example. In this study, which underlines the question of where the stone tools in question are and where they should lie in archaeology between inventiveness and interpretation, an attempt is made to lay the foundation for ground stones in the first corner of the above-mentioned triangle. Also, however much it is claimed that archaeology is a multidisciplinary field, I aim to show that this is not true when looked at from the perspective of ground stones.
Oxford Journal of Archaeology 34 (3)
Summary. An assemblage of marble bracelets, at various stages of manufacture, recovered during su... more Summary. An assemblage of marble bracelets, at various stages of manufacture, recovered during surface survey of the site of Kanlıtaş in Turkey, indicates that there was specialized production activity at the site during the Chalcolithic period. In this article we present the assemblage, evidence about material procurement, technology and manufacturing processes. We discuss the significance of the assemblage in relation to other sites in the area and as an example of production intended for inter-site trade or exchange. We also address the wider issues of both the production of stone bracelets as a widespread practice in Anatolia from the Neolithic onwards, and the phenomenon of early specialized production.
Levant 45.2: 175-209
Abstract:
This paper discusses the only substantive evidence for the Epipalaeolithic of central ... more Abstract:
This paper discusses the only substantive evidence for the Epipalaeolithic of central Anatolia. This evidence allows revised understandings of phenomena often proposed as characteristic of the Epipalaeolithic of South-west Asia including the appearance of sedentism, a putative Broad Spectrum Revolution, intensive plant exploitation and the emergence of distinctive ritual and symbolic practices. It also allows further evaluation of the effect of Late Glacial climate change on human behaviours.
Keywords: Anatolia; Broad Spectrum; Epipalaeolithic; Late Glacial climate change; ritual; sedentism
The polycentric nature of Neolithic developments in the Middle East has prompted several discussi... more The polycentric nature of Neolithic developments in the Middle East has prompted several discussions related to the processes driving regional diversification in the emergence of agglomerate societies. Archaeologists have recognized how diverse social, environmental, and material landscapes shaped various communities, resulting in a heterogenous Neolithic world. In this paper, we use portable x-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analysis to determine the use of different chert resources at the site of Çatalhöyük, Turkey, and question how their consumption affected, and was affected by, different social and material practices enacted within the community. We adopt a network perspective to examine the range of behaviours that consumed particular resources, and trace how alterations in these networks impacted the social fabric of Çatalhöyük. Ultimately, we conclude that different investments involved in the consumption of each resource either promoted or restricted their use through time. A more complete picture of Neolithic life, we suggest, takes note of the varied relationships that communities developed with nearby social and environmental landscapes, including nuances in the ways in which resources were incorporated into different facets of each community.
This paper is a presentation of three sources of artifact-quality chert in Central Anatolia. A pr... more This paper is a presentation of three sources of artifact-quality chert in Central Anatolia. A previous dearth of research focused on locating and characterizing such raw material sources has incorrectly colored our view of prehistoric economic practices. To remedy this situation, we have conducted a survey of various locales within Central Anatolia to test for the presence of artifact-quality materials. We make use of Individual Attribute Analysis (IAA) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) analysis to discriminate among these materials, and suggest their use by the Neolithic occupants of Çatalhöyük through similar analyses of artifactual materials. We argue that the presence and characterization of these new sources allows us to better understand the intricacies of Neolithic practices by illustrating the ways in which the consumption of these materials was variably entwined with the exploitation of other resources, as well as embedded within social relations outside of Central Anatolia. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Colloquium Anatolicum, 2013
This article provides an introduction to the Boncuklu Höyük excavation project, in progress since... more This article provides an introduction to the Boncuklu Höyük excavation project, in progress since 2006, and underlines the place of the discoveries about the ‘Boncuklu culture’ that have come to light in the wider context of the archaeology of Anatolia and the Near East. Some of the results of the works at Boncuklu Höyük are discussed from the point of view of archaeo-cultural ad- vancement, in which discussion is seen their importance for Central Anatolia. We see the importance of the evidence at Boncuklu Höyük for the story of the period of change to sedentary life in Anatolia. It is emphasised that the mate-rial and cultural characteristics seen at the site were not developed by chance.It has been debated that the Central Anatolian Neolithic is situated at the periphery of the core of the Eastern Neolithic and as a result of this under-standing the cultural interactivities and interconnectedness have been inter-preted from the point of view of diffusionism. On the basis of this, cultural progress has been re-modelled within a framework of material culture history as the ‘Neolithic Package’ scheme. There are contradicting views in reference to this model, based on the argument that cultural characteristics should be evaluated as a whole rather than by comparative analysis focused on stylistics or typological similarities amongst the objects. In addition to this, the presence of local cultural developments, as in the case of Central Anatolia, and the area’s internal and external cultural dynamics have been deliberated in order to prove the homogeneity of Central Anatolia. In order to test these views, expressed a decade ago, more data was required.In the last ten years of archaeological research, programmes that have been conducted in Central Anatolia include new sites such as Pınarbaşı and Boncuklu Höyük, which appear to chronologically follow one another and/or partially overlap. The Epipalaeolithic levels at Pınarbaşı and its influences provide a powerful chronological tool for understanding Boncuklu Höyük as the antecedent of the approximately 1000-year later site of Çatalhöyük.In order to understand the local cultural development Pınarbaşı, Boncuklu Höyük and Çatalhöyük can be defined as an archaeological laboratory in this part of the Central Anatolia. The apparent continuation of the cultural traits seen at Boncuklu Höyük (such as bull heads, platforms and human skulls) at the later site of Çatalhöyük is an indicator of a continued cultural tradition and sense of identity rooted in Central Anatolia. The settlements of Boncuklu and Pınarbaşı show that the symbolism and social development seen at Çatalhöyük can be traced backwards. In addition to this continuum in cultur-al traits in a local sense, recent excavations that have been conducted at Aşıklı Höyük by M. Özbaşaran of İstanbul University have revealed that the earliest levels of this site also have oval planned mudbrick houses. Boncuklu Höyük, although dated slightly later than Aşıklı Höyük level 4, also revealed simi-lar oval planned houses made of mudbricks. The oval planned structures at Boncuklu contain platforms, stone lined hearths, animal heads installed as at Çatalhöyük, red painted floors and applied reliefs on the walls. All these char-acteristics, echoed at Çatalhöyük more than a thousand years later, empha-size the cultural importance of Boncuklu Höyük in time and space. In short, Boncuklu Höyük can be seen as the birthplace of the Çatalhöyük culture and the point from which it developed. Characteristics such as symbolic formation, oval planned architecture, rebuilding houses on previous footings, tool types and technology, adaptation to regional geography and climatic conditions and internal, external and interregional relations, which have been proved by imported raw material and status objects, like beads, are all indicative of the well established and recognized culture in Central Anatolia. This article shows that Boncuklu is not the only such example in Central Anatolia, other sites such as Pınarbaşı and Aşıklı Höyük, far from being coincidence, are further evidence that rather than coming from the east, maybe developments were localized within the Central Anatolian context. Current evidence suggests that, rather than being a result of the introduction of a ‘Neolithic package’ the culture of Central Anatolia maintained a regional identity when compared with its eastern contemporaries. The data that have been accumulated during the last decade allow us to interpret an individual regional identity for the Central Anatolian Neolithic cultures that endured from the time of the first sedentary settlements
Heritage Turkey Issue 2, pages 16-18, 2012
Uploads
EDITED VOLUMES by Adnan Baysal
Clive Gamble, University of Southampton, UK
_________
Time and History in Prehistory explores the many processes through which time and history are conceptualised and constructed, challenging the perception of prehistoric societies as ahistorical. Drawing equally on contemporary theory and illustrative case studies and firmly rooted in material evidence, this book rearticulates concepts of time and history, questions the kind of narratives to be written about the past and underlines the fundamentally historical nature of prehistory.
From a range of multi-disciplinary perspectives, the authors of this volume address the scales at which archaeological evidence and narrative are interwoven, from a single day to deep history and from a solitary pot to a complete city. In doing so, they argue the need for a multi-scalar approach to prehistoric data that allows for the interplay between short and long term, and for analytical units that encourage us to move continuously between scales.
The growing interest in time and history in archaeology and across a wide range of disciplines concerned with human action and the human past highlights that these are exceptionally active fields. By juxtaposing varied viewpoints this volume bridges gaps in narrative, finds a place for inclusive histories and makes clear the benefit of integrative and interdisciplinary approaches, including different disciplines and types of data.
ARTICLES by Adnan Baysal
This paper discusses the only substantive evidence for the Epipalaeolithic of central Anatolia. This evidence allows revised understandings of phenomena often proposed as characteristic of the Epipalaeolithic of South-west Asia including the appearance of sedentism, a putative Broad Spectrum Revolution, intensive plant exploitation and the emergence of distinctive ritual and symbolic practices. It also allows further evaluation of the effect of Late Glacial climate change on human behaviours.
Keywords: Anatolia; Broad Spectrum; Epipalaeolithic; Late Glacial climate change; ritual; sedentism
Clive Gamble, University of Southampton, UK
_________
Time and History in Prehistory explores the many processes through which time and history are conceptualised and constructed, challenging the perception of prehistoric societies as ahistorical. Drawing equally on contemporary theory and illustrative case studies and firmly rooted in material evidence, this book rearticulates concepts of time and history, questions the kind of narratives to be written about the past and underlines the fundamentally historical nature of prehistory.
From a range of multi-disciplinary perspectives, the authors of this volume address the scales at which archaeological evidence and narrative are interwoven, from a single day to deep history and from a solitary pot to a complete city. In doing so, they argue the need for a multi-scalar approach to prehistoric data that allows for the interplay between short and long term, and for analytical units that encourage us to move continuously between scales.
The growing interest in time and history in archaeology and across a wide range of disciplines concerned with human action and the human past highlights that these are exceptionally active fields. By juxtaposing varied viewpoints this volume bridges gaps in narrative, finds a place for inclusive histories and makes clear the benefit of integrative and interdisciplinary approaches, including different disciplines and types of data.
This paper discusses the only substantive evidence for the Epipalaeolithic of central Anatolia. This evidence allows revised understandings of phenomena often proposed as characteristic of the Epipalaeolithic of South-west Asia including the appearance of sedentism, a putative Broad Spectrum Revolution, intensive plant exploitation and the emergence of distinctive ritual and symbolic practices. It also allows further evaluation of the effect of Late Glacial climate change on human behaviours.
Keywords: Anatolia; Broad Spectrum; Epipalaeolithic; Late Glacial climate change; ritual; sedentism
takes the ‘dig’ action to a different dimension, at least that it should not be limited to dirt. The study will question objects that are defined as finds in the archaeological sense, that can reach from past years to the present day without deteriorating or disappearing, and that have a place in everyday life, and are generally man-made. This paper focuses on the enquiry into the processes of change that have happened to these objects and aims to understand ontological aspects of the finds.
Höyüktepe kazıları Kütahya Müzesi Müdürlüğü tarafından ve başkanlığında yürütülmüştür. Kazılar sonucunda ortaya çıkan arkeolojik buluntular arasında çok sayıda öğütme taşlarının da bulunduğu gözlenmiş, kazı projesinin yürütücüleri tarafından detaylı ve analitik incelenmesi için sistematik olarak kazı alanında ve sonrasında belgelenerek kazı sonrası analizleri için depoda biriktirilmiştir. Buluntular üzerinde yapılan ilk incelemeler gerçekleştirilerek elde edilen bilgiler yine aynı kurum tarafından gerçekleştirilen monograf içinde yayınlanmıştır. İlk değerlendirmeler Höyüktepe öğütme taşlarının tipolojik çeşitliliği, hammadde ve kullanımına işaret etmekteydi. Buluntuların tipolojik açıdan çoğunluğu alt ve üst öğütme taşlarından meydana geldiği ve bunların yoğun kullanımda kaldıkları gözlenmiştir. Bununla birlikte buluntuların kazı alanındaki konumları değerlendirilmeden bırakılmıştı. Burada ilk çalışmanın devamı olarak düşünülen ve bir anlamda çalışmayı tamlayacak olan bir perspektif ile buluntuların konumları ve kontekstleri değerlendirilecektir. Dolayısıyla, bir dağılım analizi yapmak amaçlanmaktadır. Dağılım analizleri sonucunda da öğütme taşlarının bulundukları ortamlarla ilişkileri dışında, onların kullanım tarihlerinin de bir anlamda ortaya çıkarılması amaçlanmakta ve mekan ve alet kullanımı açısından da bir çerçeve sunmayı amaçlanmaktadır. Bu da yerleşmenin işlevi ve anlaşılmasında önemli oranda yardımcı olacaktır.
Abstract
The excavation of Höyüktepe is conducted under the direction of Kütahya Museum. As a result of these systematic excavations numerous ground stone tools have been discovered. These tools were registered and recorded during the excavations and stored in the depot of the dig house where post-excavation analyses were conducted. Initial results of the examination of the assemblage were previously reported in a monograph published by the Kütahya Museum. This report considered tool typology, raw materials and use of the raw materials. It indicated that the lower and upper parts of grinding equipment were dominant in the assemblage compared to other types. However, the first report did not include contextual analysis or consideration of on-site distribution of these artifacts. As a follow up the previous one, this report focuses on the contextual analyses, on-site distribution and use-life of the artifacts. The wider purpose of this report is to help in the interpretation of building use, household activities and life cycles of the ground stones, all of which are useful in understanding the overall functioning of the site.
--------------------------
This work aims to evaluate the ground stone nds from Hoyuktepe. This report, although for the excavated site Hoyuktepe nds is going to be the rst considerations in this respect, considering the regional studies in this subject will be second analysis that based on ground stones. The studies on ground stones in Turkish archaeology are in small quantity, however, this work intends to provide a basis for ground stone studies at least for the long term archaeological research programmes that undertaken in the region as well as shed light on the food production, economic formation, tool production and use technics. Therefore, this report is not only consisting of ground stone artefact that have been found during the excavation also an introduction to future report too.
the southern part of the Konya Plain. The Canhasan Sites are now host to a renewed research programme and excavations after a 50-year break in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the whole of the Konya Plain and its close cultural links with SE Anatolia and Northern Mesopotamian cultures. This talk will explain the aims of the new Canhasan excavation and research project started in 2021.
the season offered despite domesticating animals and plants. In most scenarios, animal products, especially meat, were a
contributor to the diet in variable quantities. This paper aims to emphasise the new method of food preparation with griddle stones that has been identified at the early Neolithic sites of Pınarbaşı and Boncuklu Höyük in Central Anatolia. Evidence THEME 3
274
275
for the consumption of food partially has been based on data from faunal remains and their discoveries in contexts typically
identified with “feasting” in archaeological literature. It is possible to argue that the way of preparing/cooking meat prod
-
ucts conducted by
the use of griddle stones, which are a typologically new addition to Central Anatolian ground stones.
In
addition, reasons for the appearance and disappearance of griddle stones within the specific time period (c. 8500 BC) will
be evaluated and questioned. Whether these griddle stones can be seen as an indication or reflection of economic process,
change in social behavior and way of life in prehistoric communities in Central Anatolia will be considered.
and belong to those past communities which are unknown entities and meets todays elaborate thinking and theories goes
beyond unthinkable sometimes. This talk revolves around how the use life history of objects makes a difference (with or
without contribution of technologies) and how the objects can be seen in their social context of their different use stages,
means of these objects may change and/or communication with or over these objects. The communication over these
changing objects during their use life can also change their social part taking in everyday life. This talk will be aimed to explain the use life of objects as a constant and dynamic change and attached other things those objects also changing such
as meanings, communication, communicated subjects or levels
Time and History in Prehistory explores the many processes through which time and history are conceptualised and constructed, challenging the perception of prehistoric societies as ahistorical. Drawing equally on contemporary theory and illustrative case studies and firmly rooted in material evidence, this book rearticulates concepts of time and history, questions the kind of narratives to be written about the past and underlines the fundamentally historical nature of prehistory.
From a range of multi-disciplinary perspectives, the authors of this volume address the scales at which archaeological evidence and narrative are interwoven, from a single day to deep history and from a solitary pot to a complete city. In doing so, they argue the need for a multi-scalar approach to prehistoric data that allows for the interplay between short and long term, and for analytical units that encourage us to move continuously between scales.
The growing interest in time and history in archaeology and across a wide range of disciplines concerned with human action and the human past highlights that these are exceptionally active fields.
By juxtaposing varied viewpoints this volume bridges gaps in narrative, finds a place for inclusive histories and makes clear the benefit of integrative and interdisciplinary approaches, including different disciplines and types of data.