Geochemical Analyses to Make the Invisible More Concrete: Cycles of Building Use and Roof Hatches at the Early Neolithic Site of Aşıklı Höyük

ABSTRACT

This study focuses on understanding the use of space at Aşıklı Höyük in central Turkey through the geochemical analyses of five overlying floors of a quadrangular mudbrick building dating to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Period. The research allows us to follow the process on a micro-scale, from the design and construction of the structure to its abandonment. We aim to perceive the role of plastered floors to gain insights into the producers and users of the building and those who kept it alive and maintained it. We will treat floors as one of the main actors of these spaces and zero in on entangled relationships by addressing a range of other aspects in the building. The analyses enable the identification of use patterns. Based on our results, we attempt to provide suggestions about the location of the roof hatches and hence the main access of the inhabitants to the external world.

KEYWORDS:

• Use of space
• sediment geochemical analyses
• ICP-OES
• building biography
• materiality
• central Anatolian Neolithic
• Aşıklı Höyük

Acknowledgements

The sediment geochemical analyses for this study were performed at Koç University’s Archaeology and History of Art Laboratory using its beneficial facilities. We thank the Koç University College of Social Sciences and Humanities dean’s office for the instrument maintenance and running costs. We also thank Aysel Arslan, Ayşe Ataş, Gülşah Günata, Devrim Sönmez, Emrah Gökcan, Varlık İndere, and Çağla Çam, particularly, and the Aşıklı Höyük Research Project team for collaborating during the research. We are also grateful to three anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions and comments.

Geolocation of the Case Study Area

Aşıklı Höyük, Kızılkaya village, Aksaray, central Anatolia, Turkey. Coordinates: 38.3484° N, 34.2302° E.

Disclosure Statement

The authors declare that there are no relevant financial or non-financial competing interests to report.

Additional information

Funding

This study was financed by the Koç University’s College of Social Sciences and Humanities Research Funding.

Notes on contributors

Fatma Kalkan

Fatma Kalkan (M.A. 2017, Istanbul University) is a Ph.D. candidate in Koç University’s Department of Archaeology and History of Art. Her research focuses on identifying past human activities and understanding the use of space through sediment geochemical analyses and phytoliths. Her interests include the Neolithic period in southwestern Asia, multiproxy archaeology, ethnoarchaeology, and ethnoarcheometry. http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7660-1804

Mihriban Özbaşaran

Mihriban Özbaşaran (Ph.D. 1992, Istanbul University) is a Professor in the Department of Prehistoric Archaeology in Istanbul University. She is currently the director of the multidisciplinary Aşıklı Höyük Research Project, central Anatolia (Turkey) and one of the consultants of the Balıklı PPN Research Project. Her research interests include early Neolithic communities in southwestern Asia and the transition from foragers to farmers. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3603-948X

Rana Özbal

Rana Özbal (Ph.D. 2006, Northwestern University) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Archaeology and History of Art at Koç University in Istanbul and the director of the Tell Kurdu excavations in Hatay (Turkey). Her research interests include the prehistory of Anatolia and southwestern Asia and have primarily been on the 7th and 6th millennia b.c. She is interested ceramics, as well as archaeometric analyses in archaeology, to try to answer anthropologically informed questions. http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6765-2765