Different manifestations of Neolithization in Northwest Anatolia? An Archaeobotanical Review from Barcın Höyük and Bahçelievler, Turkey

Hüreyla Balcı; Rana Özbal; Fokke Gerritsen; Erkan Fidan

doi:10.4312/dp.49.19

Authors

Hüreyla Balcı Istanbul University, Turkey https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7290-5077
Rana Özbal Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6765-2765
Fokke Gerritsen Netherlands Institute in Turkey, Istanbul, Turkey; Leiden University, The Netherlands https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6665-1928
Erkan Fidan Bilecik Şeyh Edebali University, Turkey https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6777-927X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4312/dp.49.19

Keywords:

archaeobotany, Neolithization, Northwest Anatolia, Barcın Höyük, Bahçelievler

Abstract

The Neolithic way of life was first established in Northwest Anatolia before the middle of the 7th millennium BC. The recently excavated sites of Barcın Hoyuk and Bahcelievler have yielded archaeological evidence for the earliest Neolithic levels in the region and provide new archaeobotanical datasets. To compare different adaptations to the changes brought on by the Neolithization processes, we studied 348 archaeobotanical samples from Phases VIe and VId1 at Barcın and 63 samples from the contemporaneous levels, Phase 6 and Phase 5, at Bahcelievler. The economic plants include hulled and naked six-row barley, einkorn, emmer, bread/hard wheat, small-sized naked wheat, lentil, bitter vetch, pea, chickpea, flax, hazelnut, bramble, and pistacia. Our analyses show small but significant differences between the sites in the selected economic plant ranges, among the cereals, pulses as well as gathered plants.