Area 807
Main Information
| Area ID | 807 |
| Site |
Pınarbaşı B |
| Area type | settlement |
| Area NR | |
| Period | Anatolia: Pre-Pottery Neolithic A Anatolia: Pre-Pottery Neolithic B |
| Dating method | material culture radiocarbon dating |
| Radiocarbon dated | yes |
| Earliest date: Lab Number | |
| Earliest date: 14C age (BP) | |
| Earliest date: Calibration | None |
| Earliest date: 14C age calibrated (BC) | |
| Earliest date: Date of calibration | None |
| Earliest date: Standard deviation | None |
| Earliest date: Delta 13C | None |
| Earliest date: Dated by | |
| Latest date: Lab Number | |
| Latest date: 14C age (BP) | |
| Latest date: Calibration | None |
| Latest date: 14C age calibrated (BC) | |
| Latest date: Date of calibration | None |
| Latest date: Standard deviation | None |
| Latest date: Delta 13C | None |
| Latest date: Dated by | |
| Period Reference |
Özdoğan, Mehmet, The Neolithic in Turkey. New Excavations & New Research. Central Turkey, None, None Baird, D., Pınarbaşı. From Epi-Paleolithic Camp-Site to Sedentarising Village in Central Anatolia; Istanbul 2012, None, None Watkins, T., Excavations at Pınarbaşı: the early stages; Cambridge 1996, None, None |
| Comment | Three C14 dates between 8500 and 8000 in Area A; other finds (nut fragments) indicate a possible continuity in use to the beginning of the 8th millennium. |
| Settlement type | flat site |
| Settlement structure | |
| Settlement building type | |
| Settlement building shape |
apsidal ovoid |
| Settlement building technique |
plaster wall wattle and daub |
| Settlement archaeological features |
hearth pit plastered floor |
| Cave/rockshelters type | None |
| Cave/rockshelters: Evidence of graves/human remains | |
| Cave/rockshelters: Evidence of occupation | |
| Quarry exploitation type | None |
| Quarry raw material | |
| Cemetery/graves topography | |
| Cemetery/graves mortuary features | |
| Grave: number of graves | 6 |
| Grave type | |
| Grave: type of human remains |
inhumation |
| Grave: estimated number of individuals | 6 |
| Grave: age groups |
adult infans II (7-12) juvenile (13-18) |
| Grave: sexes |
female individuals male individuals |
| Grave: number of female sex | 1 |
| Grave: number of male sex | 1 |
| Grave: number of not specified sex | 4 |
| Grave: disturbance of graves | |
| Description | The settlement of the 9th millennium lay over most or all of the promontory mound. The near wetland habitats (lake or marshlands) were important to the site (--> wetland plants/phytoliths/carbonized fragments of reeds, sedges and other plants; also micro-faunal evidence like voles, amphibians, wetland birds); also close was a steppe, probably in the Konya Plain (--> equid as hunted species) 3 trenches were excavated; trench D was almost 80 cm deep --> intensity and longevity of this site; trenches A and D encompassed structures and features of the 9th millennium, but no structure was completely excavated, so no complete ground plans exist as of yet. Curvilinear plaster lined cuts were found, some structures had superstructures of wattle and daub (structural debris consisting of clay or marl lumps with impressions of reed and weed indicate it); Building 3 in Area D was oval/apsidal, 1,6 x 1,4 m, with plastered floors and sides (thick layer of plaster, approx. 7 times plastered with local marl?). It had floors with "stake holes" from reed structures or pegs (inserted in floor while it was still wet) for furnishing or pegging mats; flecks of red ochre were found on some floors, occasional daub elements were in the fill, which could indicate a wattle and daub superstructure like Building 5 in Area A had; a substantial quernstone was upturned on the structure's floor; an earlier building with a red ochre floor preceded building 3 in Area A; in Area A also was a part of a structure (Building 5), with a dished plaster floor (Space 4) that was plastered 2 times and a hearth approx. in the center of the structure, a sub-oval plaster basin, a substantial stone seat or work surface, and a small pit; there was structural daub debris with wood and reed impressions over the final floor (seems to be collapse of a wattle and daub superstructure); In conclusion, common on this site were curvilinear, partly sunken, plastered structures and wattle and daub superstructures with fixtures for furnishing --> those point to a significant investment in the site and a long-term or regular use. Mortuary practices: parts of a small cemetery were discovered in Area A, from the later phases of the 9th millennium; the burial-levels were eroded, but they were probably not buried under house floors (like Aşıklı and Çatalhöyük). e.g. Burial 10: a flexed articulated adult male who lay on his side, with a distinctive microlithic point close to his lower leg; Burial 6: tightly bundled partially articulated female (adult, 18-20 years) with commingled skeletal elements; this burial was close to the articulated burial of a 10-year old (excavated in 1994), buried with a cake of red ochre. There was another burial from the earlier phases of Area A. In the early phases of Area D, there were different mortuary practices than in Area A: fragmentary remains of three individuals grouped closely together (two sub-adults, an adult, only partially articulated); Tool Kits: Obsidian dominates (ca 80%), much lesser chert/flint. The cores were brought to the settlement partially reduced, but intensive further reduction on site; typical: bidirectional cores, many irregular and much reduced --> mainly bladelets produced in reduction sequence, but final removals were typically flakes; also 2 naviform cores; bigger bladelets were turned into elongated microliths, using the micro-burin technique --> lots of micro-burins. Microliths were the predominant formal tool (ca. 10%) and were very variable, but typical were elongated scalene triangles. Probably lots of different tools used microlith inserts, and it is presumed that many of these tools were parts of hunting armatures (frequent large mammal-bones), but also other uses are likely. Flint knapping took place on site --> flint microliths, flake products and -tools (more common than microliths) --> reduction strategies; flint came to this site less reduced than the obsidian (secondary flakes as debitage and tools suggest it); high proportions of obsidian indicate a long-distance procurement of it on a large scale in Central Anatolia. continuation of earlier traditions and also rapid adoption and adaptation of imported technology (from south east); very large pestles were common, but mortars were less common --> maybe pestles were used with bedrock mortars, located on a shelf of limestone in the south of the 9th millennium mound; also smaller handstones were used for grinding; there also were large querns (e.g. a triangular one in B 3); there also were basalt "griddles"; some of these tools were likely used for ochre pressing, and they could have been used on plaster, meat, plant food processing (almond, terebinth nut) and other materials; The materials for the tools came from the Karadağ, and some small greenstone axes were imported in unworked form from ca. 80 km to the south-west (where the Çarşamba River met the Konya Plain), the axes were probably valued and highly curated items. Also, decorated shaft straighteners were found, as well as bone points and other tools. The shaft straighteners were sub-rectangular basalt and schist stones of modest size (2,5-5,5 cm long), with a polished central groove --> probably much use and wear and tear from prolonged curation. The surface color was altered due to some treatment, and decorated with a variety of geometric incisions (e.g. parallel lines,Vs, Xs, dots) --> probably arrow shaft straighteners and used for working of sinew --> parts of hunting kits, closely asociated with the individual identities of hunters; similar items were found on slightly earlier and contemporary PPNA to PPNB sites on the Euphrates. Beads: shell (Dentalia, Nassarius gibbosulus, Columbella rustica, imported from the Mediterranean, like in the Epi.Paleolithic levels), stone (local basalt, local limestone, imported red marble) --> quite common; lots of beads were found in the fills of Building 3, all finished --> no indication that there was a bead workshop High proportions of large wild (?) mammals like aurochs and equids were hunted, as well as some caprines, mainly sheep. Fish bone indicates that some fishing took place in the local lake/marshes; also, fowling took place; Plants: almond and terebinth nuts were eaten; other plants, including wetland species were used as bedding, structural elements or other non-food purposes, e.g. weedy barley --> subsistence practices focussed on hunting large mammals, gathering and storing (?) nuts, supplemented by fishing, fowling and plant gathering from wetland settings and hunting/trapping of other small mammals. Ground stone fragments hint that plant foods (particularly nuts) may have had an important role in the diet. |
| Comment |
Location of the Site
Bibliography
Finds in this Area