Area 826
Main Information
| Area ID | 826 |
| Site |
Boncuklu |
| Area type | settlement |
| Area NR | |
| Period | Anatolia: Pre-Pottery Neolithic B |
| Dating method | material culture |
| Radiocarbon dated | None |
| 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. - Fairbairn, A. - Martin, L. - Middleton, C., , The Boncuklu Project. The Origins of Sedentism, Cultivation and Herding in Central Anatolia; Istanbul 2012, None, None |
| Comment | This place dates approx. between 8500 and 7500 cal. BC. |
| Settlement type | tell |
| Settlement structure | |
| Settlement building type | |
| Settlement building shape |
ovoid |
| Settlement building technique |
mud brick wattle and daub |
| Settlement archaeological features |
clay structure hearth pit plastered floor post hole storage pit waste pit |
| 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 | |
| Grave type |
pit grave |
| Grave: type of human remains |
inhumation secondary deposition |
| Grave: estimated number of individuals | |
| Grave: age groups |
mature-senile (51-70) neonate |
| Grave: sexes |
male individuals sex not specified |
| Grave: number of female sex | None |
| Grave: number of male sex | 1 |
| Grave: number of not specified sex | None |
| Grave: disturbance of graves | |
| Description | Area M: the earliest deposits here consist of thick midden deposits --> probably from open air accumulation of organic material that was dumped onto the surface of the midden; there also were occasional rain wash layers and phytolith surfaces (--> the deposition in these middens stopped for short periods). Inside the middens were in situ burning events and stone hearths, as well as animal bones and an aurochs horn core, carbonized and silicified plant remains, and artifacts (at least 2 elongated boat shaped plaster vessels, one of them was dumped in the midden, the other one was maybe used in situ). There were also fragmentary human remains (skull material; comparable to the find of a human jaw in a midden in Area H) --> re-deposition of a disturbed burial? Rather distinctive treatment of human skulls in areas outside of buildings. On top of the midden, contemporary (?) with the latest excavated phases of it, was a light structure feature 1 (F1), which was limited by a mudbrick kerb or wall (with a curving line of single bricks on the edge) in the west. It enclosed a thick accumulation of fine layers of floor surfaces (silty, compact, dark plastery material --> different from the habitation buildings in Areas K and H). The floors of F1 were bounded on the east by a straight narrow north-south slot with stake holes at the base, which was used as foundation for a light organic screen wall. The wall consisted of an upright core of reeds, maybe with wattle type construction and maybe mud/clay added to it. There was evidence of clay structural material bearing reed impressions in the midden deposits, which shows long-term use, but with thin walls/boundaries. The floors of F1 had post holes, pits, stake holes --> proof of wooden elements within the structure and the frequent re-positioning of them. The structure was probably roofed --> maybe it was an enclosed, roofed work platform/area rather than a dwelling building; Area K: The earlier phase of activity had a sequence of curvilinear, ellipsoidal mudbrick buildings (3 x 5 m); there were 6 buildings that had been built on top of each other (Buildings: B2, B9, B7, B3, B1.1, B1.2) B2: earliest building, oval structure; the northern mudbrick wall remains unexcavated; in later burials distinct clay-walled features were observed (ovens or storage bins) B9: replaced B2 (B2 was dismantled and cut into for the creation of B9), only the floors were preserved. There was a division between different areas of the floors of this building: two thirds of the building in the east have a relatively flat floor (hard, white marl plaster); a distinct lip demarcated a sunken set of floors in the northwestern third. There was a hearth, surrounded by stake holes and small post holes and a concentration of small annular features (concentric plastered rings) --> stake holes or drip holes (?) from rain entering the edge of the smoke hole above the hearth. The hearth was oval, sloped to the south-east and was lined with flat smooth river pebbles in some places; a shallow sloping flue led into the heart --> area for cooking/food preparation. Burial 12 cut into the later floor of B9 (a 50 + male, articulated crouched inhumation, lying on the left side with the head in the north, in an oval burial cut) B7: the northward sloping floors overlapped the earlier B9 floors; a depression in the northwest area maybe was a cooking space; there were very large post holes in the floor in the south-west Area K near other large posts in this area; in the southwest there was a single large post as a repeated feature of the sequence of buildings in Area K; most of B7 was cut away by B3 B3: oval (3,6 x 5 m); the northern wall and floor edges are not preserved, but a cut for the building along the southern edge survived (cut down into earlier deposits and lined with plaster); there was no mudbick (other than in B1.1 and B1.2 where the above-ground superstructure was made of mudbricks --> architectural varieties in these buildings); there were posts in the south, with four cuts in this area; three of them (features 32, 33, 36) had the same size, the fourth one (F4) was larger --> maybe F4 was a small pit. It contained concentrations of chipped stone material; maybe the posts had just a symbolic significance (like later posts in Çatalhöyük). The hearth was in the north-west (same spot as the earlier ones). It was oval, larger than the earlier hearths and contained a distinct ashy fill. Grave 10 (for a perinatal/neonate) was cut into the building, and B3 was replaced quickly after that. B 1.1 and 1.2 were the latest structures (2 distinct buildings) B 1.1: first building, with a single row of mudbricks as exterior wall; many flooring episodes (a minimum of 5 replastering episodes); in the northwest was a circular hearth that retained in this location through the life of the structure, but later reduced in size, and in later phases it had a plaster kerb around the edge; near the south wall were two small post holes for wooden posts (features 34, 35) which were inserted and removed at different points of reconstruction; they were out of use before the final floors were installed (the holes were filled with plaster plugs and then plastered over by the floors). In the southern part was an oval area of floor slumping (--> Grave 12 was beneath it). B 1.2: second mudbrick wall in the interior face; the building had at least one entrance in the south-east end (indicated through a small socket set in the plaster surface at the butt end of the wall), therefore the building was below the contemporary external surface but it was not accessed through the roof. The building had at least two plaster floors. On the final preserved floors were cross weave mats (tabby weave technique) in the center of the building. The final floor adjacent to the north wall was painted an orange-red; in this area, the base of a plaster installation was exposed (attached to the north wall and also painted orange-red in the latest phase of B 1.2). There were 4 replasterings (the plaster modeled relief on the floor and against the north wall was refurbished and reshaped; each of the several fine plaster layers was painted orange-red); There was a series of curving protusions that flanked the elongated projecting ridge --> phallic aspect? The buildings in Area K continued over 1 to 2 centuries in the 9th and 8th millennium cal. BC. In the northwest was the kitchen area, the south was used for other daily activities. In general, the size of the houses of this site increased over time. Area H: there was a sequence with at least 3 buildings (B8, B5, B4) that cut into each other; in some of these buildings the floor slumped --> sub-floor burials B8: mudbrick walls, set into a cut B5: cut into B8; had a relatively high oval plaster lined cut B4: curvilinear mudbrick and mud walls; the hearth was repeatedly used and constructed in the same area. In the southwest the floors were of poor quality; In the north of a building that pre-dates B5 was a plastered basin/platform with areas of red floor adjacent to it (red ocher material was mixed with the floor make-up, not painted on the plaster as in B1.2) Area O: located south of B 1.1/1.2 and Area K; prehistoric middens in large cuts (10,7 x 7 m); some were contemporary with the B2 to B1.2 sequence; no Neolithic structures were found there Trench Y (offsite): located 30 m southwest of the bulldozed edge of the mound. Beneath Byzantine or later dated gravelly surface were pits with obsidian, animal bones and diagnostic Neolithic artifacts --> off-site pits from the later 8th millennium cal. BC that were cut into the natural marl; Animal remains: there were about 10 000 bones from Areas K, H and M, but only 8% (740 bones) were identifiable. birds; fish; amphibians; tortoise ( food? natural deposits? carcasses used as artifacts? only their shell used?); higher numbers of cattle and boar/pig (domestic and wild); sheep/goat in small numbers; red deer or fallow (hunted); canis (large remains,so rather wolf than dog); --> identified animals: 102 cattle, 17 equids, 5 large cervids, 8 fallow deer, 97 boars/pigs, 9 sheep/goats, 12 wolves/dogs, 2 sheep, 2 goats, 8 foxes , 3 hares; birds and aurochs were hunted; there were less caprines and equids than in Pınarbaşı B, but a greater diversity of hunted species; herding took place in the 8th millennium. Plant remains: carbonized seeds; dark ashy inclusions were common in deposits; small fragmented remains (smaller than 2 mm); varied seed abundance (large ones with over 400 per unit); some wood charcoals; crop plants: emmer wheat, einkorn, free-threshing wheat, hulled barley; large-seeded legumes (unclear if domestic); crops preserved in small quantities, except in the upper levels: large samples of free-threshing wheat remains, including rachis internodes; nuts, fruits --> hackberry, terebinth, wild almond; non-domestic seed flora: wetland taxa; grasses, common ruderal, various caryophyllacea; several nutlets; widespread fragments of bolboschoenus maritimus tubers; maybe fragments from reed; --> crop species used, possible arable weed flora, also wild plant species Artifacts: - chipped stones: mainly obsidian; similar to Pınarbaşı B in the late 9th millennium --> chipped microliths with elongated scalene triangles, but subtle distinctions to Pınarbaşı B; typical for the later 8th millennium: large projectile points; - a series of incised decorated stones, many with a polished groove --> shaft straighteners, but with a range of functions; not all had polished grooves: other ones had narrower incisions and polished working surfaces --> polishing and cutting functions additional to the shaft straightener use; other decorated stones weren't used at all; - there was a wide range of complex designs, including more naturalistic examples like a human figurine or a deer head? - beads: stone, shell (marine shell, e.g. nassarius) - pendants: stone, shell; one of them more elaborately decorated - bone tools: were common, including a part of a toggle - clay objects: lots of them were found in middens, some with geometrics, some derived from the sealing of organic materials or containers --> early accounting and sealing; It is not sure if this site was exactly contemporary with Pınarbaşı B, but the chipped stone assemblages are very similar, so the contemporaneity in earlier phases is highly likely --> either both sides were occupied seasonally by the same community and the differences in the two sites resulted from different lengths of stay and seasonally and locally adjusted dwelling practices; OR both sides were occupied by different contemporary communities; OR there was a diachronic development |
| Comment |
Location of the Site
Bibliography
Finds in this Area