Elizabeth Carter

Emerging complexity on the Kahramanmaraş Plain, Turkey : The Domuztepe project, 1995-1997

The fifth millennium is a key period in the development of complex societies in the Near East. Domuztepe, situated in southeastern Turkey on the northwestern edge of the traditional heartlands of the Halaf, is one of the largest sites known from this period. The investigation of this large (20 ha), central site is providing new details of the organization of society at the site and its relationship with the surrounding environment. The settlement seems to have been a focus of long-distance exchange, with evidence for the manufacture and manipulation of status items. Stamp seals occur remarkably frequently and ceramics seem to have been used in a complex way, indicating shifting external relations over time. There is also evidence for economic intensification, notably the possible use of secondary products.

Whose Bones are those? Preliminary Comparative Analysis of Fragmented Human and Animal Bones in the “Death Pit” at Domuztepe, a Late Neolithic Settlement in Southeastern Turkey

Kansa S.W., Gauld S.C., Campbell S. & Carter E. 2009. — Whose Bones are those? Preliminary Comparative Analysis of Fragmented Human and Animal Bones in the “Death Pit” at Domuztepe, a Late Neolithic Settlement in Southeastern Turkey. Anthropozoologica 44(1): 159-172. ABSTRACT A unique feature at the mid-6th millennium BCE settlement at Domuztepe, Turkey, is a large pit filled predominantly with fragmented human and animal bones. Previous studies have established that the “Death Pit” animal bone assemblage is characterized by specific features not found in the daily refuse from the rest of the site. The present study seeks further understanding of the Death Pit through a preliminary comparison of the animal and human bone assemblages, including element preservation, degree of fragmentation and breakage patterns. Spatial models of animal and human bones in the Death Pit provide insight into depositional sequencing and the nature of the probable feasting activities that produced this assemblage. Our initial osteological results show that the near identical processing of humans and animals suggests of cannibalism. However, a lower occurrence of fragmentation on human skulls, together with depositional differences between animals and humans, also suggests that conceptual differences between human and animal were maintained.

Resource exploitation at late neolithic domuztepe: Faunal and botanical evidence

Domuztepe, in southeastern Turkey, is one of the largest known Late Neolithic sites in the Near East. Ecofactual remains recovered at Domuztepe indicate that the site’s inhabitants relied on a well‐established mixed economy of domestic plants and animals to sustain the settlement’s large population, which may have peaked at more than 1,500 people. Evidence of a long and continuous occupation of this site attests to a successful agropastoral economy, even though Domuztepe was situated at the intersection of uplands, an alluvial plain, and marshy zones, an environment not traditionally considered ideal for agriculture. Integrated faunal and botanical analyses explore the diversity of domestic and wild resources used by the site’s inhabitants. The typical suite of Near Eastern domesticates dominates the excavated assemblage, with sheep, goats, cattle, pigs, and cereals prominent. In addition to a nutritional role, these food products were used for clothing, storage, and construction and had symbolic importance in ritual and prestige. Combined archaeobiological data point to a seasonal cycle of activities.

Excavations at Anshan (Tal-e Malyan) : the middle elamite period

This volume provides us with the first detailed view of the functioning of the Middle Elamite Empire outside Susiana. The excavation encompassed a segment of a larger building that must have served as a focus for the servants of the Elamite state in Anshan. Even though the function of the excavated area changed over time-from monumental building (level IV), to ceramic production area (level IIIB), to domestic structure (level IIIA)-the strong cultural ties to the lowlands continued until level IIIA was abandoned. Malyan Excavation Reports, II