Hadi Özbal

Kestel: An Early Bronze Age Source of Tin Ore in the Taurus Mountains, Turkey

An ancient mine located at Kestel on the outskirts of Nigde, in the Taurus Mountains of south central Turkey, has been dated by radiocarbon and pottery type to the third millennium B.C. Archeological soundings in the mine located cassiterite (tin oxide) in the detritus of ancient mining activity. Cassiterite is also present in veins and, as placer deposits, in streams nearby. Since tin is used with copper in order to form bronze but is thinly distributed in the earths crust, the presence of tin ore at Kestel offers a source for the much sought after tin of the Bronze Age. The discovery of an ancient mine containing cassiterite sheds light on this question, but also greatly complicates the accepted picture of regional economic patterns in the highland resource areas of Anatolia and of interregional metal exchange in the formative periods of urbanization and metal use in the eastern Mediterranean.

The Late Chalcolithic Settlement at Barcın Höyük

This report presents the Late Chalcolithic levels at Barc n Hoyuk, located in the Yeni ehir Basin in the eastern part of the province of Bursa (figure 1). Excavations began in 2005 and earlier reports have appeared in this journal and elsewhere (Roodenberg, van As and Alpaslan Roodenberg 2008; Gerritsen and Ozbal 2008, 2009, 2010). The Barc n Hoyuk Excavations take place in the context of the long-term regional research project ‘Early Farming Communities in the Eastern Marmara Region’, carried out by the Netherlands Institute for the Near East and the Netherlands Institute in Turkey. The earliest levels encountered so far at the site are Late Neolithic, dating to the mid to late seventh millennium. Excavations reveal that there was a hiatus in occupation, thereafter, spanning more than two millennia. Settlement on the mound resumed in the Late Chalcolithic period, probably during a relatively short period at the beginning of the fourth millennium BC. The research priorities set for the upcoming seasons of excavation, focusing on the Neolithic levels, make it unlikely that major remains from the Late Chalcolithic period will be encountered. A presentation of the findings at this stage in the research project seems to be in order, therefore, also in light of the fact that presently Late Chalcolithic settlements are still very poorly known in northwest Anatolia. The site of Barc n Hoyuk (figure 2) consists of two low mounds connected by a saddle, and covers a total area of about 2 hectares. The eastern, larger and higher, mound rises to about 4 meters above the plain. Surface finds indicate that prehistoric occupation was concentrated at the eastern mound. Geographically, Barc n Hoyuk is situated at the transition from the basin proper to the lowest extremities of the hill range to the north. Wetlands, terrain suitable for arable farming, and upland environments would all have been within easy walking distance from the prehistoric settlement.