Seeds of Complexity: An Archaeobotanical Study of Incipient Social Complexity at Late Chalcolithic Çadır Höyük, Turkey

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Late Chalcolithic (LC: 4250–3000 B.C.E.) is an understudied period of Anatolian prehistory even though the roots of Anatolian social complexity lie in this period. Çadır Höyük, a mounded site on the north central Anatolian plateau has yielded over 460 m2 of excavated LC remains. This period witnessed rapid cultural and environmental change providing an opportunity to examine how populations react using archaeobotany since plants have a direct relationship with the environment and plant use can be controlled at both the household and state level.

This study presents analyzed data from 60 archaeobotanical samples that illuminates how the population at Çadır modified agricultural and fuel use practices between 3500 and 3000 B.C.E. Results reveal that prior to 3200 B.C.E., plant use was stricter and more controlled and animals were routinely provisioned with fodder. After 3200 B.C.E., plant use norms became less strict and the environmental change caused a shift towards provisioning animals through pasturing. By shifting emphasis from agriculture to agropastoralism after 3200 B.C.E., the population at Çadır was able to weather environmental and cultural changes.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24708