Tepecik-Çiftlik
Coordinates: 38 ° 10 ′ 19 ″ N , 34 ° 29 ′ 37 ″ E
Tepecik-Çiftlik is an archaeological site near the district town of Çiftlik ( Niğde Province ) in southern central Anatolia in ancient Cappadocia .
The settlement mound is largely isolated from its wider surroundings in the Melendiz plain, which was created by silting up a crater lake from the Pleistocene . The place was in the 7th and 6th millennium BC. Populated when only a small body of water was left. Erhan Bıçakçı from the University of Istanbul has been carrying out excavations there since 2000 , and around three quarters of a hectare has been uncovered so far. Traces of settlement from the Byzantine period, the Chalcolithic and the Neolithic were identified.
Chalcolithic
Most of the attention was paid to the finds from the early Chalcolithic period, in which the site consisted of individual buildings in open spaces and alleys. At that time, the adobe buildings were built on stone foundations. Some of the buildings have been expanded into larger complexes. Fireplaces and stoves as well as storage containers were found in these buildings. The decoration of the ceramic found in these layers shows connections to the Köşk Höyük site . There are also many finds of bone tools and figurines. Due to the proximity to Göllü Dağ , one of the richest and highest quality obsidian deposits in Anatolia, a high-quality flint industry developed in the place. Since this local community knows numerous types of lance and arrowheads that are known from all over the Middle East, it must be assumed that Tepecik-Çiftlik served as a production and trading center. The subsistence of the inhabitants, as the large number of millstones found suggests, was primarily based on grain. In addition, animal products also played a major role, for which it was not previously possible to determine whether they were due to domestication or hunting.
Neolithic
The Neolithic layers date between 7000 and 5500 BC cal and encompass almost the entire Neolithic. They are divided into three phases.
As far as cut, the Neolithic layers on the Tepecik-Çiftlik hid some burials in a crouched position. These contained an inventory of stone tools that already corresponds to that of the Chalcolithic period. Stylistic differences can only be made out in the ceramic.
literature
- Erhan Biçakcı: Tepecik-Çiftlik. A New Site in Central Anatolia (Turkey). In: Architectura. Journal for the History of Architecture 34 (2004) pp. 21–26.
- Erhan Biçakcı: Tepecik-Çiftlik. In 12,000 years ago in Anatolia. The oldest monuments of mankind , exhibition catalog Karlsruhe 2007, p. 135.
- Erhan Biçakcı 2001, Tepecik-Çiftlik Höyüğı (Nigde) kazısı ışığında Orta Anadolu Tarihöncesi kältürleri ile ilgili yeni bir değerlendirme. Türkiye Bilimler Akademisi Arkeoloji 4, 25–41.
- Erhan Biçakcı, Faydah, E. 2001, Tepecik-Çiftlik 2000 yılı calismalan. Kazi Sonuçlari Toplantisi 23/2, 29-38.