| The period between 10.000 and 6000 calibrated BC in North-Central Anatolia remains a blank on the archaeological map. This is surprising given the fact that a sequence of Mesolithic and Neolithic cultures dating to these millennia has been established in South-Central Anatolia, and that both regions share a similar ecology. The proposed study aims to investigate the Early Holocene occupation of North-Central Anatolia and the introduction of Neolithic technologies and sedentary lifeways in the region. This topic will be approached through two lines of investigation. First, two obsidian sources located in North-Central Anatolia of which material has been found in Neolithic sites in adjacent regions will be investigated through a surface survey and a subsequent analysis of the artefacts found. This analysis can illuminate patterns of exchange between different regions that are of key importance for studying cultural interactions during the Early Holocene. Second, the technique of thermoluminescence dating will be used for establishing a more secure chronology for a series of chronologically problematic ceramic assemblages in the region that have been dated through selective and often unconvincing comparisons with excavated sites often thousands of kilometres removed. Combining these two approaches it is hoped that new light can be shed on the Early Holocene occupation of North-Central Anatolia and the dispersal of Neolithic practices in the Near East. Further, it is hoped that this study can contribute to the development of methodologies for investigating archaeological dark ages. |
