Fikri KULAKOGLU

The archaeological site of Kültepe or the ancient city of Kanesh is a two-part urban center consisting of a 21-meter-high city mound and the fortified administrative quarter, mainly occupied by palaces and temples, surrounded by an extensive lower city that has conventionally been referred to as the kārum of Kaneš. The mound has yielded a long cultural sequence with 18 building levels dating from the Early Bronze Age to the late Roman period, whereas the lower city contains four discrete, well-defined horizontal strata. The earliest levels, IV and III, cover the transitional period from the late Early Bronze Age to the early Middle Bronze Age, whereas Level II, which has yielded cuneiform tablets, cylinder seals and ample other evidence for the presence of Assyrian merchants living alongside native Anatolians, dates to the Middle Bronze Age. We must emphasize from the onset that Kanesh has vast horizontal areas already excavated with traditional methods for almost 60 years. Most residential and nonresidential areas within the excavated portion of the lower city to date were previously emptied out with partial recovery of selected find categories; only street deposits were left intact therein. For this, the present excavation campaign at the site has adopted, since its inception in 2006, an interdisciplinary and integrative approach and focused on the implementation of modern recovery and analytical methods to ensure accurate, representative, and meaningful archaeological research. The ongoing excavations employ a rigorous sampling strategy and target intact and undisturbed contexts including houses, streets, workshops, and administrative structures for the representation of a multitude of activities at the site and to generate statistically viable, meaningful, significant, and representative sample sizes. A first and foremost goal of KIM 3 is to further explore approaches to the archaeology of complex urban sites using Kültepe-Kanesh as a case study. A special emphasis is placed on current multidisciplinary approaches presenting clearly-defined and theoretically-grounded methodological problems. The conference aims to integrate the whole spectrum of field and laboratory research that have been taking place and amassing new data at Kültepe since 2006 under the scientific directorship of Prof. Fikri Kulakoğlu of Ankara University. The subtext of the conference is to generate synergizing interactions among researchers studying the archaeological site of Kültepe or the ancient city of Kanesh.

Archaeobotanical samples from the Middle Bronze Age (MBA; c. 2000–1700 B.C.) city of Kanesh, excavated at the site of Kultepe in Kayseri Province, Turkey, preserve the charred shells of hazelnut (Corylus sp.). Hazelnut species do not naturally grow in the Kayseri area, being a native element of the broadleaf woodlands of Turkey’s Black Sea region, today home to a multi-million dollar international hazelnut export industry. The finds come from both the upper and lower city, being restricted to the Middle Bronze Age Karum level II, an occupation phase which saw the greatest development of the Assyrian trade network of which Kanesh was the administrative
centre. This archaeobotanical discovery at Kultepe provides the earliest direct evidence for trade in hazelnuts in the region, probably imported on a small scale as luxury items facilitated by the Assyrian trade network. It also provides independent support for historical claims that hazelnut was traded at Kanesh based on the analysis of cuneiform tablets.

Determining the physical setting and layout of early societies is an important requirement for understanding the development of Neolithic and Bronze Age urbanization and social organization in the ancient Near East and Mediterranean. In order for archaeologists to understand the history, context and settlement patterns of important sites and trade networks that developed during these periods, it is essential to investigate the cultural landscape surrounding these centers. This preliminary study examines the spatial layout of two sites in Central Anatolia, the Neolithic site of Boncuklu Höyük and the ancient Middle Bronze Age city of Kültepe-Kanesh, Turkey. This study builds upon current archaeological research by addressing issues regarding urbanism and settlement layout through systematic mapping of subsurface deposits with geophysical technologies and geographic information systems (GIS). Application of the methods used in this pilot study provided an opportunity to assess interpretations about these two sites. They also proved to be successful visual tools for understanding the site’s spatial layout.