Late Chalcolithic

Plaster and mortar samples from Arslantepe (Turkey) hold potential to provide unique information about the lime production and adhibition during the Late Chalcolithic period (4th millennium BCE). A multi-analytical approach including polarized light microscopy (PLM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), and scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) has been applied to characterize mortar samples from temple C and elite residences dated back to the late Chalcolithic 3–4 (3800–3400 BCE). A marly limestone has been identified as starting raw material for the lime production, probably coming from two different sources (local and brought from a different part of the Malatya plain). Moreover, different aggregate selection and the use of different production techniques were also detected in the samples, which are probably related to the function of the buildings. Evidence of a re-plastering process was also detected in the two elite houses, which probab...

The “chieftain’s grave” in the Kurgan of Maikop epitomizes for over a century the spectacular wealth of the North Caucasian Early Bronze Age. Perhaps even more remarkable than the material and artistic value of its objects appears the involvement of North Caucasian society with the developed urban centers of the Near East.  Andrew Sherratt insightfully described Maikop as  “the world’s first ‘barbarian’ society, generated on the fringe of the area of initial urban expansion”  and transmitting lifestyle and technology to the steppe region.  The traditional opinion sets this transmission in the context of large-scale urbanization and long-distance state-controlled trade at a developed stage of the Near Eastern economic system.  A more recent alternative view, though, perceives Maikop as an offspring of the Near Eastern urban economies and trading networks in their formative phase during the Uruk period.  The span of about one thousand years between these two contexts provides reason for an enduring dispute over the chronology of the Maikop period. This paper reviews the available evidence for dating the North Caucasian Early Bronze Age and comments on the recent shift to “high” dating and its implications.

The main purpose of this study is to question about Bell Beakers metal artifacts in Western Europe, and more particularly in France. After an inventory of Bell Beakers metal finds and metallurgical evidences in France, we come to the conclusion that the Beakers people used and maybe produced specifics types of artifacts, some of them in direct relation with ornamented ceramic, others in troubles find contexts.

A remarkable number of metallic objects are under direct influence of Iberian models, underlining probable trades between different areas of Bell Beakers cultures, France being at the crossroad of theses exchanges.

According to the small number of metallurgical areas in France, it was very difficult to retrace the level of metallurgical knowledge of Bell Beakers societies and the possible impact on metallurgical processes. But a marked diversity in the pattern of impurities could suggest a deliberate strategy, maintaining a network of relations with diverse metal-producing groups.

Considering the fact that metallurgy takes a large part in the definition of cultural changes, and economics processes during all the third millennium B. C., we think that metal must be seen as a clue to understand the wide spread of Bell Beaker culture in Western Europe.

Keywords: Bell Beaker, metal, metallurgy, copper, gold, France.

In the fertile plains around lake Orumiye around 80 chalcolithic settlements have been found, while they are rare in the more mountainous regions of North-Western Iran. All sites may be called small (1-2 hectares) and no fortifications are known. In the Early Bronze Age Period (EBA), also called Kura Araxes or Early Transcaucasian Period (ETC), some 100 or more sites are found all over the area as well as in the mountainous regions. All sites are fortified. Settlements tend to be much larger now, sometimes almost 6-10 hectares like Beig Ovbassi, Gol Tappe, Yanik Tappe, Baruj Tappe Marand, Bastam Tappe, Ravaz, Qara Tappe Tasuj, Haftavan Tappe, Geoy Tappe, BalowTappe, Andjene Tappe or GijlarTappe. In the Middle Bronze Age a sharp decline in the number of sttlements can be observed in the whole area, with exception of the fertile plains.Specially large senlements continue at sites like Baruj Tappe Marand, Bastam Tappe, Haftavan Tappe, Qara Tappe Tasuj or Geoy Tappe.

With its location on the Upper Tigris Valley and its layers of the Late Chalcolithic period, Başur Höyük, Siirt is an important north Mesopotamian settlement which is being excavated within the scope of the dam project particularly like many other south-east Anatolian settlements in Turkey. The Late Chalcolithic layers represented with many phases at the mound are divided into two main cultural periods. The earliest phase is the local Late Chalcolithic period that represents the societies which used plant-tempered pottery. This period is followed by the layers of the Uruk culture of south Mesopotamian origin, which used mineral-tempered pottery. We may state that Başur Höyük is a settlement in which answers can be sought to many archaeological problems such as to what extent and how the inter-regional interaction between the Uruk culture, which had carried out colonization activities in northern Mesopotamia for a long period of time, and the local societies of northern Mesopotamia was. Its possession of a quite wide variety of pottery repertoire and other small finds in both periods is among the phenomena which make it important to study the Late Chalcolithic pottery of Başur Höyük.

In this paper we present some preliminary observations concerning the ceramic horizon of the Late Chalcolithic period in the Shahrizor Plain, also referring to the previous Ubaid phase. We will discuss surface collections from 16 sites as well as finds from recently excavated contexts at Gird-i Shamlu and Begum. Using this new data, we shall highlight local trends and interregional connections, reflecting on chronological and general issues concerning the Late Chalcolithic period in Mesopotamia from the point of view of an inter-mountainous valley in the eastern Zagros piedmont.

Long-term excavations at Arslantepe, Malatya (Turkey), have revealed
the development, in the fourth millennium BC, of a precocious palatial system with
a monumental building complex, sophisticated bureaucracy, and a strong centralization
of economic and political power in a nonurban site. This paper reconsiders,
in comparative terms, the main features and organization of the earliest states in
Greater Mesopotamia. By looking at the social and economic foundations of the
emergence of hierarchies and unequal relations, the dynamics and degrees of
urbanization, and the role of ideology, I highlight the common aspects and the
diversified trajectories of state formation and outcomes in three main core regions—
southern Mesopotamia, northern Mesopotamia, and Upper Euphrates valley.

Keywords State formation  Greater Mesopotamia  Political economy  Social
hierarchies  Urbanization  Arslantepe palace

In this article, I explore the symbolic relationship between " house " and " temple " architecture in northern Mesopotamian site of Tepe Gawra during the late Chalcolithic period. Through a diachronic and comparative study of house and temple architecture and use of space, I illustrate how standardized temple architecture appropriated and further developed the symbolism already present in the structure of the houses. I argue that temples symbolically represent houses as microcosm of the larger cosmological principles, and the social order. The analysis of ritual-architectural elements within the houses suggest that access to ritual knowledge, ancestor veneration and possession of inalienable items played an important role as the basis for social differences at Tepe Gawra.

This book is devoted to the research of grave monuments of the Leilatepe archaeological culture that was spread during Late Chalcolithic period –in the first half of the IV millennium BC in the South Caucasus, especially in the territory of Azerbaijan. Different types of grave monuments of this phenomenon in the
Caucasus during the Chalcolithic period – kurgans, child jar burials and soil graves have been studied in the work. At the same time, the origin, funeral customs of grave monuments, especially kurgans of the Leilatepe culture were analysed in the context of the Near East-Caucasus. The book is the first generalizing monographic work on the grave monuments of the  Leilatepe culture.

This paper examines the dietary habits of a Late Chalcolithic-Early Bronze Age (ca. 3200-2800 BCE) population from İkiztepe. Intra-population issues of dietary habits such as possible social divisions (e.g. between sexes, ages, and socioeconomic status) were addressed. The research utilises the results of stable isotope analyses of carbon (δ13C), nitrogen (δ15N) and sulphur (δ34S) from human and animal bone collagen in conjunction with published archaeological data. Analysis of sulphur was conducted to investigate possible marine and freshwater resource consumption. The sample population from İkiztepe consists of 38 adults: 19 males and 19 females. A total of 20 (12 males and 8 females) adult individuals were sampled for the δ34S analysis. For sulphur (δ34S) the range in the sampled adult population is from 6.8‰ to 11.5‰. The respective means for δ13C and δ15N are −20 ± 0.3‰ and 8.9 ± 0.5‰. There is a greater range in the values of δ13C (1.4‰ compared to 0.9‰) and δ15N (2.6‰ compared to 1.9‰) for females, and males predominantly have δ15N values above 9.3‰. The dietary habits of the population were terrestrial C3 based and lacked significant marine or freshwater input despite the proximity of the settlement to the Black Sea and estuary of the Kızılırmak River. Furthermore, males had a slightly greater protein input than females in their diet. Animal management strategies and the exploitation of secondary products are also suggested.

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The Uruk Phenomenon of the mid-late fourth millennium BCE, an expansion of southern Mesopotamian cultural influence across parts of northern Mesopotamia is documented in archaeological excavations at numerous northern Mesopotamian archaeological sites. The way this phenomenon took place, and how it affected the local communities of the Shahrizor are however, unclear. Adopting a comparative approach, a selection of pre-Uruk ceramics from Gird-i Shamlu and Gurga Chiya are compared to an LC 4 Uruk (-related) ceramic repertoire from Gurga Chiya. Through this approach, it is apparent that the appearance of Uruk (-related) ceramics at Gurga Chiya during the LC 4 coincides with subtle, yet distinctive and culturally important changes to the manufacture and raw material sourcing of the ceramics from the site.

B. Horejs – Ch. Schwall, New Light on a Nebulous Period – Western Anatolia in the 4th Millennium BC: Architecture and Settlement Structures as Cultural Patterns?, in: S. Hansen – P. Raczky – A. Anders – A. Reingruber (Hrsg.), Neolithic and Copper Age between the Carpathians and the Aegean Sea. Chronologies and Technologies from the 6th to the 4th Millennium BCE, Archäologie in Eurasien 31 (Bonn 2015) 457–474.

The Late Chalcolithic period in Western Anatolia and the Eastern Aegean islands can be described as poorly investigated. In recent decades, however, the number of excavated sites dating to the 5th and 4th millennia BC has increased. Based on new excavation results from Çukuriçi Höyük, a site on the central Anatolian Aegean coast, in context with previously published studies of other sites, this contribution aims to shed new light on the Late Chalcolithic period in Western Anatolia. Our approach focuses on architectural remains and settlement structures which may point to cultural patterns in this region. It can be demonstrated that different construction techniques of Late Chalcolithic buildings are observable as local patterns. Stone socles and probably walls built entirely of stone are recorded in addition to walls built of mud bricks, or wattle-and-daub constructions. For the superstructure of these socles, walls of mud brick or of simple wattle-and-daub construction are known. From the architectural structures excavated so far, we categorize four principle types of domestic buildings in 4th millennium BC Western Anatolia: rectangular buildings, apsidal/elliptic buildings, circular structures and stone row structures. Solid building techniques with storage facilities as a general pattern in the Late Chalcolithic seem to indicate permanent settlements as the main living strategy. The closed character of the settlements – attested by enclosures or the villages’ spatial organisation – reflects some complex social organisation, even if monumental buildings have thus far not been identified.