scholarly journals A Diachronic Study of Networks of Ceramic Assemblage Similarity in Neolithic Western Anatolia, the Aegean and the Balkans (c.6600–5500bc)

Archaeometry ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 600-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. G. Groot
Keyword(s):  
Western Anatolia ◽  
Ceramic Assemblage ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Diachronic Study

6600–6000 cal BC Abrupt Climate Change and Neolithic Dispersal from West Asia

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernhard Weninger ◽  
Lee Clare
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Abrupt Climate Change ◽  
Western Anatolia ◽  
Southeast Europe ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Farming Communities ◽  
Anatolian Plateau ◽  
Decadal Scale ◽  
Early Farming ◽  
New Hypothesis

Recent advances in palaeoclimatological and meteorological research, combined with new radiocarbon data from western Anatolia and southeast Europe, lead us to formulate a new hypothesis for the temporal and spatial dispersal of Neolithic lifeways from their core areas of genesis. The new hypothesis, which we term the Abrupt Climate Change (ACC) Neolithization Model, incorporates a number of insights from modern vulnerability theory. We focus here on the Late Neolithic (Anatolian terminology), which is followed in the Balkans by the Early Neolithic (European terminology). From high-resolution 14C-case studies, we infer an initial (very rapid) west-directed movement of early farming communities out of the Central Anatolian Plateau towards the Turkish Aegean littoral. This move is exactly in phase (decadal scale) with the onset of ACC conditions (~6600 cal BC). Upon reaching the Aegean coastline, Neolithic dispersal comes to a halt. It is not until some 500 years later—that is, at the close of cumulative ACC and 8.2 ka cal BP Hudson Bay cold conditions—that there occurs a second abrupt movement of farming communities into Southeast Europe, as far as the Pannonian Basin. The spread of early farming from Anatolia into eastern Central Europe is best explained as Neolithic communities’ mitigation of biophysical and social vulnerability to natural (climate-induced) hazards.

The Balkans in the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic: The Gate to Europe or a Cul-de-sac?

1992 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. K. KozŁowski
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Western Anatolia ◽  
Middle Palaeolithic ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Last Interglacial ◽  
Danube Basin ◽  
The Balkans

During the Last Interglacial Middle Palaeolithic industries of Crvena Stijena-type rich in side-scrapers with Levallois technique of recurrent type are specific to the Balkans. These industries have analogies in Anatolia and the northern part of the Middle East (Zagros-Group), but are different from industries typical of the middle Danube basin (Taubachian) and northern Central Europe (Moustero-Levalloisian). In the period preceding and immediately following the Lower Pleniglacial the Balkans were dominated by typical Mousterian and Moustero-Levalloisian, frequently with leaf points, similar to the industries of the lower Danube and Dniester basins, but unknown in western Anatolia. During the same period Eastern Micoquian developed in the middle Danube basin and northern Central Europe. Moustero-Levalloisian with leaf points persisted until the Early Interpleniglacial, but only in exceptional cases developed some Upper Palaeolithic features, and always without typical Aurignacian forms. The Aurignacian, unless it appears as a first Upper Palaeolithic culture in the Balkans with earliest dates in Europe (>40,000 years BP), seems to be an intrusive unit without any roots in the local Middle Palaeolithic. After 30,000 years BP, parallel to the Late Aurignacian, the first industries with backed blades appear. In the early stage these developed independently from those of Central Europe. Only after 26,000/24,000 BP were they followed in the eastern Balkans by assemblages strongly linked both morphologically and by raw materials to the Gravettian of the middle Danube basin. In the western Balkans, after 20,000 years BP, assemblages with shouldered points appeared, also probably of middle Danube origin. During the Last Interglacial and Interpleniglacial the territory of Balkans played an important transitional role between Anatolia and Central Europe; in the two Pleniglacials of the Würm this territory became some kind of cul-de-sac as the refugium for population groups from the middle Danube and northern Central Europe.

scholarly journals The Early Neolithic pottery of Keçiçayiri and its place in the North-western Anatolian Neolithisation process

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 138-156
Author(s):  
Deniz Sari ◽  
Semsettin Akyol
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Western Anatolia ◽  
Mountainous Area ◽  
Cultural Groups ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Cultural Elements ◽  
Trade Networks ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
The North ◽  
North Western

The region of Inner North-western Anatolia was a key node in the transmission of the Neolithic lifestyle from the Near East to Marmara, and from there to the Balkans and the rest of Europe. It formed the intersection between several important routes and trade networks, and the settlement of Keçiçayırı, the subject of this paper, had an essential role in the transfer of cultural elements during the Neolithic. The settlement is located on a natural communication route that connects the region of Emirdag-Bolvadin with Eskisehir across the mountainous area of Phrygia, between the distribution areas of the Hacılar and Fikirtepe cultural groups. Finds from the site include both Pre-Pottery Neolithic material and Early Neolithic ceramics, and it is therefore among the earliest permanent settlements of the Eskisehir region, and contains some of the earliest evidence for the Neolithisation process. In this paper, the pottery assemblage of the Early Neolithic settlement at Keçiçayırı is discussed, and its place in the spread of Neolithisation from the Near East to Northwestern Anatolia is evaluated when compared to other known sites.

Caliphate Redefined

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hüseyin Yilmaz
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Islamic Law ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
Western Anatolia ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Imperial Ideology

The medieval theory of the caliphate, epitomized by the Abbasids (750–1258), was the construct of jurists who conceived it as a contractual leadership of the Muslim community in succession to the Prophet Muhammed's political authority. This book traces how a new conception of the caliphate emerged under the Ottomans, who redefined the caliph as at once a ruler, a spiritual guide, and a lawmaker corresponding to the prophet's three natures. Challenging conventional narratives that portray the Ottoman caliphate as a fading relic of medieval Islamic law, the book offers a novel interpretation of authority, sovereignty, and imperial ideology by examining how Ottoman political discourse led to the mystification of Muslim political ideals and redefined the caliphate. It illuminates how Ottoman Sufis reimagined the caliphate as a manifestation and extension of cosmic divine governance. The Ottoman Empire arose in Western Anatolia and the Balkans, where charismatic Sufi leaders were perceived to be God's deputies on earth. The book traces how Ottoman rulers, in alliance with an increasingly powerful Sufi establishment, continuously refashioned and legitimated their rule through mystical imageries of authority, and how the caliphate itself reemerged as a moral paradigm that shaped early modern Muslim empires.

Frog in the Pond: Gökçeada (Imbros), an Aegean Stepping-stone in the Chalcolithic use of Spondylus Shell

2014 ◽  
Vol 80 ◽  
pp. 363-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Baysal ◽  
Burçin Erdoğu
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Western Anatolia ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
White Marble ◽  
Trade Networks ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
History Of ◽  
Culture Production

The use of marine shells in the manufacture of bracelets and beads is a well-attested phenomenon of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods of Western Anatolia, the Aegean, and the Balkans. The site of Gökçeada-Uğurlu, located on an island in the Aegean between mainland Europe and Anatolia, shows evidence for the manufacture and use of bracelets and beads from Spondylus and Glycymeris shell. This use of personal ornamentation ties the site into one of the widest material culture production and trade networks of the prehistoric period. This article explores the possible role of, and influences on, an island site within the wider context of long-distance exchange. The life history of shell products is investigated, showing that a bracelet may have gone through processes of transformation in order to remain in use. The article also questions whether there was a relationship between the use of marine shell and white marble from which similar products were manufactured in contemporary contexts. In its conclusions the article addresses the value of materials and of the personal ornaments they were used to make.

scholarly journals The Early Neolithic pottery of Keçiçayiri and its place in the North-western Anatolian Neolithisation process

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 138-156
Author(s):  
Deniz Sari ◽  
Semsettin Akyol
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Western Anatolia ◽  
Mountainous Area ◽  
Cultural Groups ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Cultural Elements ◽  
Trade Networks ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
The North ◽  
North Western

The region of Inner North-western Anatolia was a key node in the transmission of the Neolithic lifestyle from the Near East to Marmara, and from there to the Balkans and the rest of Europe. It formed the intersection between several important routes and trade networks, and the settlement of Keçiçayırı, the subject of this paper, had an essential role in the transfer of cultural elements during the Neolithic. The settlement is located on a natural communication route that connects the region of Emirdag-Bolvadin with Eskisehir across the mountainous area of Phrygia, between the distribution areas of the Hacılar and Fikirtepe cultural groups. Finds from the site include both Pre-Pottery Neolithic material and Early Neolithic ceramics, and it is therefore among the earliest permanent settlements of the Eskisehir region, and contains some of the earliest evidence for the Neolithisation process. In this paper, the pottery assemblage of the Early Neolithic settlement at Keçiçayırı is discussed, and its place in the spread of Neolithisation from the Near East to Northwestern Anatolia is evaluated when compared to other known sites.

The Tartaria Tablets

Antiquity ◽  
1967 ◽  
Vol 41 (162) ◽  
pp. 99-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. S. F. Hood
Keyword(s):  
Western Anatolia ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Magical Beliefs

The inscribed clay tablets (PL. XVIa) found in a 'Neolithic' context at Tartaria (FIG. 1) in Romania in 1961 have already aroused a certain amount of interest here. The signs on the tablets are comparable with those of the script of the Late Predynastic (Uruk III Jemdet Nasr) period in Mesopotamia, as Dr Vlassa who excavated them has noted. It seems unlikely however that the tablets were drafted by a Sumerian hand or in the Sumerian language of early Mesopotamia. The shapes of the tablets and some of the signs are paralleled in the Minoan scripts of Crete, but the tablets do not seem to be Cretan. There are indications that a similar use of signs, if not actual writing, was practised in the rest of the Aegean and in Western Anatolia before the end of the 3rd millennium B.C. A knowledge of writing, or the use of signs derived from it, may have spread to these regions and to the Balkans from Mesopotamia through Syria. This was perhaps one aspect of a common inheritance of religious or magical beliefs and practices.

Quaternary range dynamics and taxonomy of the Mediterranean collared dwarf racer, Platyceps collaris (Squamata: Colubridae)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiří Šmíd ◽  
Tatiana Aghová ◽  
Doubravka Velenská ◽  
Jiří Moravec ◽  
Petr Balej ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Entire Range ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Mitochondrial Gene ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
The Other ◽  
Western Anatolia ◽  
Distribution Models ◽  
Type Specimens ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Range Dynamics

Abstract The geological and geographical settings of the Eastern Mediterranean have resulted in complex patterns of intraspecific diversifications and phylogeographical histories that can be observed in squamates. In this study, we examined genetic differentiation of the Collared dwarf racer (Platyceps collaris) using a multilocus genetic dataset with a sampling that covered the entire range of the species. We developed distribution models in current and past climatic conditions to assess the dynamics of the species distribution through time. We sequenced a fragment of the cytochrome b mitochondrial gene of the holotype and eight paratypes of Coluber rubriceps thracius, which is considered a synonym of Platyceps collaris. Our results show that there are two distinct clades within P. collaris, one occupying the Balkans and western and southern Anatolia (termed the Balkan–Anatolian clade), the other in the Levant (termed the Levantine clade). All type specimens of C. r. thracius are genetically identical and cluster within the Balkan–Anatolian clade. Distribution models indicate the presence of two refugia during climatically challenging periods. One was in western Anatolia and served as a source for the colonization of the Balkans and southern Anatolia, and the other was in the northern Levant, from where P. collaris dispersed further south. According to our results, we revise the subspecific taxonomy of P. collaris.

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