Nederlands Instituut in Turkije
Hollanda AraştIrma Enstİtüsü      Netherlands Institute in Turkey

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NIT Research Project Early Farming Communities in the Eastern Marmara Region The 2007 campaign The 2007 campaign has shown that the occupational levels of Barcın Höyük consist of a number of occupation phases separated by significant periods of time. The earliest level has not yet been encountered. In one of the trenches possible remains of a Late Neolithic dwelling were found, however poorly preserved. Within its walls four infant burials were found. Once larger exposures can be excavated, a village plan may hopefully be revealed. In another trench was found several phases of Late Chalcolithic occupation. Here the most important find was a ca. 3 m wide ditch, which could have been used either to contain water or as boundary between areas of the site (as in nearby site of Aktopraklık). Neolithic flint and obsidian artefacts recovered from Barcın Höyük display strong similarities with finds from nearby Ilıpınar and Menteşe as well as with Fikirtepe and Pendik in the İstanbul region. A cemetery dating to the Middle Byzantine period was dug into the Late Chalcolithic levels. Parts were initially exposed in 2006 and excavation in 2007 continued excavating and documenting the graves. The inhumations always lie on their back, with the head towards the west. Often, the grave is covered by a gabled roof of large ceramic tiles, one or two pairs for children, three for adults, Grave goods from this Byzantine graveyard were rare, but included bronze jewellery, small bells and (found in 2006) a bronze reliquary holder which would have been worn as a pendant. This cross-shaped box was engraved with depictions of Mary and Christ.                 The 2008 campaign In 2008 a short season was held which focused on analyses of the 2007 finds, including the chipped stone, pottery and human bone. In the field, excavations concentrated on the Byzantine cemetery, of which a further 14 burials were excavated. Many of these were found underneath graves excavated in previous years and appear to represent the oldest graves in this part of the cemetery. Outlook Ongoing agricultural use has limited the area of current excavations to a single parcel in the North-South direction over the highest part of the mound. It is hoped that in future seasons representative samples can be taken from different parts of the mound yet unexplored. The integrity of the upper layers of the site has been significantly compromised by continuous agricultural activities as well as destruction by rodent burrowing. The lower deposits of the mound, object of our continuing work, have been spared this destruction. It is anticipated that sustained in-depth research of the Neolithic levels of the site will bring to light more information on architectural traditions, settlement layout, and subsistence practices in this transition zone between Anatolia and Southeast Europe.          The 2009 Campaign The 2009 field campaign of the Barcın Höyük Excavations Project comprised of excavations and geoarchaeological studies at and around the site. Analyses of the ceramics, faunal and human remains took place at the same time at the excavation house in the nearby town of Yenişehir. The 2009 season resumed the work done in excavation trenches that had been opened in earlier seasons. In one of these trenches, the oldest of the Byzantine graves were documented and removed, several ovens, floors and fragments of mudbrick walls of a Late Chalcolithic house were excavated, and finally, below that the latest remains of Late Neolithic occupation were exposed. In the other trenches, less time depth was covered, but the results were no less significant for our understanding of the Neolithic settlement. Its inhabitants lived in rectangular houses built of a combination of loam slabs and wooden posts. Fragments of such houses were encountered, together with informal indoor and outdoor surfaces. In all trenches there are still deeper and hitherto unexcavated levels; a major goal for the 2010 season will be to investigate these in at least one trench, and to complete the stratigraphic sequence. By then, we will hopefully also be able to confirm or refute our current idea that the settlement was comprised of built-up lots separated by open areas. Over time, it appears now, abandoned houses became leveled and turned into open lots, and open lots became built up again. The open areas between houses were used, among many other purposes no doubt, for the burial of the dead. The dead were buried on their side with legs tightly folded in front of the chest. Burying grave gifts with the dead was not common in the Neolithic of northwestern Anatolia, and the graves at Barcın Höyük are no exception.   The inhabitants of the Neolithic community become visible not only from their houses and the spatial organization of their settlement, but also from their artefacts and even the refuse from their meals. Analyses of the faunal and botanical remains and of the ceramic and chipped stone finds are ongoing. One of the most eye-catching small finds is a clay figurine of a female that appeared in the burnt rubble of a house, standing about 10 centimeters tall. Such figurines are rare (although this lady has the company at Barcın Höyük of several whole and fragmentary fellow figurines), and little is known about their function and meaning. Much more common are utensils made from animal bones, such as spoons, awls, needles, spatulas and even belt hooks. They were generally made with much care and were highly polished. Handles of spoons which had broken were often turned into pins. Stone was also shaped to make tools such as axes, bowls and very small beads. Geoarchaeology In order to collect evidence for a landscape reconstruction, Michiel Künzel and Hüseyin Bakmaz, both students in the VU University Amsterdam’s Geoarchaeology Department participated in the 2009 campaign. By manually extracting cores from the sediments around and below the site, some going as deep as 5.80 metres below the modern surface, they could identify layers of fine clay, silts and more sandy sediments – each indicative of different hydrological conditions. Once all this evidence is put together a schematic landscape history of the direct surroundings of the settlement can be drafted. Initial indications are that the mound did indeed border on swampy ground to the south. Lipid residue analysis of Neolithic ceramics When a ceramic vessel holds dairy or meat-based products, tiny amounts of fats (lipid) will be absorbed in the pores of the baked clay. In the last couple of years techniques have developed that make it possible to collect and identify the residues of these lipids, even from pottery that is thousands of years old. This possibility enables investigations of what individual vessels were used for. With financial support from Tübitak (the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) we have now started a follow-up project. The aims are to 1) confirm the use of dairy products at Late Neolithic Barcın Höyük; 2) to date the beginning and further developments in the use; and 3) to investigate the relationship between milk products and the shapes of the vessels that held them. During the field season 150 sherds were selected for analysis and brought to the Archaeometry Research Center of Boğaziçi University in Istanbul. Hadi Özbal and Ayla Türkekul-Bıyık are in charge of the chemical analyses, Laurens Thissen carries out the ceramic analyses.          The 2010 Campaign The 2010 excavations at Barcın Höyük were carried out in five trenches which were excavated also in previous years. Investigations in two of these trenches had the character of soundings, aiming primarily at obtaining stratigraphic information. The investigations in the remaining trenches on the other hand primarily aimed at exposing architectural remains and indoor and outdoor settlement spaces from a single stratum. While remains from several periods were investigated, including mainly Roman, Early Bronze Age and Late Neolithic, the emphasis of the investigations was on the Late Neolithic levels, in order to understand the development of one of the earliest farming communities in northwestern Anatolia. On current evidence, the periods of occupation represented at Barcın Höyük predate those of most other excavations in the Marmara Region, and the site offers an important opportunity to study the place and role of the Marmara Region in the development of agriculture and animal husbandry. The 2010 season at Barcın Höyük provided important information on our understanding of the site especially because two of the excavated trenches reached levels that are largely undestroyed by the intense pitting activity that we see higher up. The discovery of a series of overlying surfaces is especially promising because a stratigraphic sequence like this allows analysts to chronicle changes in ceramic styles, faunal remains and lithic technologies over time. Indeed, preliminary analyses by the pottery and animal bone suggest variability through time. Overall, this contributes to a regional chronology and complete parts of stratigraphic sequences that are not yet available for the Southern Marmara Region. Likewise, the discovery of a burned deposit suggests that future excavations may yield in situ finds. Furthermore, the discovery that the southern part of the mound was terraced in Roman times and the realization that Neolithic remains can be found immediately adjacent to and beneath Roman levels is important for a complete understanding of the mound stratigraphy.                  The 2011 Campaign The 2011 excavations season was carried out in 8 adjacent trenches that yielded Byzantine, Early Bronze, Late Chalcolithic and Late Neolithic remains. At least four different phases of the Late Neolithic period were determined. Since the Neolithic period of the Marmara region is realtively less known, it is important that the excavations at Barcin Höyük gives us the opportunity to observe the development of this period. The investigations of the 2011 season were focused on determining the chronology. Within this framework, chronological questions and stratigraphical data were studied. Studies including ceramic analyses, animal bones and small find morphology were conducted in order to understand the four different levels in question and their differences. In 2011, Dr. Laurens Thissen has continued the in-depth study of the Neolithic ceramics from the Barcın Höyük Excavations. As a result of the ceramic analyses, a new type of pottery could be defined. This is unknown so far from the eastern Marmara Region or elsewhere, and represents an older ceramic tradition than hitherto known. While clearly distinct from later traditions, it appears to represent a precursor to them, possessing already some elements that over time can be seen to develop in the Fikirtepe Culture. Prof. Dr. Hadi Özbal and Dr. Ayla Türkekul-Bıyık of Boğaziçi University’s Archaeometry Research Center have continued their lipid residue program. Their findings provide further evidence that the Marmara Region was an important region for the beginnings of dairy production in the seventh millennium BC.         Barcın Höyük Excavations Team Director: Fokke Gerritsen (Netherlands Institute in Turkey, Istanbul) Co-Director: Rana Özbal (Koç University, Istanbul) Ceramics: Laurens Thissen (Thissen Archaeological Ceramics Bureau, Amsterdam) Chipped stone: Ivan Gatsov (New Bulgarian University, Sofia), Petranka Nedelcheva (New Bulgarian University, Sofia) Human remains: Songül Roodenberg Alpaslan Faunal remains: Alfred Galik (University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna) Botanical remains: René Cappers (Groningen University) Geo-archaeology: Sjoerd Kluiving (VU University Amsterdam) Archaeometry: Hadi Özbal (Boğaziçi University, Istanbul), Ayla Türkekul Bıyık (Boğaziçi University, Istanbul) Soil chemistry analysis: Rana Özbal (Koç University, Istanbul) Stable isotope analyses: Chelsea Budd (Oxford University, UK), Malcolm Lillie (Hull University, UK) Archaeological Information Systems: Maurice de Kleijn (VU University Amsterdam) Barcin Hoyuk Publications 1955 Mellaart, J., 1955: Some Prehistoric Sites in North-Western Anatolia, Istanbuler Mitteilungen 6, 53-88. 1967 French, D., 1967: Prehistoric Sites in Northwest Anatolia:  I. The İznik Area, Anatolian Studies 17, 49-100. 1986 Özdoğan, M., 1986: 1984 Yılı Trakya ve Doğu Marmara Araştırmaları, Araştırma Sonuçları Toplantısı 3, 409-420. 2007 Gerritsen, F.A., 2007: Opgravingen te Barcın Höyük, NIT Nieuwsbrief najaar 2007 (online: http://www.nit-istanbul.org/Nieuwsbrief2007-Autumn/NIT%20Nieuwsbrief%203.htm). (NL) 2008 Gerritsen, F.A., 2008: Barcın Höyük Campagne 2008, NIT Nieuwsbrief najaar 2008 (online:http://www.nit-istanbul.org/Nieuwsbrief2008-Autumn/nieuwsbrief2008-2.htm). (NL) Korsvoll, N., 2008: Protection in This World and the Next. The Function of Byzantine Grave Goods, unpublished Honours Thesis, University College Utrecht.(EN) Roodenberg, J.J., A. van As and S. Alpaslan Roodenberg, 2008: Barcın Hüyük in the Plain of Yenişehir (2005-2006). A Preliminary Note on the Fieldwork, Pottery and Human Remains of the Prehistoric Levels, Anatolica 34, 53-66.(EN) Türkekul-Bıyık, A., H. Özbal, 2008: Arkeolojik Çanak ve Çömleklerde Organik Kalıntıların Belirenmesi: Anadolu’dan Bazı Örnekler, 23. Arkeometri Sonuçları Toplantısı, 249-264.(TR) 2009 Alpaslan Roodenberg, S., 2009: Demographic data from the Byzantine graveyard of Barcın, in T. Vorderstrasse & J. Roodenberg (eds), Archaeology of the countryside in Medieval Anatolia, Leiden (PIHANS 113), 169-175.(EN) Gerritsen, F.A., 2009: Opgravingen Barcın Höyük zomer 2009, NIT Nieuwsbrief najaar 2009, (online: http://www.nit-istanbul.org/Nieuwsbrief2009-Autumn/nieuwsbrief2009-2.htm). (NL) Gerritsen, F., R. Özbal, 2009: Barcın Höyük Excavations, 2007, 30. Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı, vol. 3, 457-464. (EN) Künzel, M., 2009: Geoarcheologisch onderzoek in Barcın, Turkije, Geo.brief 7,9-11. (NL) Roodenberg, J.J., 2009: The Byzantine graveyards from Ilıpınar and Barcın in Northwest Anatolia, in T. Vorderstrasse & J.Roodenberg (eds), Archaeology of the countryside in Medieval Anatolia, Leiden (PIHANS 113), 154-167.(EN) Schwarzberg, H., 2009: Neolithic “Cult Tables” from Barcın Höyük, Anatolica 35, 167-177.(EN) 2010 Gatsov, I., P. Nedelcheva, R. Özbal and F. Gerritsen, 2010: Prehistoric Barcin Höyük: 2007 Excavations and Chipped Stone Artifact Analysis, in F. Drasovean (ed.), Ten Years After: The Neolithic of the Balkans as Uncovered by the Last Decade of Research, Timisoara, Museum of Banat Publications.(EN) Gerritsen, F.A., 2010: The NIT excavations at Barcın Höyük, 2009,NINO-NIT Annual Report 2010, 11-16.(EN) Gerritsen, F.A., 2010: Excavation campaign Barcın Höyük 2010, NIT Newsletter 2010/2, (online: http://www.nit-istanbul.org/NITNewsletter-2010-2.pdf). (EN) Gerritsen, F.A., 2010: Barcın Höyük Excavations, 2008, 31. Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı, vol. 1, 411-420.(EN) Gerritsen, F.A., R. Özbal, 2010: Geç Neolitik Tarımcılar / Barcın Höyük, Aktüel Arkeoloji Dergisi 13 (Ocak 2010), 51. (TR) Gerritsen, F.A., R. Özbal, L. Thissen, H. Özbal, A. Galik, 2010: The Late Chalcolithic Levels at Barcın Höyük, Anatolica 36, 197-225.(EN) Roodenberg, J., 2010: Byzantine encounters, NINO-NIT Annual Report 2010, 17-21.(EN) Thissen, L., H. Özbal, A. Türkekul Bıyık, F. Gerritsen, R. Özbal, 2010: The land of milk? Approaching dietary preferences of Late Neolithic communities in NW Anatolia, Leiden Journal of Pottery Studies 26, 157-171.(EN) 2011 Gatsov, I., P. Nedelcheva, 2011: Lithic artifacts from the Neolithic period in northwest Anatolia. Latest results, in N. Bilgen, R. von den Hoff, S. Sandalcı, S. Silek (eds), Archaeological Research in Western Central Anatolia (The IIIrd International Symposium of Archaeology, Kütahya) 8th-9th March 2010, Kütahya, 1-8. (EN) Gerritsen, F.A., R. Özbal, 2011: Barcın Höyük Excavations 2011, NIT Newsletter 2011/2, (online: http://www.nit-istanbul.org/NIT-Newsletter-2011-2.pdf). (EN) Gerritsen, F.A., R. Özbal, 2011: Anadolu’da sütün tarihöncesi. Neolitik Barcın Höyük, Aktüel Arkeoloji Dergisi  24, 40-41.(TR) Gerritsen, F.A., R. Özbal, 2011: The NIT excavations at Barcın Höyük, 2010, NINO-NIT Annual Report 2010, 13-17.(EN) Jacobi, M., 2011: Chemistry unlocks ancient secrets. Cutting edge analytical methods decipher molecular clues buried in age-old artifacts, C&EN, Chemical and Engineering News, March 7, 2011, 44-47. (EN) Özbal, H., A. Türkekul Bıyık, L. Thissen, T. Doğan, F. Gerritsen and R. Özbal, 2011: Sütçülerin Öncüleri: Barcın Höyük Keramiklerinde Süt Kalıntıları, 26. Arkeometri Sonuçları Toplantısı 307-317.(TR) Özbal, R., F.A. Gerritsen, 2011: 2009 Yıllı Barcın Höyük Kazıları, 32. Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı, vol. 2, 198-208.(TR) Vayısoğlu, Ö., 2011: Neolitik Çağ’da üretim ekonomisine geçiş. Barcın Höyük Kazıları, Toplumsal Tarih 213 (eylül 2011), 14-18. (TR) Support and Finances The Barcın Höyük Excavations are carried out with permission from the Culture and Tourism Ministry of the Republic of Turkey. The Barcın Höyük Excavations gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) and the Netherlands Institute for the Near East (NINO).