Köşk Höyük: Anadolu Arkeolojisine Yeni Katkılar

Remodeled human skulls in Köşk Höyük (Neolithic age, Anatolia): a new appraisal in view of recent discoveries

“…Kö s¸k Hö yü k, known to academic circles since the early 1980s (Silistreli, , 1986(Silistreli, , 1990Ö zkan et al, 2001;Ö ztan, 2002;, is particularly interesting due to its most extraordinary mortuary practice dating to the Late Neolithic period and corresponding to the levels I, II and III of the domestic residence Ö ztan, 2002;Bonogofsky, 2004;Ö zbek, 2005a). The skulls of one child and 10 adults unearthed during 1985-2000 attest to this interesting burial custom.…”

“…Such examples have been reported from several sites such as Tel Ramad (Ferembach, 1969;Ferembach and Lechevalier, 1973) and Tel Aswad (Stordeur, 2003) in Syria; Jericho (Strouhal, 1973;Rollefson, 1985), Nahal Hemar (Yakar and Hershkovitz, 1988;Arensburg and Hershkovitz, 1988), Kfar Hahoresh (Goren et al, 2001;Simmons et al, 2007), Beisamoun in Israel; and Ain Ghazal (Butler, 1989;Simmons et al, 1990) in Jordan. Recent similar discoveries during the excavations in Çatal Höyük (Hodder, 2005) and Kös¸k Höyük (Ö ztan, 2002;Bonogofsky, 2004;Ö zbek, 2005a) allow us to infer that skull plastering extended beyond the Levant, well into Anatolia during the Pottery Neolithic period. Although the samples excavated in Central Anatolia did not arise due interest within the scientific community, the number of findings reflecting this behavioral pattern is rising significantly (Ö zbek, 2005a;Bonogofsky, 2005).…”

Animals and inequality in Chalcolithic central Anatolia

“…Excavated between 1980 and 2009 by Ankara University archaeologists Ugur Silistreli and then Aliye Öztan in collaboration with the Nigde Museum, Kös ßk Höyük represents the most important Final Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic sequence (levels V-II) in the region (dating from 6200-5400 BC) (Öztan, 2002Silistreli, , 1989.…”

“…Although burials are limited primarily to young children, variability in grave goods suggests some differences in the wealth and status of households within the community (Öztan, 2002;Silistreli, 1986). The presence of infant burials with rich grave goods including multiple vessels, stamp seals, and elaborate jewelry, and others with only a single sherd indicates that some households had the ability to invest significant amounts of material goods in the context of funerary ritual, whereas others did not.…”

“…The Middle Chalcolithic (MC), c. 5500-4500 BC, is characterized by a cultural discontinuity with the EC in Central Anatolia with the appearance of new forms of pottery, architecture, and settlement plans (Gülçur, 2004;Öztan, 2002). The few excavated MC settlements in the region exhibit internal variations in house size and storage capacity and some exhibit impressive fortification walls (Çaylı, 2009).…”