The largest series of Neolithic human skeletal material derives from Çatalhöyük, in the Konya plain of peninsular Turkey. The excavations were carried out by James Mellaart in three seasons between 1961 and 1964 (Mellaart 1962; 1963; 1965). Larry Angel of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, and Denise Ferembach of the Musée de L'Homme, Paris, worked on the material in the mid-1960s (Angel 1971; Ferembach 1972). Angel was primarily interested in recording pathological conditions, and Ferembach in recording skeletal metrics; consequently their two sample sets are not entirely the same. Where there is overlap, in general their sex determinations agree. Neither published any detailed study of the jaws or teeth, and yet these are now the most intact part of the material. It is this collection of jaws and teeth that has been the subject of our study, which is an attempt to provide a comprehensive analysis of the dentitions of a Neolithic sample.

In 1989, the discovery and subsequent excavation of a sanctuary of Aphrodite at Zeytintepe, a low hill immediately adjacent to the metropolis of Miletos, confirmed what some scholars had long suspected — that worship of this goddess at the city dated back to the Archaic period. This article presents a brief outline of the evidence from these excavations together with a survey of the available evidence for the existence of cults of Aphrodite in Miletos' many colonies. Three conclusions are drawn: that Aphrodite was an important cult both in Miletos and in many of its colonies; that Aphrodite was worshipped as a sea goddess; and that there were local variations in the cult in these places.

The article presents a new fragment (NF 136), discovered in June 2003, of the Greek inscription set up by the Epicurean philosopher Diogenes of Oinoanda. The text is part of Diogenes' writing Old Age. Although brief, it is interesting, not least on account of its similarity to a well known passage of Lucretius (2.20–36). It begins with mention of ‘an elaborate house with fretted and gold-spangled ceilings’, evidently as something to be avoided, and goes on to recommend simple clothing and food, specifically cabbage. Its interest and value are enhanced by the near certainty that it joins up with a fragment (NF 94 = fr. 161 Smith) discovered in 1976.

The results of a survey in the territory of Oinoanda led by Stephen Mitchell in 1994 are presented. A number of lost Hellenistic and Roman settlements could be identified through ancient cemeteries and cult furniture such as images, symbols and footings for stelai. A clear association between tombs and cults permitted the term ‘cemetery cults’. Other types of settlement included traces of an ancient village near Patlangiç Yayla, a fortified hill-top site at Düǧer, and a puzzling planned complex on an island in Girdev Gölü. Architectural fragments at Çukurceylan, Kinik and Girdev told of vanished Byzantine churches, and their associated settlements of later date.

Pilgrimage happens when a place becomes the focus of veneration because of its association with a person or event. Pilgrim cults from the past can sometimes be identified by grouping certain types of material evidence, although interpretation of a cult's historical meaning is only possible once the material has been fully assessed. This study considers what sorts of information can be drawn from the archaeological context of a group of clay ampullae; miniature flasks originating from Asia Minor in late antiquity.

The unpublished unique manuscript of the 14th century Persian work known as al-Walad al-Shafiq (‘The Compassionate Child’) held in the Süleymaniye Library in Istanbul has hitherto never been studied in detail, although it is of considerable importance as a source for medieval Anatolia. This article assesses al-Walad al-Shafiq in the context of the Persian historiography of Anatolia and the historical milieu in which it was composed, arguing that the work is characterised by a sense of loyalty to the vanished Seljuk dynasty that ruled much of Anatolia from the late 11th to the early 14th century. I also examine such information as has survived about the life and background of its author, Qāḍῑ, Aḥmad of Niğde, and consider why the work was written and for whom.

The article discusses the introduction of Ottoman legislation on antiquities and its implication for the Ephesus excavations of 1863–1874, led by John Turtle Wood on behalf of the British Museum. It is argued that instrumental in the termination of the archaeological works at the site was the Ottoman law on antiquities of 1874, which was about to be promulgated and the recurrent difficulties in obtaining renewal of a firman, necessary for any archaeological endeavours undertaken by foreigners. Attention is drawn to the close relationship between the rise of the Imperial Museum in Istanbul, the promulgation and implementation of the Ottoman legislation on antiquities and their effect on circumscribing the archaeological activities of foreign nations. Growing contemporary Ottoman interest in antiquities, reflecting an increased awareness of their role in the re-definition of the identity of the country, laying claim to participation in European culture, is briefly touched upon.