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Current Research and New Evidence for the Neolithization Process in Western Turkey

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Eylem Özdoğan
Eylem Özdoğan*
Affiliation:
Department of Prehistory, İstanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey
*
[email:eyozdogan@yahoo.com]
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Abstract

Increasing research in western Anatolia since the 1990s onwards shows that the Neolithic way of life in this region emerged in the first half of the seventh millennium BC and evolved rapidly in the same millennium. Current data indicate western Anatolia, which is located alongside the primary zone of Neolithization in the Near East, has a complex constitution rather than being a bridge or barrier between east and west. In this article, data from past and current excavations in western Anatolia are discussed over time and space. In this context, eastern Thrace, where there are strong connections with west Anatolia, is also included.

L'accroissement des activités de recherche en Anatolie occidentale depuis les années 1990 montre que dans cette région le mode de vie néolithique apparaissait pendant la première moîtié du 7e millénaire av. J.-C. et se développait rapidement au cours de celui-ci. Les données actuelles montrent que l'Anatolie occidentale, qui se situe le long de la zone primaire de néolithisation au Proche-Orient, présente une constitution complexe plutôt que d'être un pont ou une barrière entre l'Est et l'Ouest. Dans cet article, nous examinons des données provenant de fouilles anciennes et actuelles en Anatolie occidentale dans le temps et l'espace. Dans ce contexte est également inclus la Thrace orientale, qui montre de fortes connexions avec l'Anatolie occidentale. Translation by Isabelle Gerges.

Die intensivierte Forschung in Westanatolien seit den 1990er Jahren zeigt, dass die neolithische Lebensweise in dieser Region in der ersten Hälfte des 7. Jt. v. Chr. aufkam und sich in den nachfolgenden Jahrhunderten schnell entwickelte. Aktuelle Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass Westanatolien, das der Kernzone der Neolithisierung im Vorderen Orient benachbart ist, eine äußerst komplexe Struktur besaß und nicht bloß eine Brücke oder Barriere zwischen Ost und West darstellte. In diesem Beitrag werden Daten aus früheren und aktuellen Ausgrabungen in Westanatolien zeitlich übergreifend und überregional diskutiert. Dabei wird auch Ostthrakien, wo starke Verbindungen mit Westanatolien festgestellt werden können, mit einbezogen. Traslation by Heiner Schwarzberg.

Keywords

Western Anatoliaeastern Thraceseventh millennium BCNeolithic assemblagessecondary NeolithizationAnatolie occidentaleThrace orientale7e millénaire av. J.-C.ensembles néolithiquesnéolithisation secondaireWestanatolienOstthrakien7. Jahrtausend v. Chr.neolithische Fundkomplexesekundäre Neolithisierung
Type
Articles
Information
European Journal of Archaeology , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , 2015 , pp. 33 - 59
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 the European Association of Archaeologists 

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