Malatya Havzası'nda Arslantepe Höyüğü ile ilişkili jeoarkeolojik araştırmalar
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Dosyalar
Tarih
2023
Dergi Başlığı
Dergi ISSN
Cilt Başlığı
Yayıncı
Ege Üniversitesi
Erişim Hakkı
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Özet
İnsanların yerleşik yaşam sürmeye başladığı Holosen döneminde başta iklim olmak üzere doğal çevre
şartlarında değişiklikler olmuştur. Bu da tüm insan faaliyetlerini, özellikle yerleşmeleri yakından
etkilemiştir. İnsanlar söz konusu değişimleri çoğunlukla dikkatle izlemişler ve yerleşme lokasyonlarını
akıllıca seçmişlerdir. Bu konuda Anadolu’da araştırılmış birçok örnek eski yerleşme mevcuttur. Bunlardan
biri de Malatya civarındaki Arslantepe yerleşmesidir. Geçmişi çok eskilere dayanan Arslantepe
(Kalkolitik’ten Hititlerin yıkılışına kadar), stratejik konumu ve geniş hinterlandı açısından önemli bir
merkezdir.
Uzun bir süreden beri, ilk önce Prof. Dr. Marcella Frangipane, sonra Prof. Dr. Francesca Balossi Restelli
ve ekipleri tarafından bilimsel kazı ve belgeleme çalışmalarının yürütüldüğü yerleşmenin öncelikle
jeomorfolojik konumu, yakın çevre peyzajı ve elde edilen malzemelerin kaynağının tespiti amacıyla 2021
ve 2022 yılı yaz sezonu sonunda bir dizi saha çalışması yürütülmüştür. Bu yazı söz konusu jeoarkeolojik
çalışmalara ait ilk değerlendirmeleri kapsamaktadır.
Öncelikle havzayı oluşturan yer şekillerinin birbiriyle ilişkisine ve yapısal özelliklerine odaklanarak
Arslantepe’nin ilk insan grupları tarafından kurulduğu yer olan Malatya Havzası’nın güneybatı kesiminin
başta jeomorfoloji olmak üzere doğal ortam özellikleri belirlenmiş ve haritalanmıştır. Daha sonra
paleoçevresel çalışmalara esas olmak üzere karot almaya dayalı bir çalışma için uygun bir noktanın
belirlenmesi amacıyla, belirlenen kaynaklardan birinin yakın çevresi araştırılmış ve Elemendik pınarı
çevresinde (Malatya șehrinin doğusunda) bir saha çalışması yapılarak elde edilen örneklerin sedimantolojik
analizi yapılmıştır.
Ayrıca, Arslantepe’de geçmişte kullanılan çakmaktaşlarının kaynak bölgelerinin saptanmasına yönelik
saha çalışmasında ise, akarsu yatakları başta olmak üzere, literatür taraması ve arazi gözlemleri sonucunda
potansiyel alanlar belirlenerek toplam altı lokasyon taranarak çakmak taşı örnekleri toplanmıştır. Malatya
Havzası’nda ve buraya komşu sahalarda çakmak taşı yatağı olabilecek niteliklere sahip çok sayıda lokasyon
olduğu görülmüştür. Ancak bu lokasyonlardan en dikkat çekici olanı Arslantepe’nin 3 km batısında bulunan
ve Üst Miyosen-Pliyosen yaşlı karasal kırıntılılardan oluşan Taş Tepe ile Tohma Çayı yatağı ve seki
dolgularıdır.
Before and at the beginning of the Holocene period when Prehistoric people became sedentary, changes in natural environmental conditions were triggered by climatic changes, that affected human activities, especially those based on food procurement strategies, the development of settlements, and exchanges. Most human groups adapted to these changes with care, chosing their settlement locations with much caution. Research programmes on this period and these evolutions have been numerous in Anatolia, especially in South-East Anatolia. In this paper, the preliminary results of researches about the geomophologic and resource contexts of the site of Arslantepe (a Chalcolithic to Iron Age settlement near Malatya) are exposed. Since its foundation, Arslantepe has been is an important sedentary to urban center, mainly because of both (1) its wide hinterland providing a variety of subsistance resources, and (2) its strategic/military location on routes linking northern Mesopotamia and south-eastern Anatolia, to Eastern Anatolia and the Caucasus. Arslantepe site has been excavated since the 1930’s by archaeologists. The last two excavators, co-directors with the Malatya Museum Directors, have been Prof. Dr. Marcella Frangipane, followed by Prof. Dr. Francesca Balossi-Restelli. In the frame of these archaeological excavation program, field studies have also been carried out toward the end of the 2021 and 2022 summer seasons. The aims of these studies were first, to determine the geomorphological context of the site and of its surrounding landscape (2021), second to collect samples spanning the possible sources for lithologic elements used in the site (mainly the lithic industry) (2022). These field studies have been led by the Universities of Harran and Dicle (Geography Departments), framed by the close cooperation with Prof. Dr. Francesca Balossi Restelli and her team who provided the necessary excavation and documentation data related to both these themes. The present article concerns the first report of these geoarchaeological studies. A first step consisted in studying the structural and morphological characteristics of the southwestern part of the Malatya basin, in which the archaeological site is located. Landforms, as well as their controlling factors, provided its natural landscape and environmental characteristics (especially geomorphological ones,) within which the first human groups settled at Arslantepe. Field studies (associated with earlier literature) allowed identification and mapping of these morphologic features. Regarding the reconstruction of past environmental evolution, our investigations revieled that most spring-fed and wet areas have been manipulated by men for irrigation and its control. Among the wetlands identified and visited, the authors chose a today dammed lake (Elemendik lake) with surrounding marshes still fed by an active spring. These marshes seemed relatively uneffected by the works that must have accompanied the damming of the lake. They were thus chosen for a coring aiming at providing paleoenvironmental data. The 3m long core retrieved was sampled on site, for sedimentological and geochemical tests and analyses to be conducted at the Geography Department of Harran University (Urfa). In addition, another geomorphological field study was conducted with an archaeologist specialized on flints, in order to determine possible source areas of the flints used in the past in Arslantepe. Potential areas were selected on the basi of a literature review as well as of previous exposure observations. This flint- oriented field work explored structural, siliceous limestone exposures around the Malatya basin, without success as the flints associated with limestone were not suitable for chopping. In a second phase, fluvial terraces and other alluvial formations in the river valleys draining the Malatya “plain” basin, were visited in detail. This survey provided a total of six locations where suitable flint samples were collected. This collect showed that flint sources of this kind have been available in the ancient and very ancient times from many areas in the plain and its basin (although most of the proper Euphrates terraces were made not accessible by the Karakaya dam lake extension), The result of this first field survey shows that, within the proper “Malatya plain and its close, surroundings”, the most important of locations for flints suitable for chopping are (1) Taş Tepe, 3 km west of Arslantepe (where such flints could be extracted from an Upper Miocene-Pliocene conglomerateformed by continental clastics), and (2) the Tohma Stream terrace fillings and floodplain at the extreme West of the Malatya plain.
Before and at the beginning of the Holocene period when Prehistoric people became sedentary, changes in natural environmental conditions were triggered by climatic changes, that affected human activities, especially those based on food procurement strategies, the development of settlements, and exchanges. Most human groups adapted to these changes with care, chosing their settlement locations with much caution. Research programmes on this period and these evolutions have been numerous in Anatolia, especially in South-East Anatolia. In this paper, the preliminary results of researches about the geomophologic and resource contexts of the site of Arslantepe (a Chalcolithic to Iron Age settlement near Malatya) are exposed. Since its foundation, Arslantepe has been is an important sedentary to urban center, mainly because of both (1) its wide hinterland providing a variety of subsistance resources, and (2) its strategic/military location on routes linking northern Mesopotamia and south-eastern Anatolia, to Eastern Anatolia and the Caucasus. Arslantepe site has been excavated since the 1930’s by archaeologists. The last two excavators, co-directors with the Malatya Museum Directors, have been Prof. Dr. Marcella Frangipane, followed by Prof. Dr. Francesca Balossi-Restelli. In the frame of these archaeological excavation program, field studies have also been carried out toward the end of the 2021 and 2022 summer seasons. The aims of these studies were first, to determine the geomorphological context of the site and of its surrounding landscape (2021), second to collect samples spanning the possible sources for lithologic elements used in the site (mainly the lithic industry) (2022). These field studies have been led by the Universities of Harran and Dicle (Geography Departments), framed by the close cooperation with Prof. Dr. Francesca Balossi Restelli and her team who provided the necessary excavation and documentation data related to both these themes. The present article concerns the first report of these geoarchaeological studies. A first step consisted in studying the structural and morphological characteristics of the southwestern part of the Malatya basin, in which the archaeological site is located. Landforms, as well as their controlling factors, provided its natural landscape and environmental characteristics (especially geomorphological ones,) within which the first human groups settled at Arslantepe. Field studies (associated with earlier literature) allowed identification and mapping of these morphologic features. Regarding the reconstruction of past environmental evolution, our investigations revieled that most spring-fed and wet areas have been manipulated by men for irrigation and its control. Among the wetlands identified and visited, the authors chose a today dammed lake (Elemendik lake) with surrounding marshes still fed by an active spring. These marshes seemed relatively uneffected by the works that must have accompanied the damming of the lake. They were thus chosen for a coring aiming at providing paleoenvironmental data. The 3m long core retrieved was sampled on site, for sedimentological and geochemical tests and analyses to be conducted at the Geography Department of Harran University (Urfa). In addition, another geomorphological field study was conducted with an archaeologist specialized on flints, in order to determine possible source areas of the flints used in the past in Arslantepe. Potential areas were selected on the basi of a literature review as well as of previous exposure observations. This flint- oriented field work explored structural, siliceous limestone exposures around the Malatya basin, without success as the flints associated with limestone were not suitable for chopping. In a second phase, fluvial terraces and other alluvial formations in the river valleys draining the Malatya “plain” basin, were visited in detail. This survey provided a total of six locations where suitable flint samples were collected. This collect showed that flint sources of this kind have been available in the ancient and very ancient times from many areas in the plain and its basin (although most of the proper Euphrates terraces were made not accessible by the Karakaya dam lake extension), The result of this first field survey shows that, within the proper “Malatya plain and its close, surroundings”, the most important of locations for flints suitable for chopping are (1) Taş Tepe, 3 km west of Arslantepe (where such flints could be extracted from an Upper Miocene-Pliocene conglomerateformed by continental clastics), and (2) the Tohma Stream terrace fillings and floodplain at the extreme West of the Malatya plain.
Açıklama
Anahtar Kelimeler
Malatya Havzası, Arslantepe, Jeomorfoloji, Sedimentoloji, Jeoarkeoloji, Sileks
Kaynak
“Manfred Osman KORFMANN” Anısına paleocoğrafya ve jeoarkeoloji araştırmaları-II
WoS Q Değeri
Scopus Q Değeri
Cilt
Sayı
Künye
Yetmen H., Karadoğan S., Al A., Moscone M., Kuzucuoğlu C. ve Restelli F.B. (2023). Malatya Havzası'nda Arslantepe Höyüğü ile ilişkili jeoarkeolojik araştırmalar. Rüstem Aslan - Ertuğ Öner (Ed.), “Manfred Osman KORFMANN” Anısına paleocoğrafya ve jeoarkeoloji araştırmaları-II içinde (153-194. ss.). Ege Üniversitesi Yayınları, Edebiyat Fakültesi Yayın No: 225, İzmir. E-ISBN: 978-605-338-441-0
