Aytaç Coşkun

The Roman period Castrum Zerzevan is on a hill 35 km south of Diyarbakır, Türkiye. Various field evidence (e.g. petrographic similarities, sudden changes of the topographic contours, the morphology of the nearby hills, and traces of the on-site quarry activities) suggests that the topography of the hilltop was artificially modified and used as a quarry. This study aims to introduce an approach that creates the ancient topography and calculates and verifies the volume of the on-site material required to build the fortification and associated structures by applying morphological analyses. The primary objective of the methodology is to reconstruct the site’s ancient topography and examine the difference between its former and present surfaces. The result indicates that approximately 36% of the extracted material was used in the enclosure. The overall findings and site investigations suggest quarrying and construction activities were carried out in a planned manner or concurrently at the site. In addition to the collected samples’ petrographic and geochemical similarities, the Castrum‘s topographical modifications and the suitability of the geological unit as a building material support our claim that the Romans were well aware of environmental conditions (including topography and morphology) and material performance.

Recent archaeological discoveries, refinements in genetic analyses and the archaeobotanical data require a reconsideration of the nature of the emergence of sedentary farming communities in Southeastern Turkey. In the rescue excavations prompted by the Batman and Ilısu dam projects several Early Holocene sites were discovered. For the first time, new data from Körtik Tepe now provide detailed evidence of a local Epipalaeolithic origin for these permanent settlements. In this article we summarize the results and analyses of the 2010-2012 excavations as well as palaeopedological and archaeobotanical data of the Younger Dryas layers at Körtik Tepe. Human isotope studies and the archaeological data suggest a permanent occupation of the site and might point to a local primordial adoption of a sedentary lifestyle in this region as early as the 11 th millennium BC. Résumé : De nouvelles découvertes archéologiques et le développement des analyses génétiques et archéobotaniques nous amènent à préciser la nature de l'émergence des communautés sédentaires agricoles en Anatolie du Sud-Est. Les fouilles de sauvetage effectuées dans le cadre de la construction des barrages de Batman et d'Ilısu ont conduit à la découverte de plusieurs sites de l'Holocène ancien dans la haute vallée du Tigre. Pour la première fois, de nouvelles données en provenance de Körtik Tepe fournissent des indices précis pour attribuer une origine locale de l'épipaléolithique à ces habitats permanents. Cet article présente de manière synthétique les résultats des campagnes de fouilles 2010-2012 et des analyses paléopédologiques et archéobotanique des niveaux du Dryas récent de Körtik Tepe. Les analyses isotopiques sur les os humains et les données archéologiques suggèrent une occupation permanente du site qui permet d'envisager qu'un mode de vie sédentaire a été adopté dans cette région dès le 11 e millénaire avant notre ère.