Abstract :
The aim of this study is to determine the environmental changes around the Beytitepe (Tepetarla) mound in the Holocene and to evaluate human-environment relationships. With regard to the paleogeography and geoarchaeology of the mound, a great number of sediment samples obtained from core drillings were analised. By means of the element analysis using ICP, AAS, SFM and KJELDAHL devices, different sediment units and their environments in the Ödemiş plain, which is in the inner part of Küçük Menderes graben in the Western Anatolia, were defined and differenciated. Detailed analyses also provided to identify some paleosol deposits. Thus, archaeological deposits, fire remains, burned soil material, river sediments, wetland or swamp sediments and their peat-like materials can be distinguished in the Bronze Age settlement of Beytitepe mound and its surroundings. In this study, a simple stratigraphic model is defined for the Bronze Age mounds of Ödemiş plain, and by means of paleogeographical-geoarchaeological interpretations, significant contributions were provided to the archaeology of the Beytitepe mound.
NaturalLanguageKeyword :
Ödemiş plain , Beytitepe Mound , paleogeography , geoarchaeology.