A Note on the Prehistory of the Devrek Region, Northern Turkey
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ANATOLICA XXXV, 2009 A NOTE ON THE PREHISTORY OF THE DEVREK REGION, NORTHERN TURKEY Güngör Karau÷uz1 and Bleda S. Düring2 INTRODUCTION In this brief report we would like to present Prehistoric ceramics collected at a number of sites in central Zonguldak (see fig. 1). These assemblages are of interest in relation to the broader topic of Anatolian Prehistory for two reasons. First, at present nothing has been published about the Prehistory of this part of northern Turkey, except in passing in brief reports in the Arkeoloji SonuçlarÕ ToplantÕsÕ (Karau÷uz 2005; 2006; 2007). Second, we are convinced that some of these sherds date to the fifth millennium BC, and are thus of great importance because they date to the Middle Chalcolithic (ca. 5500 to 4000 cal BC), which is archaeologically poorly documented and understood across most of Asia Minor. THE SURVEY AND THE REGION The material presented here was collected in an archaeological surface survey directed by Güngör Karau÷uz from Selçuk University in Konya that took place between 2004 and 2006 in central Zonguldak.3 In this survey the districts (ilçeler) of Devrek, Gökçebey, Çaycuma, and Ere÷li were investigated. However, the main focus of the survey was on the Devrek district, in which all but one of the sites discussed in this paper are located (fig. 1). Prior to this survey no archaeological work of any kind had been done in the central Zonguldak region. In recent years, however, a rescue excavation was performed in the Ere÷li region of Zonguldak, at the site of YassÕkaya, located about 20 kilometres south of the village of Zoro÷lu, in which Early Bronze Age remains were uncovered probably dating to the EBA II or III (Efe and Mercan 2001). The Zonguldak survey was performed by a small team: ranging between six and eight people, and during relatively brief seasons: lasting two to three weeks, and with limited financial resources. In total 46 sites were found in the central Zonguldak survey, many of which are relatively inconspicuous and small. A final report for the survey is in preparation (Karau÷uz in prep.), in which the assemblages and sites found in the three 1 Selçuk University, Education Faculty, Social Sciences Education Department, Konya, Turkey; [email protected]. 2 Corresponding author: Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, P.O.Box 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands; [email protected]; tel. +31-71-527 6449. 3 We would like to thank the Ministry of Culture and Tourism for the survey permit, and the representatives of the ministry: Canan Çaútaban, Mehmet Tüzüner, and Emel Özçelik for their assistance. 22240-09_Anatolica-35_5240-09_Anatolica-35_5 115353 229-04-20099-04-2009 114:07:524:07:52 154 G. KARAUöUZ, B.S. DÜRING seasons will be presented in detail. In this report the focus will be on a number of sites with prehistoric assemblages found in this survey. The Devrek area of central Zonguldak is a challenging environment for archaeo- logical survey work. Much of the landscape is mountainous and wooded, and many of the archaeological sites are inconspicuous and difficult to detect. One of the main methods for discovering archaeological sites in this area consisted of tapping into local knowledge about the distribution of artefacts. In this manner a number of sites were investigated that would have been difficult to detect by other means: consisting, for example, of a shallow archaeological deposit exposed in a road cut along a minor road in the forest. Further, in some cases archaeological sites could only be reached by hiking on foot for several hours. Again, local knowledge is essential to pinpoint such sites. It is argued here that such methodologies are essential to discover small prehistoric sites (also Düring 2008), and that in the case of the Zonguldak survey various prehistoric sites have been found in this way that shed new light on the prehistory of northern Anatolia. THE SITES WITH PREHISTORIC ASSEMBLAGES The prehistoric assemblages we would like to present in this paper derive from the following six sites (fig. 1). These will be briefly presented here, whereas the reader is referred to the final publications of this project (Karau÷uz in prep.) for more specific details. AkbÕyÕk is located 200 metres south of Alparslan village in the Devrek district. The artefacts were found in a sloping agricultural field in the hills surrounded by woods. The extent of the site could not be established, and the sherds are small due to ploughing. Boncuklar Höyük is located about 7 kilometres from the town of Devrek, near the village of Çolakpehlivan and about 100 metres from the hamlet of Boncuklar. The artefacts were collected from a road cut. The site has been in part removed by the bulldozer, and is in part covered by forest. Little is known about the extent of the site, but the road cut provided a substantial number of diagnostic sherds. Buldan Höyük is located in the Devrek district, along the road between Devrek and Akçasu, and to the east of the Buldan ÇayÕ. As at Boncuklar the artefacts were collected from a road cut, and the site was either destroyed or covered by forest. Here also, a significant amount of diagnostic sherds were collected as well as a spindle whorl. ønönü is a cave site in the Ere÷li district of Zonguldak, at some distance from the other sites under discussion. It is located about 2 kilometres from the hamlet of Kelçe along the road to Alacabük. The cave is large enough to provide shelter for a number of people and is today covered with a black residue, possibly from recent use and as a result of fires. The sherds found at this location likewise had black residues which are in all probability post-depositional in nature. KargÕlÕk Mevkii is located in the hills near BakÕrcÕlar village in the Devrek district. Several sherds were found during the excavation of a ditch. The vegetation is dense at this locality and nothing further is known about this site. 22240-09_Anatolica-35_5240-09_Anatolica-35_5 115454 229-04-20099-04-2009 114:07:524:07:52 ANATOLICA XXXV, 2009 155 Finally, Türbe Tepe is also located in the Devrek district, near the villages of Müstakimler and HatÕpo÷lu, to the south of the industrial area of Devrek town. Again, little is known about the size of this site. PREHISTORIC POTTERY FROM CENTRAL ZONGULDAK On the basis of fabrics and shapes the following groups can be distinguished in the assemblages from the sites listed above. A first group consists of the material from Buldan Höyük and that from Inönü. The material from Boncuklar is distinct from these two assemblages. Finally, the assemblages from Türbe Tepe, KargÕlÕk Mevkii, and AkbÕyÕk appear to have much in common. At Buldan Höyük two wares can be distinguished. There are a few sherds of a thin fine ware (fig. 9) of about 4 mm in profile. The inclusions in this ware are less than 1 mm in size and few, and the surfaces of these vessels are very smooth. The remaining sherds at Buldan Höyük include more temper, normally about 10% of the fabric, and ranging into larger sizes of up to 5 mm (figs. 6-8). In other respects both wares seem to be similar: cores are often grey, but the surfaces are generally orange to brown. It seems that these vessels were smoothed by wiping with a soft wet implement before they had finished drying, creating a thin slip visible in the sections. There are some vessels with signs of wiping and there no edges to the slip. In terms of shapes the most conspicuous elements are handles with knobs on the ‘elbows’ (fig. 6: 1-4, and 6). These handles have parallels at a number of sites in northern Asia Minor: such as Büyük Güllücek (Kosay and Akok 1957: plates xviii and xix); Orman FÕdanlÕ÷Õ 7 (Efe 2001: 108, fig. 20: 3.13-17); and at Ikiztepe (AlkÕm et al. 2003, plate xi). It will be argued later in this paper that these handles can be dated to the Middle Chalcolithic, or more specifically the 5th millennium BC. Other elements of the ceramics of Buldan Höyük suggest a later date, however. For example, the round handle applied to the rim of a fine ware vessel (fig. 9: 23) appears similar to vessels from Early Bronze Age Demircihüyük (Seeher 1987: plate 32: 24). We have not been able to find convincing parallels for the tapering and everted rims found at Buldan Höyük (fig. 8: 9-12), with one exception (compare fig. 8: 12 with AlkÕm et al. 1988: plate vii: 10), but it is not unlikely that these also date to the Early Bronze Age. The assemblage from Inönü seems largely comparable to that from Buldan Höyük. The paste of sherds at this site are yellowish grey to dark grey, and most sherds have about 5% of temper, predominantly mica and calcium less than 1 mm in size. Amongst the diagnostic sherds there is one handle with knob on the elbow (fig. 10: 1) similar to those from Buldan Höyük. One body sherd with a raised ledge with oval impressions (fig. 10: 2) seems to have good comparanda in Early Bronze Age Demircihüyük and Ikiztepe (Seeher 1987: plate 46: 23-24; AlkÕm et al. 1988: plate xix: 3, plate xx: 8-9, plate li: 2). Finally, a fragment of fine ware with a handle stub on the carination (fig. 10: 7), has marks on the interior that suggest it was produced on a fast turntable, which would date this piece to the later part of the Early Bronze Age or after.