Little is known about the initial appearance of herding in central Anatolia. Although morphologically domestic caprines are present from the foundation of Çatalhöyük East, ca 7,100 cal. BC, how and when domestic caprines became an integral part of the central Anatolian economy, and their Status and relationship with earlier communities, is unclear. This article reports the results of a study in which carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes were used to provide signatures of caprine diet and thus pasturing practices; as an animal's movements are affected by human Intervention, changes in animal diets should be visible through changes in δ15N and δ13C levels. A sequence of seven sites on the Konya piain, covering the period ca 9,000–4,500 cal. BC, provided bone samples for carbon and nitrogen analysis. An unaffected local dietary signature for caprines was created using the fauna from Epipalaeolithic Pınarbaşı and a C3/C4 plant baseline. This dietary signature, along with dietary information from the domesticated caprines at later sites, allowed changes in diet resulting from human Intervention to be mapped. Changes in diet are found to have occurred at sites where there is no morphometric or demographic data suggestive of early herding or domesticates. This new dietary data extends our knowledge and under-standing of how and when caprines and cattle came under human control on the Konya piain, central Anatolia.

Statistical analysis of Carl Blegen's pottery sequence using Correspondence Analysis (CA) suggests a gap of 100–200 years between his Troy III and IV periods. From the Manfred Korfmann excavations three stratigraphic sequences hitherto assigned to Troy IV and V appear to bridge it. This allocation is based on stratigraphic/architectural grounds and on the observable development in ceramic shapes and wares. Heinrich Schliemann's pottery sequence from 1870–1873 is also analysed by CA and found to compare well with Blegen's (with limited exceptions probably due to the larger scope of his excavations), but it does not exhibit the same gap. This suggests that during the ‘bridge’ period occupation shrank to the summit on the western end of the citadel mound. This ‘bridge’ period of seven or more building phases has a distinctive ceramic assemblage and may be called the Proto-IV period. It is broadly contemporary with Middle Helladic I, Beycesultan VIII–VI, Küllüoba II and the Tarsus Early Bronze to Middle Bronze transitional period. Careful re-evaluation of the radiocarbon evidence dates it to ca 2150–1990 cal. BC. Botanical and faunal evidence from the strata in question attests significantly drier climatic conditions which, together with the smaller size of the settlement, probably reflect the 4.2ka cal. BP climatic deterioration.

The appearance of Aegean-style IIIC pottery at Tarsus occured at a time of unrest and of movement of peoples resulting in part from the collapse of the Mycenaean palaces on the Greek mainland. Mycenaean Late Helladic IIIB pottery exports from mainland Greece to Cyprus and the Levant disappeared and were gradually replaced by local imitations. Eventually Aegean-style IIIC pottery appeared in the East Aegean-West Anatolian Interface, in Cyprus and at various sites on the southern coast of Turkey and in the Levant. It was not exported from the Greek mainland, but seems to have been locally made at each site. A first series of neutron activation analysis (NAA) was carried out on pottery from Tarsus to determine how much of the Aegean-style 12th-century BC pottery was locally produced, how much was imported and, if imported, from whence it came. The favourable results of this first analysis gave rise to a second NAA of more Aegean-style pottery from Tarsus, bringing the total number of pieces analysed to 67. It has confirmed the local production of the pottery; the chemical group TarA is the dominant local group at Tarsus, comprising a third of the samples. A smaller group, TarB, may also be local. The analysis revealed a large number of Aegean-style IIIC imports from Cyprus from several different sites; these make up a quarter of the samples. There are a few imports from other areas, including the East Aegean-West Anatolian Interface. Influence from both Cyprus and the Interface can also be seen at Tarsus in the use of some shapes and motifs. A comparison with 12th-century BC imports identified by NAA at the site of Tell Kazel (ancient Simyra) in Syria directly east of Cyprus shows imports from the same two areas.

The purpose of this paper is to suggest mechanisms pertaining to the foundation of a new city on the Kerkenes Dağ, in the highlands of central Anatolia in the mid-first millennium BC. Archaeological evidence that Kerkenes was a new foundation is discussed, after which its thoroughly Phrygian culture is outlined. The core of the paper discusses possible explanations for the unexpected appearance of this new capital. Possibilities include Phrygianisation or acculturation, centralisation of pre-existing Phrygian settlements east of the Kızılırmak, eastward expansion of the Kingdom of Phrygia and a large migration from central or western Phrygia. It is proposed that a single large migration provides the most plausible explanation for the founding of the city, for the display of its Phrygian-ness and perhaps also for its ultimate failure.

The relief block at the centre of this study was found in 2004 in a ploughed field in the northern region of Lydia near the village of Gökçeler in the district of Akhisar, in what is today the Manisa province. A standing male figure is depicted on the block, which probably belonged to a chamber tomb. Holding a cock and a bud in his hands, stylistically the figure points to a date between the late sixth century BC and the early fifth century BC. He has short, spiral curls and wears a long-sleeved, tight-fitting garment that appears to be influenced by the Persian style. Within the scope of Anatolian-Persian funerary reliefs, this example is particularly significant due to its typological and iconographical elements. Specifically, following comparisons with other works of the Persian period, it is possible to suggest that the figure on the Gökçeler relief is an African who is offering a gift to the tomb owner; the latter may have been Persian or have served a Persian. Thus, this relief has particular significance since it is the only known work of Anatolian-Persian sculpture which indicates that individuals of African origin lived in the Anatolian region under Persian rule.

Compared to other stretches of the eastern frontier, northeastern Anatolia has rarely attracted the attention of scholars of the Roman and late antique periods. The region is known, through late antique written sources, to have housed a belligerent confederation of tribes, the Tzani, who lived off raids conducted against their neighbours. Until the fifth century AD, the Roman approach to the Tzanic problem was one of quiet co-existence, but, in the early sixth century AD, after war broke out again with Persia, necessity moved the emperor Justinian (r. AD 527–565) to intervene more actively against the Tzani. According to the sixth-century historian Procopius, the Tzani were subdued and a chain of forts was constructed in their lands to protect access to the Black Sea coast. The remains of these forts, as well as those of other sixth-century AD infrastructure allegedly built under Justinian, are still elusive. Nonetheless, evidence on the ground and in the written sources can still help investigate the nature of the Justinianic frontier defensive system.

The contents of 118 inhumation burials (seventh to 12th century AD) excavated at Hacımusalar Höyük (ancient Choma) were studied in order to reconstruct the Byzantine population. Overall, the sample is similar to that of other Byzantine populations: burial customs appear typical of contemporary practices, children are overrepresented, males and females are represented roughly equally and heights fall within the average range calculated for Byzantine individuals in the eastern Mediterranean. Individuals from Hacımusalar experienced incidences of skeletal trauma, infections, degenerative joint disease, anaemia, dental diseases, spina bifida occulta and cancer. The dataset presented here is one of the most comprehensive of any Byzantine population in Anatolia and should advance our understanding of the region during this crucial time period.

The landscape immediately surrounding the site of Çatalhöyük preserves topographic and ceramic evidence dating from prehistoric times to the present day. This article presents the results of a programme of investigation of the landscape conducted through analysis of remote-sensing, map and field-survey data, with particular emphasis on the first and second millennia AD. The concept of taphonomy, usually defined in archaeology as the process of change after deposition, is applied to the transformation of the settled landscape from its Neolithic origins to its present status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Taphonomy serves as a linking concept as we explore how past landscapes are mobilised and translated into the ever-changing present.