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The agroecology of an early state: new results from Hattusha

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 September 2020

Charlotte Diffey ,
Reinder Neef ,
Jürgen Seeher  and
Amy Bogaard
Charlotte Diffey
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, UK School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science, University of Reading, UK
Reinder Neef
Affiliation:
Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Berlin, Germany
Jürgen Seeher
Affiliation:
Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Istanbul, Turkey
Amy Bogaard*
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, UK
*
*Author for correspondence: ✉ [email protected]
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Abstract

The discovery of a large underground silo complex with spectacular intact grain stores at the Late Bronze Age Hittite capital of Hattusha in Turkey provides a unique snapshot of the mobilisation of crop production by the Hittite state. A combination of primary archaeobotanical analysis, crop stable isotope determinations and functional weed ecology reveals new insights into Hittite cultivation strategies, featuring a range of relatively low-input, extensive production regimes for hulled wheats and hulled barley. Taxation of extensively produced grain in the sixteenth century BC reveals how an ancient state sought to sustain itself, providing wider implications for the politics and ecology of territorially expansive states in Western Asia and beyond.

Keywords

AnatoliaHattushaBronze Agearchaeobotanyagroecologystorage
Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 94 , Issue 377 , October 2020 , pp. 1204 - 1223
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2020

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