Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T05:54:52.207Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Radiocarbon Dating, Mineralogy, and Isotopic Composition of Hackberry Endocarps from the Neolithic Site of Aşikli Höyük, Central Turkey

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2016

Jay Quade ,
Shanying Li ,
Mary C. Stiner ,
Amy E. Clark ,
Susan M. Mentzer  and
Mihriban Özbaşaran
Jay Quade*
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Shanying Li
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Environmental Earth Science, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056, USA
Mary C. Stiner
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Amy E. Clark
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Susan M. Mentzer
Affiliation:
Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
Mihriban Özbaşaran
Affiliation:
Department of Prehistory, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey
*
Corresponding author: [email protected].
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Carbonate is abundant in many Neolithic tells and is a potentially useful archive for dating and climate reconstruction. In this paper, we focus on the mineralogy, radiocarbon dating, and stable isotope systematics of carbonate in hackberry endocarps. Hackberry fruits and seeds are edible in fresh and stored forms, and they were consumed in large quantities in many Neolithic sites in the Near East, including the site of our study, Aşıkli Höyük in central Anatolia, an Aceramic Neolithic tell occupied from about 9.4 to > 10.3 BP (7.4 to > 8.3 BCE). Detailed 14C age control provided by archaeological charcoal permits a test of the fidelity in 14C dating of hackberry endocarps. Modern endocarps and leaves yield fraction modern 14C values of 1.050–1.066, consistent with levels present in the atmosphere when sampled in 2009. On the other hand, archaeological endocarps yield consistently younger ages than associated charcoal by ca. 130 14C years (ca. 220 calendar years) for samples about 10,000 years old. We speculate this is caused by the slight addition of calcite or recrystallization to calcite in the endocarp, as detected by scanning electron microscopy. Subtle addition or replacement of calcite by primary aragonite is not widely recognized in the 14C community, even though similar effects are reported from other natural carbonates such as shell carbonate. This small (but consistent) level of contamination supports the usefulness of endocarps in dating where other materials like charcoal are lacking. Before dating, however, hackberries should be carefully screened for mineralogical preservation and context. We examined the carbon and oxygen isotopic systematics of the fossil endocarps to try to establish potential source areas for harvesting. Most of the hackberries are enriched in 18O compared to local water sources, indicating that they were drawing on highly evaporated soil water, rather than the local (perched and regional) water table sampled in our study. Isotopic evidence therefore suggests that most but not all of the hackberries were harvested from nearby mesas well above the local streams and seeps fed by the water table.

Keywords

radiocarbongeoarchaeologymicromorphologystable isotopesmicrocontextual approach
Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 56 , Issue 4 , 2014 , pp. S17 - S25
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

References

Buitenhuis, H., 1997. Aşıklı Höyük: A “protodomestication” site. Anthropozoologica 25–26:655–662.Google Scholar
Cowan, M. R., Gabel, M. L., Jahren, A. H., and Tiezsen, T. L., 1997. Growth and biomineralization of Celtis occidentalis (Ulmaceae) pericarps. American Midland Naturalist 137(2):266–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esin, U., Bıçakçı, E., Özbaşaran, M., Balkan-Atlı, N., Berker, D., Yağmur, İ., and Atlı, K. A., 1991. Salvage excavations at the pre-pottery site of Aşikli Höyük in Central Anatolia. Anatolica 17:123–174.Google Scholar
Esin, U., and Harmankaya, S., 1999. Aşıklı. In Neolithic in Turkey, The Cradle of Civilisation, New Discoveries, 2 Volumes, edited by Özdoğan, M. and Başgelen, N.; pp. 115–132. Arkeoloji ve Sanat Yalınarı, Istanbul.Google Scholar
Goldberg, P., and Berna, F., 2010. Micromorphology and context. Quaternary International 214(1):56–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jahren, A. H., Amundson, R., Kendall, C., and Wigand, P., 2001. Paleoclimatic reconstruction using the correlation in δ18O of hackberry carbonate and environmental water, North America. Quaternary Research 56(2):252–263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levin, I., and Kromer, B., 2004. The tropospheric 14CO2 level in the mid-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. Radiocarbon 46(3):1261–1272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matthews, W., 2005. Micromorphological and microstratigraphic traces of uses and concepts of space. In Inhabiting Catalhoyuk: Reports from the 1995–99 Seasons, Volume 4, edited by Hodder, I.; pp. 355–398. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Özbaşaran, M., and Buitenhius, H., 2002. Proposal for a regional terminology for central Anatolia. In The Neolithic of Central Anatolia, Internal Developments and External Relations during the 9th—6th Millennia cal. BC, edited by Gerard, F. and Thissen, L.; pp. 67–77. Ege Yayınları, Istanbul.Google Scholar
Pustovoytov, K., and Riehl, S., 2006. Suitability of biogenic carbonate of Lithospermum fruits for 14C dating. Quaternary Research 65(3):508–518.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pustovoytov, K., Riehl, S., Hilger, H. H., and Schumacher, E., 2010. Oxygen isotopic composition of fruit carbonate in Lithospermeae and its potential for paleoclimate research in the Mediterranean. Global and Planetary Change 71(3):258–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rech, J., Pigati, J., Lehman, S. B., McGimpsey, C. N., Grimely, D. A., and Nekola, J. C., 2011. Assessing open-system behavior of 14C in terrestrial gastropod shells. Radiocarbon 53(2):325–335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shillito, L. M., Almond, M. J., Nicholson, J., Pantos, M., and Matthews, W., 2009. Rapid characterisation of archaeological midden components using FT-IR spectroscopy, SEM–EDX and micro-XRD. Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy 73(1):133–139.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stiner, M. C., Buitenhuis, H., Duru, G., Kuhn, S. L., Mentzer, S. M., Munro, N., Pöllath, N., Quade, J., Tsartsidou, G., and Özbasaran, M., 2014. A forager-herder trade-off, from broad-spectrum hunting to sheep management at Aşıklı Höyük, Turkey. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111(23):8404–8409.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stoops, G., 2003. Guidelines for Analysis and Description of Soil and Regolith Thin Sections. Soil Science Society of America, Madison, WI.Google Scholar
Toffolo, M. B., Maeir, A. M., Chadwick, J. R., and Boaretto, E., 2012. Characterization of contexts for radiocarbon dating: Results from the early Iron Age at Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel. Radiocarbon 54(3–4):371–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tucker, M., 1995. Techniques in Sedimentology. Blackwell Science, London.Google Scholar
Wang, Y., Jahren, H., and Amundson, R., 1997. Potential for 14C dating of biogenic carbonate in hackberry (Celtis) endocarps. Quaternary Research 47(3):337–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar