Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-tsvsl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-30T16:29:05.460Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late Bronze Age and Byzantine Crops at Beycesultan in Anatolia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

Hans Helbaek
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

During the years 1953 to 1959, under the directorship of Seton Lloyd, with James Mellaart, the British Institute in Ankara carried out excavations in the mound of Beycesultan, the site of successive ancient habitations. The remains of cultivated plants recovered during this operation are the subject of the following communication.

Beycesultan is situated some 5 km. west of Çivril in the Denizli Vilayet of south-western Turkey. The locality is a flat upland plain in an intermontane valley at the south-western approach to the Anatolian plateau, some 2,500 feet above sea level. It is enclosed by low hills and watered by the upper reaches of the Meander river. The mountains above the plain are still partly wooded, and the drainage from these tracts accounts for the moisture and fertility which make the cultivation of cereals, pulses, poppy, grapes and fruit possible in the valley plain in spite of the comparatively low precipitation of some 14 to 16 inches. As suggested by the huge quantities of timber employed in the construction of the Middle Bronze Age palace the surrounding hilly area was once generously forested with oak, juniper and fir, but now the area is largely deforested in consequence of overgrazing.

Type
Research Article
Information
Anatolian Studies , Volume 11 , December 1961 , pp. 77 - 97
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute at Ankara 1961

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

NOTES

1 Wittmack, L., 1890: “Samen aus der Ruinen von Hissarlik,” Zeitschr. f. Ethnologie 22Google Scholar.

2 Helbaek, H., 1960: “Ancient Crops in the Shahrzoor Valley in Iraqi Kurdistan,” Sumer, XVI, BaghdadGoogle Scholar.

3 Helbaek, H., 1958: “Plant Economy in Ancient Lachish,” in: Tufnell, O., Lachish, IV. LondonGoogle Scholar.

4 Helbaek, H., 1948: “Les empreintes de céréals,” in: Riis, P. J., Hama, Fouilles et recherches de la Fondation Carlsberg, II, 3. CopenhagenGoogle Scholar.

5 Quoted from: Buschan, G., 1895: Vorgeschichtliche Botanik. BreslauGoogle Scholar.

6 Helbaek, H., 1956: “Vegetables in the Iron Age Funeral Meal in Forum Romanum,” in: Gjerstad, E., Early Rome II (Acta Inst. Rom. Sueciae; Lund)Google Scholar.

7 Neuweiler, E., 1905: Die Prähistorischen Pflanzenreste Mitteleuropas. ZürichGoogle Scholar.

8 Debono, F., 1948: “El Omari (près Hélouan),” Ann. Serv. Ant. Égypte, XLVIII. CairoGoogle Scholar. Lauer, J.-P., Tackholm, Laurent V., and Aberg, E., 1950: “Les plantes découvertes dans les souterrains de l'enceinte du Roi Zozer,” Bull. Inst. Égypte, XXXIIGoogle Scholar.

9 Helbaek, H., 1939: “Planteavl,” Aarboger. Copenhagen (French summary)Google Scholar.

10 Helbaek, H., 1957: “Bornholm Plant Economy in the First Half of the First Millennium A.D.,” in: Klindt-Jensen, O., Bornholm i Folkevandringstiden (Nat. Mus. Skr. St. Ber. II., CopenhagenGoogle Scholar).

11 Helbaek, H., 1952: “Spelt in Bronze Age Denmark,” Acta Archaeol., XXIII. CopenhagenGoogle Scholar. Helbaek, H., 1952: “Early Crops in Southern England,” Proc. Preh. Soc., XVIII. LondonGoogle Scholar. Helbaek, H., 1955: “The Botany of the Iron Age Vallhagar Field,” in: Stenberger, M. et al. Vallhagar. StockholmGoogle Scholar.

12 Helbaek, H., 1959: “Domestication of Food Plants in the Old World,” Science 130, 365. WashingtonGoogle Scholar.

13 Bowden, , Wray, M., 1959: “The Taxonomy and Nomenclature of the Wheats, Barleys, and Ryes and their Wild Relatives,” Canad. Journ. Bot., 37, 657CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

14 Helbaek, H., 1960: “The Paleoethnobotany of the Near East and Europe,” Chapter VIII, in: Braidwood, R. J. and Howe, B., Prehistoric Investigations in Iraqi Kurdistan. Chicago Un. Press. See also note 12Google Scholar.

15 Guyan, W. U., 1954: Das jungsteinzeitliche Moordorf von Thayngen-Weier,” in Das Pfahlbauproblem. SchaffhausenGoogle Scholar.

16 This statement refers to my unpublished examination of the carbonized material from Hama. See also note 4.

17 Helbaek, H., 1955. “Ancient Egyptian Wheats,” Proc. Preh. Soc., XXI. LondonGoogle Scholar.

18 Heer, O., 1865: “Die Pflanzen der Pfahlbauten,” Neujahrsbl. Naturforsch. Ges. ZürichGoogle Scholar.

19 Tackholm, V. and G., , and Drar, M., 1941: Flora of Egypt, I. Cairo Un. PressGoogle Scholar.

20 Hunter, H., 1952: The Barley Crop. LondonGoogle Scholar.

21 Helbaek, H., 1960: “Ecological Effects of Irrigation in Ancient Mesopotamia,” Iraq, XXII, 186–96. London.Google Scholar