Settlement history and material culture in southwest Turkey: Report on the 2008-2010 survey at Çaltılar Höyük (northern Lycia)

Abstract

This report presents the main results of research activities carried out at Caltilar Hoyuk, northern Lycia, southwest Turkey, between 2008 and 2010. During this period, an international team undertook topographic, archaeological and geophysical surveys, together with artefact studies and analyses, aimed at determining the nature and extent of occupation at the site, and offering new data about the settlement history and material culture of this region in pre-Classical times. The results of this work suggest that the site was occupied from at least the fourth millennium (Late Chalcolithic) to the middle of the sixth century BC, a date that coincides with the Persian conquest of Lycia, with only scant evidence of use/occupation after this phase. In addition, the nature of our finds suggests that the site, despite its location in the summer pastures (yayla) and at a considerable altitude (1,250m), was well-connected to other Anatolian and Aegean regions, and probably served as more than just a minor seasonal agro-pastoral settlement, particularly during its Early Bronze Age and Late Iron Age periods of occupation. The evidence relevant to the second millennium BC is too limited at present to allow further interpretation about the nature of occupation at the site, but is significant per se, especially in view of the scanty archaeological remains of this period in the region, and despite the numerous references to the Lukka people and settlements available in documentary sources.