New Observations for the Late Chalcolithic Settlement at Barcın Höyük

The Late Chalcolithic Period in northwestern Anatolia has been encountered to date only at a very few sites. The excavations at Barcın Höyük in Bursa province have produced evidence for a small settlement which appears encircled by a ditch dating to the early fourth millennium bc. Complementing an earlier report on these remains, this paper presents two recently excavated large ovens located outside the main settlement area. The discovery of these ovens has implications for our understanding of the settlement organization. Small finds of bone, clay, stone and metal are also presented in this paper. The report on the metal artifacts and the ceramics has been further supplemented by archaeometric results. Three copper alloy objects are interesting for demonstrating that metal objects circulated in a small farming settlement located in a region apparently lacking central places of production and trade. Moreover, discussed are the lipid residue analyses on Late Chalcolithic potsherds. Their analysis yielded positive results and shows that pots were used for cooking meat—ruminant as well as porcine–and milk, which corresponds well with Barcın Höyük’s faunal repertoire.