Ricostruzione Paleoambientale del Sito Archeologico di Arslantepe (Anatolia Orientale) Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the archaeological site of Arslantepe (Eastern Anatolia)

The archaeobotanical remains, coming from the tell of Arslantepe (Eastern Anatolia), have been studied to reconstruct the vegetation history and the palaeoclimate features of the site. The anthracological investigation provided important changes along the five investigated periods. Both anthropological choices and environmental causes can be advocated to explain increase/decrease of key taxa. The stable carbon content of charred wood remains (juniper and deciduous oaks) and caryopses (barley and emmer) has been analysed for five different archaeological periods (3350-2000 BC) and for modern plants grown near the site. The results show important similarities with the palaeoenvironmental records available for the Near East. The climate trend can be divided in three main aspects: an instability phase dated from ca. 3350 to 2900 BC; a phase of relative stability (up to 2350 BC); a driest phase during the last part of the 3rd millennium BC. The comparison of 13C values between fossil and modern plants show that the present climate is more arid than that registered between the end of the 4th and the 3rd millennium BC. Between 3000 and 2750 BC the results for caryopses clearly show a different hydric system, compatible with irrigation practises for emmer, if compared with barley.