Different manifestations of Neolithization in Northwest Anatolia?: An Archaeobotanical Review from Barcın Höyük and Bahçelievler, Turkey

The Neolithic way of life was first established in Northwest Anatolia before the middle of the 7th millennium BC. The recently excavated sites of Barcın Höyük and Bahçelievler have yielded archaeological evidence for the earliest Neolithic levels in the region and provide new archaeobotanical datasets. To compare different adaptations to the changes brought on by the Neolithization processes, we studied 348 archaeobotanical samples from Phases VIe and VId1 at Barcın and 63 samples from the contemporaneous levels, Phase 6 and Phase 5, at Bahçelievler. The economic plants include hulled and naked six-row barley, einkorn, emmer, bread/hard wheat, small-sized naked wheat, lentil, bitter vetch, pea, chickpea, flax, hazelnut, bramble, and pistacia. Our analyses show small but significant differences between the sites in the selected economic plant ranges, among the cereals, pulses as well as gathered plants.FGW – Publications not associated with a particular research are

From bowls to pots: the dairying revolution in Northwest Turkey, a view from Barcın Höyük, 6600 to 6000 BCE

Research has identified Northwest Turkey as a key region for the development of dairying inthe seventh millennium BCE, yet little is known about how this practice began or evolvedthere. This research studies Barcın Ho¨yu¨ k, a site located in Bursa’s Yenişehir Valley, whichranges chronologically from 6600 BCE, when the first evidence of settled life appears in theMarmara Region, to 6000 BCE, when Neolithic habitation at the site ceases. Using potterysherds diagnostic by vessel category and type, this paper aims at identifying which onesmay have been primarily used to store, process, or consume dairy products. Organic residueanalysis of selected samples helped address the process of adoption and intensificationof milk processing in this region over time. The lipid residue data discussed in this paperderive from 143 isotopic results subsampled from 173 organic residues obtained from 805Neolithic potsherds and suggest that bowls and four-lugged pots may have been preferredcontainers for processing milk. The discovery of abundant milk residues even among theearliest ceramics indicates that the pioneer farmers arrived in the region already with theknowhow of dairying and milk processing. In fact, these skills and the reliance on secondaryproducts may have given them one of the necessary tools to successfully venture into theunfarmed lands of Northwest Anatolia in the first place.Middle Eastern Studie

Peer relations linking overweight and obesity, and mediator factors among Turkish adolescents

Depending on the individual’s body height and frame structure and body weight, obesity is considered both as a socially accepted norm in a society and as exceeding the accepted upper limits. The present study aimed to determine the associations between overweight and obesity, peer relationships, and nutritional and physical activity behaviour among Turkish adolescents. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Ankara, and the sample consisted of 402 adolescents (171 boys and 231 girls) aged between 12 and 17 years. A physical examination was conducted to collect anthropometric measurements (height, weight, BMI, and body fat using bio-impedance analysis), and detailed information was collected on adolescents’ behaviour (Peer Relationship Scale with four sub-scales of commitment, trust and identification, self-disclosure, and loyalty), diet (24h recall dietary questionnaire), physical activity, self-reported weight, parental attitudes, and socio-economic circumstances. BMI was evaluated using IOTF cut-off points, and simple mediation analyses were performed using ordinary least squares path analysis by the PROCESS macro for SPSS. The results showed that according to the weight status by BMI using IOTF cut-offs, thinness was more prominent in girls (9.5%), overweight was higher in girls (19%), while obesity was higher in boys (8.8%). Total body fat percentage was found to be higher in girls in all weight groups (p < 0.001). The Peer Relationship Scale and, commitment, self-disclosure, and loyalty sub-scales were found to be statistically significant (p < 0.001); girls tend to have higher scores except for the loyalty sub- scale. According to the results, self-reported and actual weight differences were found to be significant in both sexes (p < 0.001), and among IOTF weight groups overweight girls tended to report their weight approximately 2 kg lower than their actual weight and obese girls more than 5 kg lower. In conclusion, the mediation analysis showed that fat percentage, self-reported weight difference, and BMI were significant predictors of Peer Relationship Score where fat percentage partially mediated the relationship between the Peer Relationship Scale and BMI, and full mediation effect of self-reported weight difference was also significant. The relation of the high level of fat accumulation and overweight/obesity with Peer Relationship Scores and its sub-domains should be carefully monitored

Data sharing reveals complexity in the westward spread of domestic animals across Neolithic Turkey

This study presents the results of a major data integration project bringing together primary archaeozoological data for over 200,000 faunal specimens excavated from seventeen sites in Turkey spanning the Epipaleolithic through Chalcolithic periods, c. 18,000-4,000 cal BC, in order to document the initial westward spread of domestic livestock across Neolithic central and western Turkey. From these shared datasets we demonstrate that the westward expansion of Neolithic subsistence technologies combined multiple routes and pulses but did not involve a set 'package' comprising all four livestock species including sheep, goat, cattle and pig. Instead, Neolithic animal economies in the study regions are shown to be more diverse than deduced previously using quantitatively more limited datasets. Moreover, during the transition to agro-pastoral economies interactions between domestic stock and local wild fauna continued. Through publication of datasets with Open Context (opencontext.org), this project emphasizes the benefits of data sharing and web-based dissemination of large primary data sets for exploring major questions in archaeology (Alternative Language Abstract S1)