ARSLANTEPE (Turkey) is a mound with a long sequence from the 6th mill. BCE to the Byzantine period. 60 years of extensive and stratigraphic excavation have allowed the reconstruction of the site's history. The discovery of the first example of palatial complex (3300 BCE) with abundant in situ materials has allowed to reconstruct the birth of bureaucracy and state systems. The excellent state of preservation of the more than 4000m2 monument and the effort made by the Sapienza expedition and the Istituto Centrale del Restauro for more than 30 years for its preservation and exhibition, have brought Arslantepe in the UNESCO tentative list of World Heritage sites. The final response to the application has been delayed due to the Covid pandemic and is now scheduled for July 2021. Preparation for this moment included renovation of the on site exhibit and multiple activities for the increase of awareness and site management.
In celebration of the 60 years of activities (and hopefully of the definite inscription in the World Heritage list too), a conference and celebrative video are being planned for 2021.
Recent excavation at the site brought to the discovery of a wide monumental elite residential quarter, which confirms the importance of the site in the formative phases of social complexity, prior to the palace. Future research will concentrate on ever earlier phases of occupation to understand the beginning of this phenomenon.
Other important research at the site is in the NE part where a long sequence of the 2nd and 1st millennia BCE shows that Arslantepe was a strategic centre in the periods of formation, expansion and collapse of the Hittite Empire, and was capital of its region.
The research group lead by Sapienza University counts interdisciplinary collaborations with 22 national and international institutions, carrying out research in numerous fields, the activities of which shall continue in 2021, as described below.
As already pointed out above, research at Arslantepe applies several innovative and interdisciplinary methodologies, allowing to obtain innovative historical and anthropological results on some of the most intriguing issues of the development of modern civilisation.
- SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGIES OF COMBINED STRATIGRAPHIC AND EXTENSIVE EXCAVATION have allowed to bring to light and thoroughly investigate large settlement areas with abundant in situ materials, and reconstruct, with meticulous recovery procedures, the function of spaces and identify public and domestic areas. The rigour and modernity of excavation techniques and methodologies have made Arslantepe a reference site for the chronology and cultural history of Anatolia, and beyond (Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia, 2011; 2016).
- MICRO-MORPHOLOGY OF INDIVIDUAL ROOM FLOORS is contributing to the reconstruction of activity areas and the organization of daily life in the successive settlements.
- RECONSTRUCTION OF ACTIVITIES AND BEHAVIORAL PATTERNS through an INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH and investigation of in situ material culture, use wear and traces, and residues. In 2021 this will concentrate on the use of mass produced bowls in Late Chalcolithic contexts.
- ARCHAEOBOTANICAL STUDIES on woods, seeds and pollens are contributing to the reconstruction of agricultural practices and palaeo-environment in the different periods concerned, whilst ARCHAEOZOOLOGICAL RESEARCH analyses animal breeding
patterns in various periods and contributes to the study of ancient pastoralism.
- ARCHAEOMETRIC ANALYSIS ON PLASTERS, MORTARS, PIGMENTS, CLAY-SEALING SAMPLES and POTTERY in order to characterize the provenance and variability of the clay sources and manufacturing techniques, building materials and sealing practices. These are useful in understanding craftsmanship, cultural relations and networks, as well as sealing practices (Heritage 2021). This work will be especially concentrated in 2021 on the analysis of plasters and pigments, to understand the techniques of preparation of both (lime production, presence of binders etc.).
- STABLE ISOTOPE STUDIES CARRIED OUT ON VEGETAL REMAINS from different periods have allowed to reconstruct important aspects of the climatic changes from 4th to 2nd millennium BCE, enlightening in particular the unstable conditions in the transition from
4th to 3rd millennium, the period of the substantial socio-political change manifested by the collapse of the Palace system. These studies have also contributed to the understanding of agricultural practices and the possible intervention of irrigation in various periods and socio-economic contexts.
- STABLE ISOTOPE STUDIES CARRIED OUT ON ANIMAL AND HUMAN BONES is giving crucial information on: a) the original environment and provenience of human and animal populations, consequently suggesting possible migration phenomena, as well as
animal breeding practices such as transhumance; b) diets (Iacumin et al. 2020).
- DNA ANALYSES ON ANIMAL and HUMAN BONES are giving results on population movements. The study of the Arslantepe population genetics has been the subject of international workshops (ICAANE 2018 and DAI 2019) and a recent article has appeared
on CELL (2020).
- RESIDUE, STARCH, PHYTOLITH ANALYSES on pottery and grinding utensils aids in understanding food consumption and manipulation, as well as the use of utensils and the practices of artisans.
- 3D MODELING and Virtual reconstruction aimed at a) monitoring the state of conservation of the architectural monuments; b) studying the architecture and the finds in detail; c) increase the understanding for the public and aid the narration of the story represented by Arslantepe; d) virtual exhibition. These activities have received particular boost in 2020 and continue intensively in 2021.
- 3D LASER SCANNING (Sapienza) and drone images (MAIAO) are being used to analyse in detail structural elements of architecture and the landscape.
- GEOMAGNETISM to investigate the immediate outskirts of the site to look for a potential lower town of the Iron Age period. A first survey was carried out in 2019 and shall be intensified in 2021.
- INTEGRATED DATA REPOSITORY to support the collection, management and sharing of data. It is conceived as a web based data repository (http://arsdb.cnr.it/) and implemented in Python through different open-source technologies. It is also enriched with modules for geospatial data management and analysis, full-text search and data clustering, and machine learning functionalities for image classification. To the implementation of this system important energy has been devoted in 2019 and 20 and the system now archives 20500 documents.
- BIBLIOGRAPHIC online DATABASE to collect all scientific contributions. This bibliographic repository is based on open-source technologies as well. Both this and the data repository have been loaded online and are variously shared with the public and the scientific community.