Anatolian chert raw materials: Preliminary results and perspectives

Abstract

In Central Anatolia, chipped stone at sites such as Çatalhöyük comprises approximately 90% of obsidian and 10% of other raw materials. These other raw materials are not precisely characterized when they show diverse quality, type of raw material and different technical investment for knapping. Speculations about sources and provenance of these raw materials in Central Anatolia are diverse but rarely supported by surveys. This paper proposes the preliminary results concerning surveys in the region of Konya, Karaman and Beyşehir with the site of Çatalhöyük at the centre.To this purpose, this work proposes a new approach combining field observations, petrography and mineralogical study (by using FTIR) for the characterization of raw materials and flint sources. A systematic description of Cretaceous and Ophiolitic formations in Central Anatolia and an evaluation of potential raw materials sources during prehistory is presented here.The fieldwork allows us to observe typical flints of the region, but tectonics and metamorphism have modified their mineralogical characteristics and physical properties making them largely unsuitable for knapping. Jasper sources, in Ophiolitic formations, similar to the poor quality raw material exploited for chipped stone at Çatalhöyük site, are located around the settlement. Flint suitable for the large blade production observed at Çatalhöyük are not available in the area of our study; its provenance remains unknown.