Expanding the plain: Using archaeobotany to examine adaptation to the 5.2 kya climate change event during the Anatolian Late Chalcolithic at Çadır Höyük

Abstract

This study examines how the population at Çadır Höyük on the north central Anatolian plateau modified agricultural and fuel use practices in response to rapid social and environmental change between 3600 and 2900 BCE (Late Chalcolithic and Transitional to Early Bronze periods). Using descriptive and multivariate statistics to explore data from 60 archaeobotanical samples spanning three periods of occupation (3600–3200 BCE, 3300–3100 BCE, and 3100–2900 BCE) the results reveal that the inhabitants of Çadır relied heavily on barley, emmer, lentils, and flax throughout the Late Chalcolithic. Both dung and wood were used as fuel, although dung fuel appears to have been preferentially used. The most significant change throughout this period was a shift from foddering animals to grazing animals on the steppe. This shift corresponded with the 5.2 kya event, a period of increased aridity at the very end of the 4th millennium BCE. By diversifying their agricultural strategies to more risk adverse practices, the population at Çadır demonstrated their ability to be resilient in the face of climate change.