KALKOLİTİK GÜLPINAR TAŞ AĞIRLIKLARININ İŞLEVİNE YÖNELİK ÖNERİLER

Abstract

The Early Chalcolithic 2 (Gulpinar II) and Middle Chalcolithic period (Gulpinar III) settlements identified at Smintheion (Sanctuary of Apollo Smintheus) in the southwestern corner of the modern Biga Peninsula (ancient Troad) in north-western Anatolia have revealed new evidence regarding ground stone tool typology. Evaluation of the ground stone tool assemblages from these two consecutive Chalcolithic phases at Gulpinar have resulted in identification of a unique class of tools that could be considered as stone weights or net sinkers. Such tools were previously unknown in the archaeological record of northwestern Anatolia. This assemblage of ground stone tools is examined here via ethnographic analogy based on parallels with North America and Oceania, where they were mainly classified as sinkers for fishing lines and nets. The function of these tools is controversial because they have often been identified as loom weights or miscellaneous objects in studies of western Anatolian archaeology because direct evidence for fishing gear is relatively scarce. For the first time, these Chalcolithic Gulpinar stone weights, found in situ along with a pile of shells, support the opinion of them being used as net sinkers. Beside ethnographic analogy, other examples reported from various sites in the Near East, Aegean, and Anatolia were also examined in order to explain the function of these ground stone tools. This study also proposes that the sinker stones of Chalcolithic Gulpinar could be added to Anatolian ground stone typology. It is hoped that these tools will contribute to our understanding of long-term conventions in the fishing methods of prehistoric people and in the functional use and variability of these objects.