The 1993 Excavation Season at Goltepe, Turkey

In 1993 the Early Bronze Age workshop and habitation site of Goltepe and its associated tin mine, Kestel, became the newest members of the Oriental Institute excavation roster. Excavations at Goltepe during the 1993 season were directed by K. Ashhan Yener and were designed to illuminate the origins, formation, and organization of tin production in the central Taurus Mountains of Turkey. Discovered during ten years of archaeological and mineralogical surveying in metal-rich zones, the results of these archaeometallurgical investigations yielded the solution to an enigma puzzling scholars for decades—a source of the elusive tin of antiquity, a 5-10% concentration of tin with copper that produces a good bronze. The 1993 excavations were conducted under the auspices of the Turkish Ministry of Culture, Directorate General of Monuments and Museums. The team consisted of field director Thomas Chadderdon and field supervisors Chris Monroe, Eric Klucas, Eric Jean, and Philip Andrews. The groundstone tools were tackled by Dr. Robert Hard and the ceramics by Dr. Sylvestre Dupres and Behin Aksoy. Conservation was ably managed by Stephen Koob and Fazil Agikgoz. Replication smelting experiments and analyses of metallurgical debris were undertaken by Bryan Earl and Dr. Hadi Ozbal. Palaeobotanical materials were studied by Mark Nesbitt and the faunal collection by Dr. Alan Gilbert. Analyses of crucible slag and residues were undertaken at the University of Chicago by Dr. Ian Steele, Mieke Adriens, and Laura D'Alessandro of the Oriental Institute. Ay§e Ozkan and Brenda Craddock comprised the illustration staff. Tony Wilkinson of the Oriental Institute researched land use patterns. John and Peggy Sanders of the Oriental Institute Computer Laboratory digitally rendered the topographical maps and plans. Goltepe is located two kilometers opposite Kestel mine on top of a large natural hill in south-central Turkey. The hill measures close to sixty hectares total and is fortified at the summit, with cultural deposition throughout the entire extent of its surface. The size of the settlement is estimated to be between eight to ten hectares, and combined with the Kestel slope occupation probably totals sixty hectares in a man-mine system. C uncalibrated dates from the 1990 season at Goltepe range from 3290-1840 B.C. A dendrochronological date of 1978 ± 37 years was obtained for a piece of charcoal from a pit fill context. Five samples of charcoal from excavated contexts inside Kestel mine gave radiocarbon determinations 2070-1880 B.C. calibrated to 2870-2200 B.C., dating the use of Kestel mine firmly in the Early Bronze Age. Another series of six recently obtained dates suggests an earlier beginning for the mine, 2740 B.C. ± 100 calibrated to 3240-3100 B.C. Excavations began at Goltepe in 1990 and continued in 1991 and 1993. Parallel excavations proceeded at Kestel mine in 1987, 1988, 1990, and 1992.