Middle Chalcolithic expansion into the highlands of the north-central Taurus, south-western Cappadocia

Abstract

Since 2017, a survey has been underway in the north-central Taurus Mountains in southwestern Cappadocia. The project aims to collect data that will enable analysis of the cultural developments and transformations of the region from the Neolithic to the end of the Early Bronze Age. Our initial evaluation of Middle Chalcolithic material, which is the subject of this article, began with a re-evaluation of finds obtained by Aslıhan Yener between 1987 and 1996 during a survey of the north-central Taurus (Yener 2000). At the lowest levels excavated inside Kestel Mine, and among the surface materials of the two settlements close to Kestel Mine (Çardacık-Karatepeler and Mahmatlı-Boztepe), Middle Chalcolithic finds were identified that are much more common in the western Cappadocian plateau. This raised several questions for further investigation. Primarily, what does identification of western Cappadocian Middle Chalcolithic cultural materials in the highlands of the north-central Taurus reveal about the cultural relationship between the two regions? Could this relationship be related to mining? And is there a possibility that mining activities began in the central Taurus during the Middle Chalcolithic period? In light of evidence for extractive metallurgy at the nearby sites of Köskhöyük (level I) and Mersin-Yumuktepe (level XVI) during the Middle ̧ Chalcolithic, this possibility deserves serious consideration (Yalçın 2000; Öztan 2002).