Re-evaluating Cambaztepe in the Context of its Yamnaya (Pit-Grave) Origin, the Anatolian Trade Network and Possible Early Migrations towards Anatolia in the 3rd Millennium BC
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Okan Sezer
Abstract
This study aims to re-evaluate Cambaztepe, located approximately 12 km west of the Silivri district center of İstanbul, where rescue excavations led by the İstanbul Archaeology Museums in 2015 were carried out. Cambaztepe is a burial mound dated to the Early Bronze Age II (EBA II) within Anatolian chronology. It also has a secondary burial context dated to the Iron Age. Although there is no absolute dating, Cambaztepe is currently believed to be the earliest burial mound in Türkiye’s European territory (also known as Eastern Thrace), considering the burial position and the grave goods and/or finds. The excavation team has published only a preliminary report and two papers, of which one was published in a popular magazine. The possible relationship between Cambaztepe and Yamnaya (Pit-Grave), and other related cultures was not examined in the preliminary report. Furthermore, the preliminary report provides inaccurate and misleading suggestions about the way the deceased were placed in the grave and the grave finds. In addition to other evidence, the way the deceased were placed in the grave as a semi-supine position indicates that the Cambaztepe EBA II grave context is related to the Pit-Grave or other cultures with Pit-Grave traditions in the Balkans. However, the grave structure in round shape with a floor of stone slabs and the grave finds, consisting of a beaked jug of inland Western Anatolian origin and a dagger of Anatolian origin, make Cambaztepe different from contemporary burial mounds in the Balkans. The existence of a cremation burial is sufficient to make concrete suggestions in the context of possible early migrations from Europe to Anatolia in the 3rd millennium BC, even though the exact nature of these migrations remains unknown, whether they involved the population movement or transfer of ideas-ideology-beliefs (or a combination of both). Likewise, the Cambaztepe EBA II grave context has a potential to define the mechanism of migration from Anatolia to Europe more precisely. The Cambaztepe EBA II grave context should be placed at the date range 2700–2500 BC, based on the burial practice observed in the Balkans and the grave finds of Anatolian origin.
Özet
Bu çalışma 2015 yılında İstanbul Arkeoloji Müzeleri tarafından kurtarma kazısı gerçekleştirilen, İstanbul ili Silivri ilçe merkezinin yaklaşık 12 km batısındaki Cambaztepe’yi yeniden değerlendirmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Cambaztepe, Demir Çağı’na tarihlenen ikincil gömüt konteksiyle birlikte, Anadolu kronolojisiyle Erken Tunç Çağı II’ye (ETÇ II) tarihli bir gömüt tepesidir (kurgan). Kesin bir tarihlendirme olmamasına rağmen, ölünün gömüte yerleştirilme şekli ve gömüt hediyeleri ve/veya buluntuları göz önüne alındığında, Cambaztepe için Türkiye’nin Avrupa topraklarında kalan -şu an için- en erken tarihli kurganı denilebilir. Kazı ekibi şimdiye kadar sadece bir ön rapor ve biri popüler bir dergide yayınlanmış iki adet yayın hazırlamıştır. Raporda, Cambaztepe ile Yamnaya (Çukur Gömüt) ve diğer bağlantılı kültürler arasındaki olası ilişki incelenmemiştir. Ayrıca, rapor ölünün gömüte yerleştirilme şekli ile gömüt buluntuları hakkında hatalı ve eksik öneriler sunmaktadır. Diğer kanıtların yanı sıra, ölünün yarı sırtüstü şeklinde gömüte yerleştirilmiş olması, söz konusu ETÇ II gömüt konteksinin Çukur Gömüt’le ya da Balkanlardaki diğer Çukur Gömüt gelenekli kültürlerle ilişkili olduğunu işaret etmektedir. Ancak, sal taşı zemine sahip daire planlı gömüt yapısı ve İç Batı Anadolu kökenli gaga ağızlı testi ile Anadolu kökenli hançerden oluşan gömüt buluntuları Cambaztepe’yi farklı kılmaktadır. Kremasyon şeklindeki ölü gömmenin varlığı ise, henüz karakterinin nüfus hareketi ya da fikir-ideoloji-inanç aktarımı (veya her ikisinin birleşimi) olup-olmadığından emin olamadığımız, MÖ 3. binde Avrupa’dan Anadolu’ya yapılan olası erken göçler bağlamında somut öneriler yapılmasına olanak sağlayacak güçtedir. Benzer şekilde, bir bütün Cambaztepe ETÇ II gömüt konteksi, aynı binde Anadolu’dan Avrupa’ya doğru gerçekleşen göçün mekanizmasını daha tanımlı hale getirebilir. Anadolu kökenli gömüt buluntuları ve Balkanlardaki benzer defin şekillerinden yola çıkılarak Cambaztepe ETÇ II gömüt konteksi MÖ 2700–2500 aralığına tarihlenmelidir.
Zusammenfassung
Ziel dieser Studie ist die Neubewertung von Cambaztepe, etwa 12 km westlich des Bezirkszentrums Silivri in Istanbul gelegen, wo im Jahr 2015 Rettungsgrabung durch das Archäologische Museum von Istanbul durchgeführt wurden. Cambaztepe ist ein Grabhügel, der in der anatolischen Chronologie in die frühe Bronzezeit II (EBA II) datiert wird. Es gibt auch einen sekundären Bestattungskontext, der auf die Eisenzeit datiert wird. Obwohl es keine absolute Datierung gibt, geht man derzeit davon aus, dass es sich bei Cambaztepe um den frühesten Grabhügel auf dem europäischen Territorium der Türkei, also Ostthrakien, handelt, wenn man die Lage des Grabes und die Grabbeigaben bzw. Funde berücksichtigt. Das Ausgrabungsteam hat bisher nur einen vorläufigen Bericht und zwei Abhandlungen veröffentlicht, von denen eine in einer populären Zeitschrift erschienen ist. Die mögliche Beziehung zwischen Cambaztepe und Yamnaya (Pit-Grave) und anderen verwandten Kulturen wurde im vorläufigen Bericht nicht untersucht. Darüber hinaus enthält der Vorbericht ungenaue und irreführende Angaben über die Art und Weise, wie die Verstorbenen ins Grab gelegt wurden, und über die Grabfunde. Die Art und Weise, wie der Verstorbene in das Grab gelegt wurde, deutet darauf hin, dass der Grabkontext von Cambaztepe EBA II mit der Grubengrab- oder anderen Kulturen mit Grubengrabtraditionen des Balkans in einem Zusammenhang steht. Die runde Grabstruktur mit einem Boden aus Steinplatten und die Grabfunde, bestehend aus einem Schnabelkrug westanatolischen Ursprungs und einem Dolch anatolischen Ursprungs, unterscheiden Cambaztepe jedoch von zeitgenössischen Grabhügeln auf dem Balkan.
Das Vorhandensein von Brandbestattungen reicht aus, um konkrete Hinweise auf mögliche frühe Migrationen von Europa nach Anatolien im 3. Jahrtausend v. Chr. zu geben, auch wenn die genaue Art dieser Migrationen unbekannt bleibt, ob es sich nun um eine Bevölkerungsbewegung oder einen Transfer von Ideen/Ideologien oder Glauben (oder eine Kombination aus beidem) handelt. Auch der Grabkontext von Cambaztepe EBA II könnte dazu beitragen, den Mechanismus der Migration von Anatolien nach Europa genauer zu definieren. Der Grabkontext von Cambaztepe EBA II sollte auf der Grundlage der auf dem Balkan beobachteten Bestattungspraxis und der Grabfunde anatolischen Ursprungs in den Zeitraum 2700–2500 v. Chr. eingeordnet werden.
© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Abhandlungen
- On the chronology of the Vinča culture chronology: Vasić’s legacy of the Vinča-Belo Brdo datings
- Obsidian and Rock Crystal Artefacts as Prestige Finds Based on Raw Material Resources in Çine-Tepecik
- Searching for islands of happiness – LBK settlement at Cząstków Polski site XII, Czosnów Commune in Mazovia, Central Poland
- Re-evaluating Cambaztepe in the Context of its Yamnaya (Pit-Grave) Origin, the Anatolian Trade Network and Possible Early Migrations towards Anatolia in the 3rd Millennium BC
- Granhammar Man: axed down and thrown into the sea in Late Bronze Age Uppland, Sweden
- Salt, clay, and society: Towards a reconstruction of salt-making chaînes opératoires in the Bronze and Early Iron Age in the Kraków–Wieliczka salt-bearing region
- Recycling Metal, Mobility and Connectivity. An Analysis of Rochelongue Underwater Site Assemblage (seventh–sixth BC) West Languedoc (France)
- Burials and Rituals in the La Tène Period: The Quadrangular Enclosure from Němčice
- Reconstructions of the La Tène wagon wheels of Southeast Europe
- Beyond cemeteries – excavation of a settlement of Poieneşti-Lucaşeuca Culture in Ivancea, Republic of Moldova
- Fragment of a Roman Period jug handle from Vanovice, Blansko District (Moravia, Czech Republic) – interpretation possibilities
- Horsemen in social structures of Central European Barbaricum – Analysis 1: grave contexts
- The Åker assemblage: Provenance and local workshop-traditions in the North Sea region in the late 6th and early 7th centuries
- Wissenschaft und prähistorische Forschung in fünf politischen Systemen. Robert Rudolf Schmidt (1882–1950) und die SS-Grabung Mauern 1937 bei Rennertshofen
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Abhandlungen
- On the chronology of the Vinča culture chronology: Vasić’s legacy of the Vinča-Belo Brdo datings
- Obsidian and Rock Crystal Artefacts as Prestige Finds Based on Raw Material Resources in Çine-Tepecik
- Searching for islands of happiness – LBK settlement at Cząstków Polski site XII, Czosnów Commune in Mazovia, Central Poland
- Re-evaluating Cambaztepe in the Context of its Yamnaya (Pit-Grave) Origin, the Anatolian Trade Network and Possible Early Migrations towards Anatolia in the 3rd Millennium BC
- Granhammar Man: axed down and thrown into the sea in Late Bronze Age Uppland, Sweden
- Salt, clay, and society: Towards a reconstruction of salt-making chaînes opératoires in the Bronze and Early Iron Age in the Kraków–Wieliczka salt-bearing region
- Recycling Metal, Mobility and Connectivity. An Analysis of Rochelongue Underwater Site Assemblage (seventh–sixth BC) West Languedoc (France)
- Burials and Rituals in the La Tène Period: The Quadrangular Enclosure from Němčice
- Reconstructions of the La Tène wagon wheels of Southeast Europe
- Beyond cemeteries – excavation of a settlement of Poieneşti-Lucaşeuca Culture in Ivancea, Republic of Moldova
- Fragment of a Roman Period jug handle from Vanovice, Blansko District (Moravia, Czech Republic) – interpretation possibilities
- Horsemen in social structures of Central European Barbaricum – Analysis 1: grave contexts
- The Åker assemblage: Provenance and local workshop-traditions in the North Sea region in the late 6th and early 7th centuries
- Wissenschaft und prähistorische Forschung in fünf politischen Systemen. Robert Rudolf Schmidt (1882–1950) und die SS-Grabung Mauern 1937 bei Rennertshofen
