Human-environment interaction in a small intramontane valley
Research from the Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project at Bereket (SW Turkey)
Eva Kaptijn & Johan Bakker
(eva.kaptijn@arts.kuleuven.be & g_v_r@gmx.net)
Introduction
The Bereket Valley, located in the territory of ancient
Sagalassos (southwest Turkey), has been studied intensively by
archaeologists, palynologists, and geomorphologists. This
makes it one of the best investigated areas in the region and
the multidisciplinary data provide an important added value.
The Bereket valley is a high-altitude, intramontane valley. The
presence of springs in combination with the poor draining
capacity of the soils has resulted in the development of a
marsh allowing palynological sampling.
The territory of Sagalassos in the Roman Imperial
period (solid line) and Hellenistic period (dotted line),
with the Bereket Valley located in the southwest.
Overview of the Bereket Valley and the surveyed area,
with the ancient settlement (x), the modern village of
Bereket (B) and pollen cores (stars).
Archaeological research
Distribution of RSW and SRSW sherds discovered in the survey
Early Roman
Imperial
Late Roman/
Early Byzantine
RSW
2
57
SRSW
79
22
Total
81
79
In 2008, the developments in past human activities were investigated by an intensive archaeological survey (Vanhaverbeke et al. 2011). The Bereket valley was almost
completely surveyed, making the artefact collection a representative regional sample of past human activity. Study of the collected pottery and its distribution showed that
a settlement existed in the southwestern part of the valley. This site was founded in the Hellenistic period and continued into the Middle Byzantine period, while the first
centuries, i.e. the Hellenistic (333 – 25 BC), Early Roman Imperial (25 BC – AD 300) and Late Roman/ Early Byzantine (AD 300 – 650) periods are of special interest here.
Beside the pottery, several remains of Early Roman monumental architecture have been found suggesting the presence in the valley of an elite population that could afford
such expenditure.
The pottery collection shows little differentiation between the Hellenistic, Early Roman Imperial and the Late Roman/ Early Byzantine periods; the number of
collected sherds is similar, the functional division of the pottery is comparable and based on the archaeological evidence alone the same interpretation would be attachted
to the artefact distribution in all periods, i.e. a village settlement located in a fertile, rural environment with, to all likelihood, a subsistence economy based on agriculture
and a social organisation that included an elite population.
However, a detailed investigation of the fine wares, more specifically the red slipped tablewares used for serving, revealed that during Early Roman Imperial period
the red slipped tablewares originated as good as solely from the production centre located in the so-called potters’ quarter at Sagalassos (see table; RSW denotes the red
slip wares from production centres other than Sagalassos, while SRSW stands for Sagalassos Red Slip Ware). Somewhere during the fourth century AD this changes and at
least two, as yet unknown, production centres take the front, while the Sagalassos Red Slip Ware diminishes in importance to less than a third of the total amount of red slip
wares. However, no changes occur in the number of red slip tableware sherds, or other types of pottery, that were collected.
The change in proportion between SRSW and RSW might be indicative of changes at Sagalassos. The first half of the fourth century AD is evidenced to have the
lowest output of SRSW during the existence of the production centre (Poblome et al. 2013). A similar dip occurs in the building activity at Sagalassos.
Concluding, apart from the difference in production centre where the red slip tablewares were produced, no significant changes between the Early Roman Imperial
and the Late Roman/ Early Byzantine periods are visible in the archaeological evidence identified in the Bereket Valley.
Palynological research
Discussion & Conclusions
The Bereket Valley is palynologically amongst the most intensively investigated areas in the territory of
Sagalassos. Within the Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project, two palynological studies have been
carried out in this valley (Kaniewski et al. 2007; 2008; Bakker et al. 2013).
The pollen data shows that the so-called Beyşehir Occupation Phase (BO-phase), a period
characterized by an increase in the amount and variety of indicators for horticulture and attested in large
tracts of Turkey and Greece, started in this valley around 280 BC (Kaniewski et al. 2007; 2008). In general,
the start of the BO-Phase is placed around 1000 BC and linked to a climatic amelioration which apparently
occurred throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. Primary anthropogenic indicators in the valley consist of
Cerealia, chestnut (Castanea sativa), manna-ash (Fraxinus ornus-tp), walnut (Juglans regia) and grape (Vitis
vinifera/sylvestris), olive (Olea europaea), pistachio (Pistacia atlantica-tp), and hazel (Corylus).
The fact that olive was present in these pollen cores is remarkable as at present the climate in this
high-altitude valley is too cold for the culitvation of olive (Vermoere et al. 2003: 232). The local production
of olive has also been suggested by the discovery of a counterweight of an olive or wine press in this valley.
Bakker et al. (2013) report how recent pollendata points towards a distinct decrease in arboriculture
during the second half of the 3rd century AD, corresponding with a short decrease in cereal cultivation. This
is markedly earlier than the estimates generally given for the end of the BO-phase in the wider region,
where the BO-phase continues until at least the mid sixth century AD (Bakker 2012).The shift at Bereket
seems not to have been guided by a climatological need. The whole of the Roman Imperial period fell in
what is known as the ‘Roman Warm Period’ (Bakker 2012: 84). This period contains wetter and drier
episodes and the period from ca. AD 300 to 640 is generally considered to have been very wet. With regard
to the cultivation of fruit trees and perennial crops, warmer and wetter conditions should be regarded as an
amelioration of the climate.
While encroachment of the marsh onto agricultural lands, due to a shift towards wetter climatic
conditions, may be an explanation for a disappearance of local cultivated species such as cereals, it would
not explain a decrease in cultivated trees, specifically olive trees, whose pollen may be transported over
longer distances. Furthermore, olive continues to appear in pollen records from the nearby Gravgaz marsh
after the disappearance of this tree from the pollen record of the Bereket basin (Bakker, 2012).
The pollen data indicate that after the disappearance of intensive crop cultivation, open steppe and
Juniper/Evergreen oak maquis became much more important (Bakker 2012). These vegetation types are
often interpreted as being a result of heavy overgrazing by sheep and goats (Vermoere 2004). Given the
unchanged presence of human habitation it is suggested that around ca. AD 300-350 a shift occurred away
from agriculture and towards pastoralism.
The combination of intensive archaeological survey and
palynological research has revealed information on the
subsistence and regional interaction of the people in the
Bereket Valley that could not have been attained
otherwise. During the Hellenistic and Early Roman
imperial periods the Bereket Valley followed a trend of
growing population pressure and intensification of
agricultural activity, i.e. crop cultivation and arboriculture,
visible throughout the territory. In this period, the city of
Sagalassos assumed the role of regional political,
administrative and economic centre, whose grip, even on
peripheral areas, is attested in the presence of SRSW
throughout the territory including the Bereket Valley.
Somewhere in the first-half of the fourth century
the intensification of crop cultivation halted and
subsistence shifted from horticulture to pastoralism.
Environmentally, there are no reasons to stop horticulture
in a period when climatic conditions were becoming more
ideal for this kind of cultivation. There are, furthermore,
no indications to assume a depletion of the soil nor are
there indications in the archaeological record for a crisis
that forced people to change their mode of subsistence.
The shift from horticulture to pastoralism is therefore
more likely a change for positive reasons and might
suggest a form of economic specialisation.
Around the same time or slightly later, the
production centre that provided the Bereket Valley with
red slipped table wares shifted from Sagalassos as the only
supplier to one or more as yet unknown centres.
The lower availability of SRSW vessels, especially
during the first half of the fourth century AD, might have
prompted the inhabitants of the Bereket Valley to turn to
other table ware suppliers to supplement the SRSW
vessels. However, when the production at Sagalassos
increased again, this did not lead to a renewed dominance
of SRSW in the Bereket Valley. The relationship between
the regional centre of Sagalassos and the peripheral
Bereket valley had changed around the same time as
when the mode of subsistence in the Bereket valley
changed. Further study is needed to understand the
reasons for these changes and the relationship between
them. However, our preliminary results show the
importance of a careful investigation of human environment interactions through multidisciplinary
Summarized pollen percentage diagram, showing the relative abundance of a number of vegetation types, distinguished through multivarious numerical analyses (Bakker 2012; Bakker et al 2013).
Olive cultivation ends during the second half of the 3rd century AD, while arboriculture on the whole (Fraxinus, Castanea) diminishes. Subsequently signs of arboriculture and agriculture gave way to
open, herbaceous steppe vegetation (Artemisia, Chenopodiaceae, Ericaceae), followed by grass-dominated vegetation indicative of increased moisture availability at the sample site.
research.
Architectural remains discovered in the
area suggesting elite presence
This poster is based on research published in the article:
View over the Bereket valley from the NE
Sagalassos red slip ware
Surveyors in action
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Results from the Sagalassos Territorial Archaeological Survey 2008 (SW Turkey). Anatolian Studies 63, p.75-95.
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