Life and Death in a Prehistoric Settlement in Northwest Anatolia: The Ilipinar Excavations, Volume III. With Contributions on Hacilartepe and Mentese

This volume is the third in a series of monographs on the archaeological

investigations at Ilipinar in Northwest Anatolia, which were carried out

by the Netherlands Institute at Leiden/Istanbul from 1987 to 2002. The

excavations of Ilipinar supplemented with soundings at nearby Mentese

have yielded new insight into the spread of Neolithic farming from the

Near East to the European continent, and in particular has thrown light

on the position of the eastern Marmara region in terms of intercultural

relations.

In this book emphasis is laid on the inhabitants of prehistoric

Ilipinar, their survival strategies and mortuary practices. The contents

include final reports on the cemeteries dating to the Neolithic-Early

Chalcolithic, Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze periods respectively,

insofar as possible in both the archaeological and anthropological

aspects. Moreover it treats the lowest occupation levels, general

building techniques, faunal and floral remains, pottery and flint

industries in an attempt to present a comprehensive image of human

activity on a mound that intermittently bears vestiges of men over a

time period of 7000 years. It concludes with an account on the fauna of

basal Mentese and a full excavation report on the Early Bronze Age

hamlet of Hacilartepe.