10:45 AM - 11:00 AM
[HQR03-07] Regional environmental reconstruction after the Bronze Age using drilled paleo-swamp sediment samples near the Kaman-Kalehöyük, central Anatolia: A feasibility study
Keywords:Kaman-Kalehöyük, paleo-environmental reconstruction
Kaman-Kalehöyük is a medium-sized hill-shaped archaeological site with a diameter of 280 m and a height of 16 m, located in central Anatolia. Excavations have identified four cultural layers: Ottoman Empire Period, the Iron Age, the Middle to Late Bronze Age, and Early Bronze Age. Reconstructing the local paleoenvironmental record around the archaeological site will be useful for understanding the relationship between changes in human activities and technological evolution at the site and changes in the local natural environment. Kashima (2008) collected several sediment cores around the Kaman-Kalehöyük site and reported that the area was wet from about 4600~1800 years ago, corresponding to Early Bronze Age to the Iron Age, and that the swamp had formed around the site. We can study the relationship between changes in the natural environment around the archaeological site from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, and changes in human activities within this site by collecting sediments from this paleo-swamp and analyzing them with a high resolution.
The sediments were collected from a wetland in the north of the Kaman-Kalehöyük. Because it is prohibited to take samples outside Turkey, water content, XRF core scanner, and XRD analysis were conducted in Turkey as a feasibility study. We will introduce the summary of the core drilling and the results of observation and analysis in this presentation (interpretation of the analysis results, Satake et al., this session)
The coring site was selected with the thickest paleo-swamp mud deposits reported by Kashima (2008), and a corer modified from a portable percussion piston corer (Suganuma et al., 2019) was used. The sediments were recovered at depths of approximately 87~168 cm (KL2202-1 core) and 230~288 cm (KL2202-2 core) deep from the ground surface. The lithology of KL2202-1 core was gray to black-gray silty sand to sand, and the lithology of KL2202-02 core was black-gray sand with gravel at the top, changing to brownish-white sandy mud and gray clayey soft mud. The moisture content of the KL2202-02 core is higher in the clayey soft mud layer (about 20~30%) than in the sand layer (>15%). The brownish-white sandy mud and gray clayey soft mud are very different in both lithology and physical properties, and since black-gray sand with gravel is intercalated between the two, the gray clayey soft mud is considered to correspond to the gray sandy clay layer reported by Kashima (2008). Based on the age model of Kashima (2008), the upper part of the gray clayey soft mud of KL2202-02 core was inferred to correspond to the Iron Age, about 2,800 years ago. To estimate the provenances of the sediments, elemental analysis using XRF core scanner (ITRAX) of slab samples collected from the KL2202-02 core and WD-XRF and XRD analysis of samples from the KL2202-1 and KL2202-2 cores were conducted at the Institute of Mineral Research and Exploration (MTA) in Turkey (in detail, Satake et al., this session). The clayey soft mud layer contains charcoals and plant fragments, and radiocarbon dating is expected to provide a high-resolution age model.
The sediments were collected from a wetland in the north of the Kaman-Kalehöyük. Because it is prohibited to take samples outside Turkey, water content, XRF core scanner, and XRD analysis were conducted in Turkey as a feasibility study. We will introduce the summary of the core drilling and the results of observation and analysis in this presentation (interpretation of the analysis results, Satake et al., this session)
The coring site was selected with the thickest paleo-swamp mud deposits reported by Kashima (2008), and a corer modified from a portable percussion piston corer (Suganuma et al., 2019) was used. The sediments were recovered at depths of approximately 87~168 cm (KL2202-1 core) and 230~288 cm (KL2202-2 core) deep from the ground surface. The lithology of KL2202-1 core was gray to black-gray silty sand to sand, and the lithology of KL2202-02 core was black-gray sand with gravel at the top, changing to brownish-white sandy mud and gray clayey soft mud. The moisture content of the KL2202-02 core is higher in the clayey soft mud layer (about 20~30%) than in the sand layer (>15%). The brownish-white sandy mud and gray clayey soft mud are very different in both lithology and physical properties, and since black-gray sand with gravel is intercalated between the two, the gray clayey soft mud is considered to correspond to the gray sandy clay layer reported by Kashima (2008). Based on the age model of Kashima (2008), the upper part of the gray clayey soft mud of KL2202-02 core was inferred to correspond to the Iron Age, about 2,800 years ago. To estimate the provenances of the sediments, elemental analysis using XRF core scanner (ITRAX) of slab samples collected from the KL2202-02 core and WD-XRF and XRD analysis of samples from the KL2202-1 and KL2202-2 cores were conducted at the Institute of Mineral Research and Exploration (MTA) in Turkey (in detail, Satake et al., this session). The clayey soft mud layer contains charcoals and plant fragments, and radiocarbon dating is expected to provide a high-resolution age model.