The project had its first two seasons of fieldwork in 2010 and 2011. It aims to examine diachronic change in the environment and archaeological landscape in the well-watered environs of Ilgın, Çavuşçu Lake Basin, and the highland pastures of Yalburt. The project constitutes the field component of a broader research initiative on rock-cut monuments, sacred springs, caves and sinkholes in Late Bronze (Hittite) and Early-Middle Iron age (Late Hittite/Phrygian) Anatolia (c. 1600-550 BC). The interdisciplinary fieldwork is planned for five consecutive seasons.

• Geomorphological research: the geological and geomorphological aspects of the fieldwork aim to understand the evolving land resource base (soil, water, vegetation, building materials) available from antiquity to modernity, while researching the cultural responses to the mineral world. Springs, caves, sinkholes and stone quarries, their geological history and their cultural biography constitutes the special focus of the project.

• Archaeological survey: investigates the region through extensive as well as intensive survey methodologies, involving the identification and documentation of settlements and other archaeological places, fieldwalking, focused topographical and architectural surveys of selected sites. The use of remote sensing and geophysics are also planned in future seasons.

• Ethnography and ethno-history of landscapes: Ethnographic fieldwork addresses the use, perception and imagination of landscapes among the contemporary inhabitants of the region, as well as their practices of land ownership, agriculture, pasturage and building. Etno-historical research in Ottoman archives and archaeological ethnographies of selected places in the survey region help us understand the changing cultural significance and politics of landscapes and various localities, re-use of ancient structures and the long-term landscape processes.

Contact Project: Omur_Harmansah@brown.edu