A N AT O L I A T R A N S F O R M E D

Northwest Anatolia

About 5700 BC, the inhabitants at Ilıpınar erected a mud brick building directly over debris of the post houses belonging to phase VII (Figure 4.27).141 As the settlement grew, it shifted to the west so that the mud brick village juxtaposed rather than superimposed the post house settlement. Houses were no longer single-roomed freestanding units, but multiroomed and closely grouped together. This change no doubt transformed behavior. Within the house separate activity areas are discernable—cooking and food processing, for instance—each compartimentalized by a thin partition (Figure 4.28). In phase VA, one house had an upper story where food was processed evidenced by grinding stones; the ground floor, contrariwise, was used for storage. This shift in mode of construction and organization is abrupt, as it is puzzling. At a time when connections with the Balkans were increasing and those with the central Anatolian plateau were waning, the change in building techniques does not appear to lie in cultural ties, but was possibly prompted by a drier climate spell, even though no conclusive evidence has been found. This view that communities in northwest Turkey were experimenting with architecture as a response to climatic changes is supported by the sudden appearance of post houses during the third millennium BC at the nearby site of Hacılartepe.142 The end of the settlement at Ilıpınar is defined by a crudely constructed, oval pit (3 × 5 m) that was dug about 50 cm into the earth. This semi-subterranean structure had an earthen bench and was equipped with an oven, hearths, grinding slabs, and jars full of grain. It seems that when the mud brick settlement was eventually abandoned, people continued to till the fields and occupy the area in a semi-permanent fashion.

Potters from the mud brick village at Ilıpınar produced distinctive squat pots ornamented with excised patterns, carinated open bowls with wavy line designs, and square vessels. This is attributed to the Developed Phase of the Neolithic Fikirtepe sequence, even though it is absent at Fikirtepe. Similar types have been found at Yarımburgaz Layer 4, and Toptepe; and some of the Demircihöyük Ware E material could be considered transitional between Fikirtepe and Yarımburgaz 4.143 While the overall impression is one of general continuity from the Late (Neolithic)

Fikirtepe, the details of the connection are not altogether clear. At Yarımburgaz 4, for instance, pottery is elaborately decorated, sometimes all over, with excised and impressed patterns. And forms now include tall-necked jars with a low belly. Ceramics from Hoca Çes¸me II show new influences, namely the introduction of barbotine pottery also known as “surface roughened” in southeastern Europe (Figure 4.19: 3). Their surface treatment is unmistakable: The exterior, except for the rim which was burnished, was deliberately roughened by gouging and scratching, to contrast with the inner face that was given a smoothing or burnishing. This ware type proved popular and, shortly after its introduction towards the end of Phase II, quickly dominated the assemblage of the following period. Connections are clearly Balkanic where this barbotine pottery is found in earlier contexts associated with red-painted wares at Karanova I, Starcˇevo, Körös and Cris¸. The latest phase at Hoca Çes¸me, I, reveal three horizons on the basis of floors and pits: Level Ic is distinguished by the predominance of barbotine ceramics ornamented with nail impressions and “organized barbotine” decoration. These elements belong to the western

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Figure 4.27 Plan of Ilıpınar Level VI (after Roodenberg and Alpaslan Roodenberg 2008)

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Figure 4.28 Exterior and interior view of a mud brick house of Ilıpınar VI (after Coockson 2008)

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