Abstract
Context: Landscape archaeology has a lot to offer to landscape ecology, being an interdisciplinary approach that emphasizes the study of long-term human–environment dynamics. Objectives: We outline different conceptualizations of landscape in landscape archaeology and illustrate the potential of the approach for collaborating with landscape ecologists by describing a case study from the multi-period site of Arslantepe, located in the Malatya province of eastern Anatolia, Turkey. Methods: We use an agent-based modeling platform to understand the socio-economic transformations at Arslantepe during the Early Bronze Age-I. Results: These simulations revealed long-term dynamics of grassland and woodland under different climate and population scenarios. It was found that both grassland and woodland responded most strongly to changes in population, with woodlands being more sensitive. Further, it becomes evident that the adapted site-tethered pastoralism could have brought more sustainable land use practices. Conclusions: The example shows the tremendous potential landscape archaeology has for studying long-term sustainability issues, especially related to modes of production. The landscape archaeological perspective can be linked with expertise provided by landscape ecologists, and we propose more in-depth collaboration of these two fields that offer diverse yet complementary perspectives.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2295-2315 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | Landscape Ecology |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Aug 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2020, Springer Nature B.V.
Funding
The Technological and Scientific Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) supported the ABM project presented here (Grant #113K826). MML has been developed with support from the National Science Foundation Coupled Natural and Human Systems program (Grants BCS-410269 and DEB-1313727) in the United States of America. We also extend our gratitude to Marcella Frangipane and the rest of the Italian Archaeological Mission at Arslantepe for their cooperation, to C. Michael Barton, Isaac Ullah, Sean Bergin, and the rest of the MedLanD team for their continuing support in developing and applying the MML. For the conceptualizations of landscape in archaeology, Ariane Ballmer provided valuable input. Bülent Arıkan expresses his appreciation to research assistants. Last but not least, he is grateful for the support of Dr. Gonca Dardeniz Arıkan throughout the project. The Technological and Scientific Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) supported the ABM project presented here (Grant #113K826). MML has been developed with support from the National Science Foundation Coupled Natural and Human Systems program (Grants BCS-410269 and DEB-1313727) in the United States of America. We also extend our gratitude to Marcella Frangipane and the rest of the Italian Archaeological Mission at Arslantepe for their cooperation, to C. Michael Barton, Isaac Ullah, Sean Bergin, and the rest of the MedLanD team for their continuing support in developing and applying the MML. For the conceptualizations of landscape in archaeology, Ariane Ballmer provided valuable input. B?lent Ar?kan expresses his appreciation to research assistants. Last but not least, he is grateful for the support of Dr. Gonca Dardeniz Ar?kan throughout the project.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| National Science Foundation Coupled Natural and Human Systems program | BCS-410269, DEB-1313727 |
| TUBITAK | 113K826 |
| Technological and Scientific Research Council of Turkey | |
| Consejo Nacional para Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas |
Keywords
- Abandonment
- Agent-based modeling
- Arslantepe
- Climate change
- Early Bronze Age
- Landscape archaeology
- Sustainability
