“Hear the cricket on the hearth”: An outline of more effective archaeological method for maximizing the information gain from prehistoric fire installations on example of Neolithic and Chalcolithic fire installations from Tepecik Çiftlik, Central Anatolia.

Bc. Lenka Tkáčová

Master's thesis

Abstract:

Práce představuje technologickou a typologickou studii pecí a ohnisk z období neolitu a chalkolitu z lokality Tepecik Çiftlik ve střední Anatolii. Autorka navazuje na svou bakalářskou práci, ve které vytvořila dokumentační nástroj pro zvýšení potenciálního informačního zisku při archeologickém výzkumu pecí v podobě specializovaného formuláře propojeného s digitální databázou. V magisterské práci autorka tuto metodu testuje na souboru 19ti pecí a ohnisk z lokality Tepecik Çiftlik tak, aby zjistila, jestli je tato metoda prakticky využitelná, jaké jsou její výhody a nevýhody pro archeology. Praktickým výstupem práce je databáze a také typologie výtopných zařízení z této lokality.

Abstract:

This thesis offers a technological and typological study of fire installations from Neolithic and Chalcolithic levels excavated at the site Tepecik Çiftlik in Central Anatolia. The approach to study these fire installations has been introduced in bachelor thesis of the author, where a descriptive tool for more effective excavation and documentation of the so-called tannur-like ovens was proposed in form of a worksheet in order to maximize the potential informational gain from the excavation process of these fire installations. The author tries to determine whether the method that she has proposed can become an effective tool to document excavation process of fire installations in the Near East, namely Central Anatolia. She demonstrates the validity of her tool by applying it to two neolithic ovens that she has excavated at Tepecik Çiftlik in 2014 and compares the quality of her findings with data obtained during previous years of research carried out in years 2000-2013 by Turkish team from Istanbul university led by Erhan Bıçakçı. The author pinpoints the main shortcomings and advantages of the conventional approach to oven studies as she tries to critically examine the potential of her tool in comparison with current documentation method employed at Tepecik Çiftlik. A total number of 19 fire installations is presented. Main focus is placed on methods of construction and possible original forms of these fire installations. The documentation worksheet is interlinked with digital Access database, which is practical outcome of the thesis. The newly created database of all data on 19 excavated fire installations from Tepecik was used to establish a working typology of fire installations from this site.

Keywords

Central Anatolia, Tepecik Çiftlik, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, fire installations, oven, tandır, fırın, hearth, worksheet

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 10. 7. 2015

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 4. 9. 2015
• Supervisor: Mgr. Inna Mateiciucová, Ph.D.

Masaryk University

Faculty of Arts

Master programme / field:
Historical Sciences / Prehistoric Archaeology of Near East