Etnoantropološki Problemi (Mar 2016)

Observation of “Traditional” Agriculture in Kastamonu, Turkey In Relation to the Evidence of Crop Husbandry at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Central Anatolia

  • Dragana Filipović

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 4

Abstract

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In order to better understand how plants were procured and consumed at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, the site’s archaeobotany team examined some of the existing ethnographic examples of “traditional” (non-mechanised) farming in Turkey. The Kastamonu region of the north Turkey is an area where some ’ancient’ wheats (einkorn and emmer) are cultivated in a more or less traditional way and on a small-scale. Fieldwork in this part of Turkey provided first-hand knowledge of some off- and on-site agricultural activities which could have been part of prehistoric village life, but also of ways in which modern technologies challenge non-mechanised farming*. Of particular interest were a) information gathered from field-owners on traditional techniques used to grow crops, b) observation of storage facilities and other ways of storing food in einkorn/emmer-growing villages, and c) observations of mills and other buildings/constructions/items relating to crop processing and food preparation (e.g. oil production); the paper presents obtained information relevant to these three key objectives.