Agricultural Change at Kaman-Kalehöyük during the Persian Empire and the Socioeconomic Implications (550-330 B.C.E.)
Abstract
This paper investigates the influences of imperial power during the Late Iron Age that could influence agricultural strategies and the socioeconomic structures at an urban settlement, Kaman-Kalehöyük, in central Turkey. The multiperiod Kaman-Kalehöyük settlement was occupied before and during the spread of the Achaemenid/Persian Empire and situated at the crossroads of trade routes and strategically near the east of Halys River (current Kızılırmak River) in the Cappadocia satrapy in the central Anatoli. The Persian occupation of the settlement featured distinctive architectural remains and material culture with evidence of changing crop selection and increasing Rosaceae wood taxa during the Late Iron Age. This investigation quantified and analysed macro botanical analysis from 47 contexts from Kaman-Kalehöyük, covering the 8th to 4th centuries B.C.E., which corresponded into the Middle and Late Iron Age phases, to identify changes in economic taxa, crop-processing stage, risk management, food consumption, and trade. This paper aims to investigate how the Persian administration influenced agricultural strategies, economic changes and food trade and how these changes affected the socioeconomic structures of the settlement over time.
About the presenter
Morvarid Mazhari is a PhD candidate at the University of Queensland. She has worked as a researcher archaeologist for many years in Art History and World Architecture and specialises in archaeobotany. Her research interests include using plants to investigate agricultural change, socioeconomic structures, and food globalisation.
About Archaeology Working Papers
The Working Papers in Archaeology seminar series provides a forum for dissemination of archaeological research and ideas amongst UQ archaeology students and staff. All students are invited to attend the series and postgraduate students, from honours upwards, are invited to present their research. The aim is to provide opportunities for students, staff and those from outside UQ, to present and discuss their work in an informal environment. It is hoped that anyone interested in current archaeological directions, both within and outside the School and University, will be able to attend and contribute to the series.
