The comparison of land cover change and erosion-deposition patterns during the Early Bronze Age-I (ca. 5100-4700 cal. BP) in Eastern and Southwestern Anatolia

• Published in: Journal of archaeological science, reports reports, 2024-04, Vol.54, p.104435, Article 104435
• Main Authors: Arıkan, Bülent, Dardeniz, Gonca
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agent-based modeling; Anatolia; Arslantepe; Early Bronze Age; Hacılar Büyük Höyük; Land use and land cover change; Surface processes
• ISSN: 2352-409X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104435

•Two Early Bronze Age-I (ca. 5100–4700 cal. BP) sites in woodlands practiced different levels of agro-pastoralism.•Arslantepe was an agro-pastoralist economy while Hacılar Büyük Höyük was mainly an agriculturalist society.•This research simulated the long-term changes in land cover and erosion-deposition patterns under nine different scenarios.•Anthropogenic activities at Arslantepe caused drop in biodiversity, at Hacılar Büyük Höyük no significant changes happened.•Even slight changes in the level of agro-pastoralism cause environmental change, exacerbated by denser population. Land use in archaeological societies has important consequences for ecosystemic changes in the long-term, which directly affect the sustainability of the economy and socio-political organization. In the Near East; socio-political organization, mode of production, and land use patterns diversified spatio-temporally during the Early Bronze Age-I (ca. 5100–4700 cal. BP) when socially complex entities emerged across the region. During this transformative phase, Anatolia witnessed polities of varying levels of organization and modes of subsistence, all of which translate into diverse land use patterns. This research focuses on the results of agent-based modeling to simulate the long-term impacts of land use/land cover change at two major Early Bronze Age sites; Arslantepe (ca. 5100–4700 cal. BP) in Eastern Anatolia and Hacılar Büyük Höyük (ca. 5100–4900 cal. BP) in Southwest Anatolia. Arslantepe and Hacılar Büyük Höyük are situated in different environments (i.e., climate and vegetation), and show different levels of social organization, and economies. Comparing the land use patterns of these two contemporary but otherwise different polities presents important results in terms of our understanding of how land use patterns diversify and what their ecological results have been in the long term.