Welton, Megan Lynn

MEGAN LYNN WELTON, then a student at University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, was granted funding in April 2008 to aid research on 'Mobility and Social Organization in Early Bronze Age Anatolia: Isotopic Analysis of Remains from Ikiztepe,' supervised by Dr. Timothy P. Harrison. This research utilizes strontium and oxygen isotope analysis of human remains from a large Early Bronze Age cemetery at Ikiztepe in northern Turkey in combination with spatial and biodistance analysis and various dating techniques to identify potential immigrants to the site and to examine larger issues of residential mobility and social organization. Chronological issues were addressed through fluoride and AMS radiocarbon dating of the skeletal remains, creating an absolute and relative chronology for the burials. The results indicate that the cemetery dates a millennium earlier than previously supposed. Strontium and oxygen isotope analyses allowed the identification of individuals whose bone chemistry suggests they were possible long distance immigrants to the site, as well as suggesting the existence of a group of mobile individuals who may represent a transhumant segment of the Ikiztepe population. Immigrant individuals and nomadic or semi-nomadic segments of the population do not appear to have been distinguished in any observable way from their sedentary local counterparts, displaying similar burial types, grave goods and spatial locations. The results suggest that assumptions about funerary practices as important indicators of cultural identity and lineage affiliation may represent an over-simplification of complex patterns of interaction and integration among and within populations.