Multiproxy sedimentary sequence analysis constitutes the basis for reconstructions of past paleoenvironments and climate evolution. These sequences are, for the most part, obtained by coring in lakes, maars or crater lakes whose waters can record volcanic activity or karstic contributions, especially in Eastern Anatolia and the Lesser Caucasus. The reservoir age effect in these geological contexts leads to an apparent aging of the radiocarbon ages which also affects the plants and animals developing in or near these waters and consequently the population consuming them. We present here some results obtained from modern samples taken from Mediterranean, central and eastern Anatolian lakes, from the Van and Sevan lakes and along the Kura River and its tributaries from the Lesser Caucasus. The effect of volcanic CO2 outgassing in the vicinity of maar crater lakes is also discussed.

The procurement and use of salt in Anatolia has received limited scholarly attention despite its abundance in the region. This study synthesizes geological, archaeological, ethnoarchaeological, and textual data to assess the role of salt within the socioeconomic setting of the third and early second millennia bc (c. 3000–1730 bc) in Anatolia. The easy accessibility of rock salt and saltpans ranks salt lower among the strategically controlled materials of the era. The author argues that the early non-state Anatolian communities’ strategy for obtaining and distributing this salt was community-driven. Unlike societies in Mesopotamia and Europe, for which the production and distribution of salt contributed significantly to their political economy, salt never became a prestige good, nor did it contribute to the accumulation of wealth in Bronze Age Anatolia.

The Iron Age chronology at Arslantepe is the result of the interpretation of Luwian hieroglyphic inscriptions and archaeological data coming from the site and its surrounding region. A new round of investigations of the Iron Age levels has been conducted at the site over the last 10 years. Preliminary results allowed the combination of the archaeological sequence with the historical events that extended from the collapse of the Late Bronze Age empires to the formation and development of the new Iron Age kingdoms. The integration into this picture of a new set of radiocarbon (14C) dates is aimed at establishing a more solid local chronology. High precision 14C dating by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) and its correlation with archaeobotanical analysis and stratigraphic data are presented here with the purpose of improving our knowledge of the site’s history and to build a reliable absolute chronology of the Iron Age. The results show that the earliest level of the sequence dates to ca. the mid-13th century BC, implying that the site started developing a new set of relationships with the Levant already before the breakdown of the Hittite empire, entailing important historical implications for the Syro-Anatolian region at the end of the 2nd millennium BC.

The discovery of a large underground silo complex with spectacular intact grain stores at the Late Bronze Age Hittite capital of Hattusha in Turkey provides a unique snapshot of the mobilisation of crop production by the Hittite state. A combination of primary archaeobotanical analysis, crop stable isotope determinations and functional weed ecology reveals new insights into Hittite cultivation strategies, featuring a range of relatively low-input, extensive production regimes for hulled wheats and hulled barley. Taxation of extensively produced grain in the sixteenth century BC reveals how an ancient state sought to sustain itself, providing wider implications for the politics and ecology of territorially expansive states in Western Asia and beyond.

The Konya Plain in western Turkey hosted some of the earliest known farming communities beyond the Fertile Crescent. While robust radiocarbon chronologies have elucidated the development of local Neolithic settlement patterns, particularly for Çatalhöyük, the history of occupation at Canhasan sites III and I to the south-east is less clear. Here, the authors present new radiocarbon dates for these sites, demonstrating that these settlements align closely with the occupation sequence to the north. Aceramic Neolithic occupation at Canhasan III further emphasises Çatalhöyük East's isolation for most of the Ceramic Neolithic, while Canhasan I was reoccupied during a phase of dispersed settlement.

The first part of the paper examines the evolution and transformation of Safavid ideology in the context of confessional changes and the role of Turkoman tribes in the Safavid social movement in the Ottoman‒Iranian borderland. The second part examines the impact of Ottoman‒Safavid wars and religious rivalry on the society and economy of Azerbaijan from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries.

The early village at Çatalhöyük (7100–6150 BC) provides important evidence for the Neolithic and Chalcolithic people of central Anatolia. This article reports on the use of lipid biomarker analysis to identify human coprolites from midden deposits, and microscopy to analyse these coprolites and soil samples from human burials. Whipworm (Trichuris trichiura) eggs are identified in two coprolites, but the pelvic soil samples are negative for parasites. Çatalhöyük is one of the earliest Eurasian sites to undergo palaeoparasitological analysis to date. The results inform how intestinal parasitic infection changed as humans modified their subsistence strategies from hunting and gathering to settled farming.

The concept of a prosperous late antique eastern Mediterranean has become well-established in scholarship. Lycia (Turkey) is considered to be one such prosperous region in particular. This article questions the notion of ‘prosperity’ and its application to the Lycian region and argues that only certain coastal areas experienced what might be considered ‘prosperity’ in this period. Moreover, it is argued that some settlements, specifically those of the interior, did not experience ‘prosperity’, but may have even declined. Thus, a generalized application of ‘prosperity’ should be approached with caution as it masks nuances in the settlement development and economy of micro-regions.