The archaeological site of Gordion is most famous as the home of the
Phrygian king Midas and as the place where Alexander the Great cut the
Gordian knot on his way to conquer Asia. Located in central Anatolia
(present-day Turkey) near the confluence of the Porsuk and Sakarya
rivers, Gordion also lies on historic trade routes between east and west
as well as north to the Black Sea. Favorably situated for long-distance
trade, Gordion's setting is marginal for agricultural cultivation but
well suited to pastoral production. It is therefore not surprising that
with the exception of a single Chalcolithic site, the earliest
settlements in the region are fairly late--they date to the Early Bronze
Age (late 3rd millennium B.C.). The earliest known levels of Gordion,
too, date to the Early Bronze Age, and occupation of at least some part
of the site was nearly continuous through at least Roman times (second
half of the 1st century B.C.).
This work is a contribution to both the archaeobotany of west Asia and
the archaeology of the site of Gordion. The book's major concern is
understanding long-term changes in the environment and in land use. An
important finding, with implications for modern land management, is that
the most sustainable use of this landscape involves mixed farming of
dry-farmed cereals, summer-irrigated garden crops, and animal husbandry.
The large number of samples from the 1988-89 seasons analyzed here make
this a rich source for understanding other materials from the Gordion
excavations and for comparison with other sites in west Asia.
Content of this book's CD-ROM may be found online at this location:
http: //core.tdar.org/project/376588.
University Museum Monograph, 131
