The 5th volume of the publication series Oriental and European
Archaeology represents the overture of the Cukurici Hoyuk final
publications. The prehistoric tell site at the Aegean coast of Turkey
close to the antique metropolis of Ephesos has been excavated between
2007 and 2014. The study includes a general outline of the research
project, its main methodological and analytical approaches, and its main
outcome after seven excavation seasons in chapter 1. A list of all
currently published papers and books should offer the reader further
detail aspects, which are not repeated in this volume. Chapters 2 to 6
deal with several new results of Cukurici Hoyuk research in a diachronic
perspective. The Neolithic settlements dating to the 7th millennium BC
are presented in aspects of technology and raw material procurement.
Especially, the role of pressure technology in the Neolithisation
process is widely discussed to contextualise the 7th millennium lithic
assemblage of the site in broader cultural developments. The Late
Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age settlements of 4th and 3rd millennia
BC are presented in various aspects highlighting distinct regional and
trans-regional networks. Two marble figurines of that date are used to
re-evaluate the origin and development of early schematic figurines in
western Anatolia and the Aegean. The analysed textile production in 4th
and 3rd millennia demonstrates shared commonalities and regional
connectivities as well. The micro-analyses of an Early Bronze Age metal
workshop reconstruct the continuities and changes within a few
generations. The diachronic pottery analyses are offering not only the
main ceramic fabrics based on petrography and geochemistry from 7th to
3rd millennium BC; also the detected clay sources in the region are
presented and discussed for the first time. All detail studies of the
Cukurici Hoyuk 1 volume are embedded in a broader Aegean-Anatolian view
to gain a sustainable cultural and geographical contextualisation of the
excavation results.
