Identification of woodland management practices and tree growth conditions in archaeological fuel waste remains: A case study from the site of Çatalhöyük in central Anatolia, Turkey

This paper presents the results of dendroanthracological analyses conducted on the anthracological assemblage retrieved from Neolithic and Chalcolithic occupations excavated at Çatalhöyük (central Anatolia, Turkey). Besides standard botanical identification of the charcoal macroremains, a range of anatomical features were also recorded including the presence of fungal decay, traumatic growth, tyloses and discontinuous growth rings. The qualitative assessment of growth ring curvature (following Marguerie and Hunot, 2007) was supplemented by quantitative estimations of minimum wood diameter (following Paradis et al., 2013) alongside sequential ring width measurements. Botanical identifications, dendroanthracological features and quantitative measurements obtained from individual charcoal fragments, were analysed using multivariate statistical techniques. These permitted assessing the relative importance of wood size, type and species in prehistoric fuel selection, and obtaining a detailed view of environmental and management impacts on prehistoric woodland growth conditions. The results of this work indicate the deep antiquity of woodland management practices in the semi-arid continental regions of Southwest Asia dating as early as the Neolithic period.