Distribution of crops at late Early Bronze Age Titriş Höyük, southeast Anatolia: towards a model for the identification of consumers of centrally organised food distribution

摘要

The extensively excavated areas of domestic architecture at the late Early Bronze Age urban settlement of Titriş Höyük in southeast Turkey provide us with a rare opportunity to study the distribution of crops and their processing by-products between different households, as well as to assess differences in indoor and outdoor activities, with the potential of identifying patterns of spatial organisation in the processing and storing of crops, and the preparation of food. The Outer Town area of Titriş Höyük was substantially reorganized in the late EBA, possibly to make room for victims of regional political conflicts. The similarity in the range of agricultural products found in the households, matching the regularity of the centrally planned houses, indicates that not only the rehousing of the new occupants of Outer Town, but also their supply of agricultural products, may have been organized and provided by a central power in the city. A model for the identification of the consumer end of centrally organized food distribution is suggested. Keywords Archaeobotany - Titriş Höyük - Early Bronze Age - Early urban societies - Central food distribution Communicated by G. Willcox.