The Ground Stones
Adnan BaysalThe excavations in the South area produced many groundstones this year. The backfill from the excavations carried out in the 1960's by James Mellaart also contained various type of ground stones. Excavations in BACH area continues to produce grinding tools, especially spaces 87 and 88 is very rich.
A number of analyses are carried out on the stones. Firstly Organic Residue Analysis aims to obtain more information about the diet of the prehistoric people by examining the residues still adhering to the tools. Some of the ground stones found still had the traces of red paint on their surfaces and may not have been used in food production. Secondly, Source Analysis aims to find sources of the stone tools by analysing their geological properties and comparing them to know sources. In view of the absence of stone sources near the site, we are aiming to locate stone sources in Konya Plain. In order to succeed this a separate survey collection and sampling is also carried out with the geologists of METU University in Ankara. |
Figure 24: Incised Stone found in Building 17 |