Hamaylıtarla (Tekirdağ)
Hamaylıtarla (previously known as Buruneren) is the site of a Neolithic settlement and polished stone axe workshop. Situated on a flood plain at the northern end of the Gallipoli peninsula, just east of the locality of Buruneren Çiftlik and 14 km southwest of Şarköy, the site is within a few kilometres of both the Marmara and Aegean coasts. The low, flat mound measures 150 m in diameter but is being destroyed by agricultural activity. The site was examined by Mehmet Özdoğan during surveys of the region in the 1980s and a research project to investigate it further was begun in 2006 by Onur Özbek of Onsekiz Mart University, Çanakkale.
Surface finds indicate the site was in use during the Neolithic and Bronze Ages but the main occupation was in the early Neolithic period. The area was rich in resources as there are good water supplies and fish and other coastal supplies were within reach. About 90 per cent of the pottery is red slipped and burnished of Western Anatolian Neolithic type, such as is also known at the sites of Hoca Çeşme, Kaynarca and Çoşkuntepe. Vertical tubular lugs are characteristic of the Hamaylıtarla material. The chipped stone is mostly on white flint and bulbs are prominent, suggesting the use of hard rock hammers in production. The stone used appears to have been brought from some distance.
The most important finds, however, suggest there was a polished stone workshop here. Many blocks, hammers, flakes and rough-outs for large adzes were found over an area of about 400 m in diameter around the site. Only a few kilometres away are outcrops of metamorphic rocks, source of nephrite and serpentine, and Hamaylıtarla may have controlled distribution of the material, as well as specializing in the production of these ground stone items, just as Çoşkuntepe apparently specialized in the production and distribution of basalt querns.
Bibliography
Onur Özbek, "A prehistoric stone axe production site in Turkish Thrace: Hamaylıtarla", Documenta Praehistorica (University of Ljubljana) 27 (2000), 167-71
Onur Özbek, "Hamaylıtarla reconsidered: a Neolithic site and its environmental setting in southern Thrace", Anatolia Antiqua 17 (2010), in press
Onur Özbek and Kenan Erol, "Etude petrographique des haches polies de Hamaylıtarla et Fenerkaradutlar (Turquie)", Anatolia Antiqua 9 (2001), 1-7
Last updated: 12 December 2009