The Chalcolithic period, marked by significant social transformations in economic and political organization, remains an understudied era in Anatolian prehistory. Archaeological research conducted in Western Cappadocia, which encompasses our study area over the last 30 years, has yielded limited information regarding the first two phases of the Chalcolithic, conventionally termed Early and Middle. Regarding the Late Chalcolithic, which spans approximately 1,500 years (4700–3300/3200 BCE), we possess virtually no information, not only in our study area but across the entirety of Central Anatolia.
One of the main objectives of the mountainous area surface survey in the districts of Çamardı, Ulukışla, and Bor in Niğde province, initiated in 2017 under the directorship of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Abdullah HACAR, was to acquire data pertaining to this poorly understood Chalcolithic period.
Surface surveys conducted between 2017 and 2021 in the mountainous northern region of the Central Taurus Mountains and the Bor Plain have demonstrated that Early Chalcolithic settlements in the region exhibited local variations. In contrast, the subsequent Middle Chalcolithic settlements (5200–4700 BCE), which were established on top of these earlier sites, were characterized by standardized assemblages (settlement patterns, architecture, pottery, and small finds) at a regional level (Gülçur 2012; Öztan 2002; 2012; Hacar et al. 2019; Hacar 2017; 2019).
Furthermore, the acquired data suggests that Late Neolithic–Early Chalcolithic communities restricted the establishment of their permanent settlements to the plains. Conversely, Middle Chalcolithic communities, identified by their distinctive cultural materials, not only re-established their settlements atop the earlier sites in the plains but also expanded their territory by founding permanent settlements in mountainous areas where no permanent occupation was attested in earlier periods. Moreover, it is understood that all Middle Chalcolithic settlements in both the plains and the mountainous areas were abandoned at the end of this period.
These findings suggest that Western Cappadocian groups developed a new, complex economic and socio-political organization model based on the intensive utilization of mountainous areas during the initial phase of the Middle Chalcolithic. However, the data ultimately indicates a systemic failure, showing that this organizational system could not be sustained by the end of the period (Hacar et al. 2019).
