28 April 2008

Photos: Decorated pottery


©Berkay Dinçer

Decorated potteries waiting for klin.

Photos: Pottery drying


©Berkay Dinçer

Pottery must be dried in cool place without direct sunlight.

Photos: Pottery, waiting before klin


©Berkay Dinçer

Pottery must be awaited to dry after shaping.

Photos: Pottery shaping

©Berkay Dinçer

Shaping is the most important part of pottery making. Potter's wheel is a big invention which made people able to produce more standardized potteries.

Photos: Pottery clay kneading

©Berkay Dinçer

Clay must be kneaded well before shaping in order to make raw material homogeneous and avoid air bubbles inside the clay.

Photo: Pottery forms

©Berkay Dinçer
Pottery forms give clues to archaeologists about its date, but those in the picture are just modern replicas of Hittite pottery.

Pottery making from archaeologists' view

Clay is an aluminium silicate that contains some metal and alkaline. It can be separated into some different kinds according to their atomic structure and chemical components. Clay minerals has a stratified structure and can be in the forms of flake, plate or pin.

In the Near East, pottery was first used in Anatolia, Syria, and northern Mesopotamia nearly 8200 years ago and, with some exceptions, diffused everywhere in the Old World in a short period of time for the human history; two thousand years. Pottery is divided into different ware groups in accord with their making technique, shape and decoration. Geographical and historical distribution of this groups is used for understanding relative chronology when absolute chronology is not available -even when absolute chronology is available. Many times, changes in making technique and shape of pottery reflect cultural change. According to clay sources that can be defined with clay analysis of pottery, some trade routes and cultural relations can be understood better.

There are two ways of shaping clay for making vessels: Making by hand or using a wheel. Many different ways can be used in hand work. The wheel can be turned by hand or by foot or by both.

Before surface procedure, vessel is usually left to dry one or two days. Surface can shine like polished or be mat according to burnishing. Slip or wash can be used for decorating. Glaze is a metallic silicate and usually applied like slip. In prehistoric pottery, decoration is usually made before the vessel gets dry. Stamping and incising decoration is usually common. Kiln is not very necessary to fire a vessel. Many times just fire is enough.

Read full text Pottery Making article (in Turkish)

Pottery Making images

26 April 2008

Kaletepe Deresi 3 Excavation areas


Paleolithic excavation areas at Kaletepe Deresi 3 on the slope of Göllüdağ volcano.
©Berkay Dinçer

Lower Paleolithic poliedric pieces from KD3


Poliedric pieces from Kaletepe Deresi 3.
©Berkay Dinçer

25 April 2008

Kaletepe Deresi 3 excavations


A view from Kaletepe Deresi 3 excavations in 2005.
©Ludovic Slimak

24 April 2008

Obsidian source


An obsidian source near Kaletepe.
©Berkay Dinçer

23 April 2008

Poliedric pieces from Kaletepe Deresi 3 Acheulean


Most numerous finds of Kaletepe Deresi 3 Acheulean; poliedric pieces.
©Berkay Dinçer

22 April 2008

Obsidian biface, Acheulean of KD3


An obsidian biface from Lower Paleolithic layers of Kaletepe Deresi 3
©Berkay Dinçer

Excavations at Kaletepe Deresi 3


Kaletepe Deresi 3 excavations in 2004.
Photo: ©Merve Andaç

An Equid tooth from Middle Paleolithic layer of Kaletepe Deresi 3


An equid tooth from Kaletepe Deresi 3 Middle Paleolithic layers.
©Berkay Dinçer

Kaletepe Deresi 3


Kaletepe Deresi 3 is a recent water course. At the back, Kabaktepe.
©Berkay Dinçer

Kaletepe, Neolithic Obsidian Workshop


Kaletepe. Aladag mountain range and Demirkazık peak at the back.
©Berkay Dinçer

Obsidian cleaver from Kaletepe Deresi 3 Lower Paleolithic layers


Excavations at Kaletepe Deresi 3. An obsidian cleaver.
©Berkay Dinçer

Golludag volcano, obsidian source


Göllü Dag volcano.
©Berkay Dinçer

Kaletepe article on Atlas magazine



One of Kaletepe's latest article appeared on Atlas magazine.

Atlas 169 (2007)

Kaletepe Deresi 3 and Obsidian Source

"Kaletepe Deresi 3" is an open air Paleolithic site located in the volcanic region of Central Anatolia. The activity of this geological complex generated an important intrusion of obsidian largely used during the prehistoric period for tool making. The site is located a few kilometers on the eastern slopes of Gollu Dag volcano in the proximity of the Komurcu obsidian intrusions which represent one of the most important obsidian sources in the Near East with outcrops continuing for more than 3 km.

Discovered in summer 2000 during an archaeological survey, Kaletepe Deresi 3 is an in situ open air Paleolithic site, yielding 17 archaeological occupations from middle to upper Pleistocene. The data allow the examination of long-term human comportements and illustrate the first discovery of an Acheulean complex in Turkey. The multidisciplinary researches are also integrated to the tephrochronological and paleontological context.

Kaletepe Deresi 3 is the first Paleolithic sequence of Central Anatolia and its oldest archaeological layers illustrate one of the oldest human settlements actually known in Turkey.

This summary was originally published in:
Slimak, L., N. Balkan-Atlı, D. Binder, B. Dinçer,
2005, "Installations paleolithiques en Cappadoce", Anatolia Antiqua XIII: 287-294.

Read full text Kaletepe Deresi 3 article (in Turkish).

Read full text Kaletepe Paleolithic and Neolithic article (in Turkish).

Kaletepe related images.

Kaletepe bibliography.

Another Kaletepe source page.

Archaeogeophysics

Geophysics is a nature science that can obtain archaeological information. Techniques used in archaeogeophysics are gravity, magnetism (nature based); electromagnetic, seismic, induced polarization, ground probing (artificially based) and many more like these.

First works are done in North America and Britain in the 1940s. According to the developments of computer technologies (like developments in image processing and modelling), remote sensing became more commonly used in archaeology. Magnetism, resistivity and ground probing are the most common techniques.

In Turkey, archaeogeophysical techniques are first used in 1960s at Nemrut and Giges tumuluses and in the Keban Project. At 1970s, Hattusas and Demirci Hoyuk became a part of the first investigated mounds with the archaeogeophysical techniques in the world. As a very fast technique to obtain information about the undersoil, archaeogeophysics can help us to protect cultural heritage from the destruction of dam lakes and other constructions like roads or buildings.

Read full text Archaeogeophysics article (in Turkish).

Archaeogeophysics related images.

Archaeogeophysics bibliography.

15 April 2008

Archaeogeophysics at Ancient Aphrodisias

Subsurface imaging of ancient Aphrodisias, a Hellenistic/Roman city in Anatolia (Turkey). City streets (laid out on a planned grid) and architecture can be plainly seen. Image courtesy of Aphrodisias excavations, New York University.

This file has been (or is hereby) released into the public domain by its author, Aphrodisias excavations, New York University. This applies worldwide. Taken from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Aphrodisias-res.jpg)

Magnetic gradiometer map of a prehistoric hearths


Magnetic gradiometer map of a prehistoric Native American campsite in Wyoming, USA. Five fire hearths (later excavated) appear as circular magnetic highs.

Image taken from Wikipedia where it is sait that the image is under public domain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:3030-mag.jpg)

07 April 2008

Archaeology, Noah's flood and Sumerian mythology

As far as we know today, great flood is not a historical event. There are many people wondering about where is the Noah's ark... So if you make some speculations about it, you'll get the money from many foundations for your research.

Some people like that conduct marine research in Black Sea. They also say that they've found the evidence of flood. But within the archaeological or geological point of view, it is not possible to find evidences for it.

As many people recognized, there are many similarities between the Bible and Sumerian mythology. Similarities among the other religions' holly books are evident too. So we may say that christians, jewish and muslims can find the roots of their religions in the Sumerian mythology. They are all the same. Not only flood story, there are many other similarities too.

Did Australopithecus aferinsis walked bipedal?

Australopithecus afarensis, commonly known as "Lucy" is one of the most important hominid fossils. This fossil kind, has long arms, and small brain capacity like modern apes. But the most significant feature of them was their bipedal movement style. There are more than 300 individuals of this kind dated between 4 and 3 million years ago. They all have the same characteristic pelvis bone that proves bipedal walking. Also their footprints proved that they walked as modern homos.

Naming of fossils are very problematic. Because, Australopithecus took its name when it was first found. That means "monkey of the south". But the researchers did not know that this kind had the ability to walk on their two leg when they gave this name to them. If they recognized that feature, they would give "Homo erectus" to Afarensis, I believe. Because the Homo erectus has its name because of its recognized bipedal walking ability.

As far as I know, A. afarensis is one of our ancestors, I don't care what we call them. It's more important to understand them.

When and where did archaeology start?

Development of archaeology as a field of discipline, is a very long process. You can see some important dates of archaeological events here: http://archaeology-faq.blogspot.com/2007/02/how-did-archaeology-start-as-field-of.html

It goes back to 16th century. But for me, modern archaeology is much more than earlier "antiquities collection making". So, modern archaeology started at the end of the 19th century (1880-90s). At these times, many sites excavated and the aim of archaeological investigation changed. Before, people collected artifacts just for pleasure (or treasure !) but at the end of 19th century, people started to see archaeology as an answers to their questions about the past.

About this long process, we cannot say a certain country as a homeland of archaeology. It is the continent of Europe. But people in many countries individually developed ideas about archaeology. France is the home of Paleolithic archaeology, Germany is well known about old languages etc. Every European country had its own interests about archaeology. We must say, every country has its own archaeology tradition. So we cannot say a country as the origin of archaeology. But we can say western Europe is the origin.

Best archaeology books

There are many books about archaeology. It's a very diversified subject but I can still make some suggestions about prehistoric archaeology books:

Steven J. Mithen - The Prehistory of the Mind.

Richard G. Klein - The Dawn of Human Culture.

Robert Braidwood - Prehistoric Man (very old but still the best)...

You can also find some books about archaeology that I personally suggest... The page is unfortunately in Turkish but you still have the chance to get some names of authors.
http://paleoberkay.atspace.com/kitaplar.html

You can find some e-books about archaeology here:
http://zemin.terapad.com/index.cfm?fa=contentGeneric.jfzjngxqhnkeobru

Also you can find many books at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Best-Archaeology-Books/lm/2NPS53QY3WE7I

This is the page of About.com's archaeology books:
http://archaeology.about.com/od/booksandbooklists/Archaeology_Book_Reviews.htm

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Is archaeology "grave robbing"?

Archaeology is not grave robbing. Since it does not care how expensive an artifact can be sold anymore, it won't be fair to describe archaeology as "grave robbing"...

Archaeologists excavate because they are in need of solving the historical problems. Every excavation shed light into a problem. So archaeologist does not excavate to find artifacts. Archaeologists excavate to find answers...

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Should government invest more into archaeology?

Governments should invest more into archaeology.

Also, some sponsorship possibilities must not be ignored. Private companies should be encouraged to sponsor archaeological researches.

In the beginning of this century, most of the countries invested into archaeology very much because they were in need of evidencing that their nation existed many times before. These days, many countries are not in need of finding a "national history". That's why, the money resources of archaeology being decreased. But we need archaeology and we must find some more money for it. If it is not the government, there should be another kinds of sources.

What do I need to become an archaeologist?

You need to be graduated from a university's archaeology section to become an archaeologist. It's just a job...

If you want to excavate or make some surveys; field research, in most countries you need a permission from the state. If you want to study some archaeological find in the museums, you also need a permission to enter the museum's "secret rooms".

Does archaeology prove the Bible?

Give me just a little piece of archaeology, I can prove you that the god exists and I can also prove you that the God doesn't exist too.

Archaeology can be taken as proves for anything. Eg.: In 1920 and 1930's with the "archaeological record" Marxist archaeologist Childe proved that primitive communal societies existed. And with the same material, another archaeologist who inspired Adolf Hitler, Cossina proved the existence of a "herrenvolk". They both used the same archaeological data.

How did archaeology start as a field of discipline?

It started nearly 500 years ago as an interest to the different kinds of objects.
1533- King Henry VIII, hired first "archaeologist" as antiquities clerk.
1612- First "archaeological" excavation at Rome by Howard.
1690- First Paleolithic artifact found in London. It was a biface.
1718- First NGO about history: Society of Antiquaries (London).
1738- Excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum.
1744- First excavations in northern Europe: Zealand tumulus in Denmark.
1759- British Museum founded.
1784- First excavations in north America: President Jefferson excavated Monticello.
1797- First correlation between Paleolithic stone tools and animal bones.
1799- Rosetta Stone discovered.
1817- First systematic exhibition: Thompsen arranged Danish museum according to his "three age system" which is still in use (Stone, Bronze and Iron ages).
1833- Stratigraphy rules by Lyell about geology.
1839- Discoveries of Mayan cities in central America.
1842- First systematic Paleolithic excavation: Abbeville.
1854- First ziggurat excavation at Mesopotamia: Ur.
1856- Neanderthal man identified.
1859- Darwin published Origin of Species.
1865- First appearance of word "Prehistory" by John Lubbock.
1879- Paleolithic paintings at Altamira Cave discovered.
1884-1908- Excavations by Schilemann (at Tiryns), Vesselovskii (at Maikop), Evans (at Knossos) and Vasic (at Vinca).
1921- Homo erectus fossils found.
1922- Grave of Tutankhamon opened by Carter.
1922- Sumerian civilization to be popularized
1924- Discoveries of first great civilizations in India.
1925- First published synthesis about prehistory by Gordon Childe: The Dawn of European Civilization.
1926- Leakey started researching in eastern Africa.
1948- Braidwood's Jarmo excavations make nature scientists and archaeologists work together.
1949- Radiocarbon (C-14) dating invented and used to date archaeological materials by Libby.
1952- First underwater excavations by Cousteau.
1959- Olduwai finds in Africa.
1974- Chinese terra cota army discovered.
1991- Ice man "Otzi" discovered in Alps.
1994- Chauvet Cave discovered.

Archaeology started as a research for roots of Middle age civilization in the Roman and Greek civilizations. It's the beginning of Classical Archaeology. European researchers started to search the holly places that are written in the Bible. This is the beginning of Near Eastern archaeology. With the Industrial Revolution, geology started to develop and it is the beginning of prehistoric archaeology. With the 20th century, every national state in Europe started to search their roots. So archaeology became more complicated and sponsored by the governments.
Source(s):

ArkeoAtlas 1 (2002): 28.

What is everyday work for an archaeologist?

Normally, archaeologist excavates. In some private archaeology companies, there are two different kind of archaeologist: One in the field and one in front of the table.

In the universities, scholars excavate only in the summer when the universities are in the summer vacation. Then archaeologists come to the laboratories and start analyzing the materials. After this process archaeologist should write one or more articles to share his/her research results with the scientific society and the public.

One of the most important part of archaeologist's work is to read. Because, as a scientist archaeologists must keep their information up to date about other sites and new discoveries.

In a normal excavation, just one campaign lasted about a month, you can collect tons of things to analyze. There are different specializations among the archaeologists, such as lithic, pottery, metal atc. specialists, archaeozoologists and archaeobotanists. So everybody analyze the different material. One should collect everybody's work and put the things together in a publication.

So there are a lot of work to do, even you don't excavate everyday...

Archaeology and carbon dating? How can I become archaeologist and can I find job?

To become archaeologist, you need to study archaeology in the university (in USA anthropology).

Archaeologists study ancient cultures and it has some sub-sections like prehistory (before the invention of writing), protohistory (after invention of writing), classical archaeology (Greek and Roman civilisations) and middle age archaeology.

Main method for archaeologist is to excavate and then analyze the artifacts. If archaeologist finds a piece of wood or an organic material like this, he/she sends it to chemistry laboratory for carbon dating.

There are not very much job for the archaeologist. Usually they work in the universities and museums. If there are some, archaeologists can find job in consulting companies.

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06 April 2008

Dating techniques in archaeology

Archaeologists use relative and absolute dating techniques to find the age of an artifact.

Relative techniques include:
Cation Ratio
Cultural Affiliation
Fluorine Dating
Obsidian Hydration
Patination
Pollen Analysis
Rate of Accumulation
Seriation
Varve Analysis

Absolute techniques include:
Archaeomagnetism
Astronomical Dating
Dendrochronology
Electron Spin Resonance (ESR)
Fission Track
Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL)
Oxidizable Carbon Ratio (OCR)
Potassium- Argon Dating
Racemization
Thermoluminescence Dating
Uranium-Thorium Dating

See: http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/archaeology/dating/

Archaeology is always buried, is the earth getting bigger?

There is always the same amount of material in the world. But it can be changed and moved. Eg. there will be always the same amount of water (even it's polluated or at the icesheets or oceans or clouds)...

Archaeological sites are usually burried because ancient people move earth on them. So that didn't change the amount, it just change the place...

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What type of scientist examines fossils and remains after the Archaeologist bring them in?

Fossils are usually the subject of paleontology. Archaeology does research about cultures of past humans. Paleoanthropology is a science that usually concerns with fossil humans...

So if you want to study animal fossils, go for paleontology...
... for human bones, paleoanthropology...
... for cultures, archaeology...

How did a concept in chemistry led to advances in archaeology?

Before the 1950s, archaeologists had no opportunity to think about absolout dates about the cultures they concerned. After W.F. Libby invented the C-14 dating, it all changed the archaeology (and also he got Nobel Prize for it). Because with this method, a trustable timescale added to archaeological data which had changed almost all theories.

Before the invention of that chemical method, all chronologies were relative. As archaeologists saw a piece of pottery (for example) more primitive than the other, they put that to an earlier era than the other. But with C-14 dating, it became possible to undenstand that it could be at the same age or even younger. Today more than 100 chemistry laboratories serving archaeologist with C-14 dating.

The C-14 is not the only chemical method that helps the archaeologist. It is the most important but there are many other chemistry methods in use today. For example, it is now possible to understand what some containers included before they have been burried under the soil, and also chemistry helps archaeologists and conservationist to protect and reconstruct their findings.

How come archaeological finds are so far down? Roman ruins are often under 6ft of earth - why?

This is totally about the situation of the site. Usually archaeological sites are being buried with the later settlements. Usually these sites are founded in strategically good places, then people choose to settle down there many times through the history.

Burying is also a ritual for some societies. For example, some prehistoric people buried their houses and temples before they leave the settlement. This could be a kind of religious activity.

For Turkey, as an archaeologist living in Turkey, I would say, this is also same in Turkey too. As far as I understand you have seen one example about the depth of mosaics in Turkey. But there are many more sites which are deep under the soil too. This is totally according to the situation of the site again. If people choose to live there very long time, the depth of the soil increases. If people leaved and did not settle there again, the depth of the soil decreases.

What is archaeology?

Archaeology is everything about the past. Today we have different kinds of scientific disciplines about our life. For example, economy, sociology, architecture, engineering, philosophy. Archaeology does the same job with all these, but just a little difference: its the past.

Main research method for the archaeologist ist excavation. We have a lot of fun when we excavate, and also it's physically very hard to excavate. In these days, archaeologists haven't got adventures like Indiana Jones. But there is still more to enjoy. For me, I like to see different parts of my country and I have this change with archaeology. I live in a big citiy, and go to a little village every summer for my job. Probably the best part of archaeology is travelling.

If you have some more questions about archaeology, maybe English pages of my website can help you. Go to my profile and see the address.

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Are humans animals or aliens?

According to Linnaeus classification of living world, human beings are among the vertebrates and we are in the group of primates where our neighbors are chimps, gorillas and orangutans. It's true! Genetic evidences show 99.6% of human and chimpanzee DNA are the same. Like the cat and the lion, we are relatives with the apes. But this DOESN'T mean that they are our ancestor. We are cousins...

For me, accepting that human beings are animals is not a hard thing because we live the same way: we eat with the mouth, we see with the eyes, we walk with the foot... etc. So where is the difference? We are the same.

What is the next step in evolution for human beings?

To disappear! It's clear that only two and half milion of evolution is not a very long term for other animals. But I suppose that the man lived very fast. With the nuclear weapons it won't be easy to survive if people elect bushlike presidents.

What are excavation methods in archaeology?

There are many excavation methods. First of all, it will change according to your period of interest. For example, you cannot usi the same method in a Roman site and in a Paleolithic site.

Anyway, there are three main excavation methods used in archaeology. These are, grid system, open-area system and "chess-board" system.

But keep in mind that, every archaeological site has its own solution for excavating system.

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Can carbon-14 be used for objects older than 50 million years?

No. Half-life of carbon-14 is nearly 500 years. For that reason its limit is just 50 thousand years. As far as I know, dating of 100 milion year old "something" is hard. Because you can always have some (maybe 1-3 milion years) uncertainity. For dating that object you can use potassium -argon, uranium-238, thermoluminesce and electron spin resonance.

What is paleoanthropology? Can I find job as a paleoanthropologist?

Paleoanthropology is a scientific discipline that works on human evolution. It mainly studies the bones of fossil hominids. But also first stone tools of the Paleolithic times are the subject of that discipline.

But you can't find job easily. All over the world it not easy find a job in this subject. Only the universities and museums need anthropologists. But I believe the world need that job very much. While fossil records are difficult to find and easily destroyed, we need more paleoanthropologists.

How do you explain the Noah flood in the Persian Gulf?

Sea-level changes during the Pleistocene is a very sensitive subject because we cannot generalize any situation. As far as I know, sea-level changes due to the ice sheets have greater effect in inner seas like Black Sea, and smaller effects in the oceans. Level of the Black Sea was very low in the glacial maximum. But at that time, there is not such big change in the sea-level at the Persian Gulf because of its connection with the ocean.

Of course there are some changes all around the world. But they are not the same everywhere.

Possible origin of the Noah story, is just a speculation. It has no relation with the modern science. Recent researches in the sea of Marmara, showed alluvials at the southern part of the Bosphorus. That means the "big flood" did not existed in the Black Sea area. There are some excavated Bronze Age sites in Bulgarian Black Sea coast. But there are much more all over the world. All settlements of the fishers before 5 thousand years are underwater now.

When did the Paleolithic people settle?

This question has many different answers for every part of the world. Paleolithic, let's say hunter gatherer societies, which is nomad and depended on natural resources, lived up to 4-5 thousand years ago.

We can define Neolithic as village life and agriculture.

First Neolithic villages are found in southeastern Anatolia and northern Syria and Iraq. All these first villages dated back to 10-12 thousand years ago. In central Anatolia there are some Neolithic sites too which are dated to the same period. There is no use of pottery at that time, for that reason it's called "pre-pottery Neolithic" by prehistorians.

After the "collapse" of pre-pottery societies we see a migration movement out of this "core" region of village societies. This wave of migration reached western Anatolia and the Balkans 7-8 thousand years ago and reached western Europe nearly 4 thousand years ago.

In Japan, Paleolithic people settled in the Paleolithic. This is called "Jeitun culture" (24 thousand years ago). But when they actually became Neolithic they returned to nomad life.

In Americas, people started to settle 5-6 thousand years ago. As far as I know, it started in the Central America.

But we must keep in mind that when some people started to settle, there had been a lot of people who rejected this lifestyle and stayed Paleolithic.

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Do you believe that we came from the apes?

We do NOT come from the monkeys. As I did not give birth to my cousins (and neither they gave me), none of the living monkeys became human. BUT we have very close relation, they are our cousins. That means we have a common ancestor.

As in modern biology classification, the horse and the donkey are in the same family. And we are in the same family with gorilla, orangutan and chimps because we are relative.

Charles Darwin never wrote that we came from the MODERN monkeys. But some people, who never read his books coincidally misunderstood his theories about human evolution.

How did apes become human?

We are close relatives with the apes. None of the living apes will become human some day, and none of them is our ancestor. But we have a common ancestor which probably lived 7-8 million years ago. Than our branches separated. We became human and they became chimps, gorillas etc.

Anybody, including pre-school children, can see that we are looking like them (or contrary). As one can accept that the horse and the donkey, or the cat and the lion are relatives, our relation with the modern apes is the same.

How can I find an archaeology job?

It is absoloutely right that most archaeologists can find jobs only in the universities or museums. But in some countries, like Holland and Germany, there are many archaeology consulting companies. These companies offer good jobs for archaeologists.

To find job announcements, check this out:
http://www.eculturalresources.com/

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At Yahoo Answers, why doesn't archaeology have its own category like anthropology?

In the USA, archaeology is under anthropology. In Europe and most of the world archaeology is an independed discipline. Yahoo Answers is originated in the USA. So they didn't think we can visit it outside of the USA :)...

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Apes became humans... Why did not some apes become human?

According to classification of animals first made by C. Lineaus, human is a member of primates team, hominid family. This classification is still in use in modern biology. All living animals are relatives. Because life was firs appeared and evolution made it diversified. Closest relatives of us are chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans. We are members of hominoid class.

The idea which says that apes became human buy evolution is just A LIE that creationists say. They say that because they want to make evolution misunderstanded by the public.

But NONE of the evolution theorists nor Darwin (he lived in 19 century!) have said this. They always say that we are relatives with all animals. Modern DNA research also proved that. 99,6% of our genes are same with chempanzees, 96% of our genes are same with mice. This proves that we all have same ancestors.

THAT ALSO MEANS THAT NONE OF THE APES, BECAME HUMAN BY THE TIME. Our ancestors are not apes, but we have the same ancestor nearly 7-8 million years ago. Probably we had a common ancestor with mice some 20-25 million years ago, and with the cow or dog (or any other mamalian) some 40-50 milion years ago.

Any little child at the age of 5-9 can understand that we are looking like apes (or contrary). They are our cousins (ATTN: My cousin can NOT be my father).

Evolutionists NEVER said that. Only creationists say that kind of lies. Because they are afraid of science, light, truth...

Do you think the human race will end up?

In fact we have no more time!

Just think, as archaeologist Robert J. Braidwood wrote before, if we see all history as a one day, it is now one to midnight. Human groups living in Africa made first stone tools only one minute ago. Jesus was born just 1 second ago. Roman empire, Middle Ages all were in one second time.

Before that one minute, it was the evolution of mamalians, reptiles, other livin creatures. Before 3-4 hours ago, there was no life on earth.

So, we should understand that, we just see a small part of our earth's adventure. We think 70-80 years is a lot of time. Yes it is, but only for us. It's nothing for the earth, which is nearly 4-5 bilion years old. It's nothing if we compare human evolution. First humans apeared 2.5 milion years ago.

Dinosours lived the timespan between 180-65 milion years. That were their time. But the earth changed, and they disappeared.

Human will disappear too. The earth is changing faster. We change it. And it's not a success. We kill other living creatures. And everyday one specie disappears because of our pressure on the nature.

After, 10-20 milion years, maybe a understanding creature will see our remains as a greyish ash layer in a geological statigraphy (as we see Miocene like this today). Maybe they will find atomic bomb explosions too. But we will disappear. But the life in earth will continue. I believe.

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Did god give us the ability to adapt and change? How do you explain the fossiles of Homo sapiens?

If you want to talk about fossils, or something related with SCIENCE, you should first be OBJECTIVE. That's why, many scientists leave their beliefs just in front of the door of their laboratory.

God, is not a subject of science. Because we cannot prove its existence (at the moment). So we cannot ask a "scientific" question which has "God" in it.

At the moment human evolition is proved with many evidences. There are many human ancestors like Kenyantropous platyops, Sahelanthropous tchadensis, Australopithecus robustus + afarensis + africanus, Homo habilis + erectus + ergaster + neanderthalensis etc.

I am an archaeologist. I excavate one milion year old site in Anatolia (Turkey). The first stone tools are made by a different human species, it's very clear.

As far as, I know all life in the world evolved. For the moment I can just say that. For the God, keep in mind it's not a subject of science "yet".

Underwater archaeology grants?

Maybe these websites can help you:

http://ina.tamu.edu/
http://www.pophaus.com/underwater/instit...

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What was the roll of the men and women in the Paleolithic and Neolithic era compared to the present?

Actually we know just a little about it. Probably, as we see in the modern primitive groups still living, women usually collected plants and men hunted the animals. The life of the society was mostly depended on women's efforts in the earlier parts of Paleolithic I believe. Because there was not very much hunting since the Middle Paleolithic.

In the Upper Paleolithic Europe (35,000 years ago) there are some Venus figurines which reflects huge women. The same period, some male figurines also existed in Eastern Europe. But I believe further excavations will shed light into the Venus figurines problematic.

For the Neolithic, it has been thought that there was a Female Goddess. Figurines from Catalhoyuk (in Turkey), made people think of that. Recent researches in Anatolia, mostly in the southeast of Turkey, proved that before Catalhoyuk times (Pre-Pottery Neolithic) there were many statuettes of male figures. So sex of the Neolithic deity changes with the transition from PPN to Pottery Neolithic. But in western parts of Neolithic culture, like Balkans, figurines dating to the Neolithic, mostly has no sex identification.

We can not say that women or men had a special "sacrified" role in these times (both Neo and Paleo).

We can only say in farming villages (who still live like Neolithic age) their roles are different (I am talking about farming villages that produces cereals like wheat). The man usually work only in summer and women always does most of the housework all the time.

Source(s):
My readings: Ian Hodder, Mehmet Özdoğan.
And observations in Anatolian villages.

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How accurate is radiocarbon (C-14) dating?

Half life of carbon 14 is something like 560-580 years. After death it starts to become less. It can be applicable to all organic materials like bones, grains and woods.

For that reason it is widely used for archaeology. But is is not very secure to have carbon dating with something younge than 3-4 thousent years. And for things older than 50 thousent years, it is not also secure (because rest amount is so little). All carbon datings should be calibrated. The best is to calibrate with dendrochronology (tree rings).

The world is many much older than the age of 5766 years! It was just the times of Sumerians who invented writing (and of course reading! :-). Before the Sumerians many civilisations existed in Chalcolithic and Neolithic ages. Before that people were living with hunting and gathering. First stone tools of humans are dated to 2-2.5 milion years. Probably some people made tools with organic materials which cannot be left until these times.

At least for the humans, we can say a 4 million years of history. The earth is much older, like 4-5 Bilion (not milion!) years...

Did the Neanderthal man appeared before homo sapiens or it was contemporary?

Neandertals firs appeared 220.000 years before. They were living in Near Eastern and Europe. Anthropologist have some arguments about neandertal man, if they are ancestors of modern man (Homo sapiens sapiens). As far as I know, the two human species existed together in some regions. If we accept that archaic Homo sapies sapiens appeared in Africa nearly 135.000 years before, they must be co-existing species.

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05 April 2008

Map: Important Paleolithic sites in NW Turkey

Taken from ArkeoAtlas 1 with verbal permission.

Important Paleolithic sites of northwestern Turkey. This map is the
first appearance of Yatak for the wider public.

Photos: Search for the stone tools

©Rana Dinçer

Search for the stone tools.

Photos: A chopper from Yatak

©Berkay Dinçer

A Paleolithic chopper from Yatak.

Photos: Paleolitihic artifact containing stone pile from Yatak

©Berkay Dinçer

A view of stone pile containing Paleolithic artifacts. It was taken at
the very first days of the discovery of Yatak. Note the pile is
relatively smaller than the later photos.

Photos: The History Foundation award to my Paleolithic paper

©Rana Dinçer

Prof. Dr. Oğuz Tekin giving me (Berkay Dinçer) an award of The History
Foundation (Tarih Vakfı - Turkey) for my paper about the Paleolithic of
Yatak.

Photos: A view from Yatak

©Berkay Dinçer

A view from Paleolithic site of Yatak.

Photos: The biggest Paleolithic chopper

©Berkay Dinçer

The biggest Paleolithic chopper from Yatak which is heavier that 1.75
kilograms.

(Yatak'ta bulunmuş en büyük satır.)

Photos: Paleolithic chopper from Yatak

©Berkay Dinçer

A small Paleolithic chopper of flint from Yatak.

(Yatak'tan bir satır.)

Photos: Paleolithic site of Yatak

©Berkay Dinçer

A view from Paleolithic site of Yatak.

Paleolithic site of Yatak in spring

©Berkay Dinçer

Paleolithic site of Yatak in spring. It is used as a crop field.

(Bahar ayında Yatak.)

Photos: Paleolithic nothings!

©Berkay Dinçer

These stones are collected from the Paleolithic site of Yatak. Only
one in the center is an artifact, a chopper, the others are just
nothing for the archaeologist.

(Yatak'tan taşlar, bunlardan sadece ortadaki bir Paleolitik alet,
diğerleri "hiçbir şey".)

Photos: Paleolithic stone pile from Yatak, got bigger all the time

©Berkay Dinçer

Stone pile containing Paleolithic artifacts from Yatak. Farmers collect
stones from their fields and use them in construction in the village.
But the problem is, there are artifacts inside!

(Yatak'taki taş yığını, Paleolitik aletler de içeriyor. İnşaatlarda
kullanılmadan önceki hali.)

Photos: A view from Paleolithic site (Yatak)

Photo: Olcay Avcı

A view from Yatak. One of the best known Paleolithic site of Turkish Thrace.

(Yatak'tan bir görünüm.)

Photos: Paleolithic Biface from Yatak

©Berkay Dinçer

A Paleolithic biface from Yatak. This biface was the first biface of
Turkish Thrace. It was given to museum autorities, but lost since that
time.

(Yatak'tan -iki yüzeyli- el baltası.)

Photos: A Paleolithic flake from Yatak

©Berkay Dinçer

A Lower Paleolithic flint flake from Yatak.

(Yatak'tan bir yonga)

Photos: Yatak, Paleolithic artifacts in stone pile


©Berkay Dinçer

Stone pile including Paleolithic stone tools. Yatak, Thrace, Turkey.

(Yatak'taki taş yığını.)