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| East
Area Results
Post-Neolithic The excavation at the East Area brought about recognition of numerous features that are post-Neolithic in date. These comprise pits of difficult to specify character and burials. The contemporaneity of these features is difficult to establish and confirm. Altogether, 24 features of this kind were discovered in the 2018 excavation season. The earliest post-Neolithic phase is represented by a range of pits and ovens. A cluster of ovens in Square 2 (Space 677) is represented by two oval ovens with a solid clay superstructure around its circumference. Both ovens seem to have the same form and function and most likely belong to one occupational phase. The last phase of the East Area occupation is represented by a burial ground of yet unspecified chronological position. Altogether, twenty burials were unearthed. The excavated burials represented four different types in terms of their superstructure, shape of burial and character of the inhumation: (1) Empty burial -characterized by the presence of burial cut and superstructure but is devoid of any human remains, (2) Burial without grave marker and superstructure (3), Burial with grave marker in the form of standing walls around the feet of the deceased, (4) Elaborated burial with stone superstructure and burial cut covered with stones and/or tiles. The most distinct are four
burials with stone superstructures (F.10022, 10023, 10024 and 10025) (Space
671) located in Square 4. Burial F.10023 had a distinct superstructure
made of a cap stone laying down upon 12 vertically placed standing semi-rectangular
stones. Fragments of horizontally placed stone tiles were placed beneath
a cap stone. The burial contained one primary disturbed fully flexed
fetus individual.
Another distinct cluster of burials is placed in Square 1 (Space 670). It is represented by four features: F. 10014, F. 10015, F. 10016, which are longitudinally rectangular constructions with distinct stone superstructures. The stones cover the entire extent of the burial, and seems to be placed in a slightly diagonal manner. The other three burials (F. 10019, F. 10020, and F. 10021) in western part of Square 1 are irregularly oval in shape and have some striking similarities to F.10023 and F.10024 from Square 4. A considerably different situation was discerned in Square 5. The character of deposits is indicative of existence of a distinct occupational zone, most likely related to the post-Neolithic history of the mound. This is additionally corroborated by a significant number of post-Neolithic pottery and fragments of roof tiles. Deposits in Square 5 were truncated in modern times by the shallow ditch running from North to South (F.10000), which is defined by geophysical prospection as a field boundary. This has most likely to do with the process of agricultural industrialization of the Konya Plain in the first half of the twentieth century, involving the construction of canals and development of the watering system. It is likely that the easternmost area of the East mound may have been used as agricultural fields, which is indirectly indicated by the results of geophysical prospection carried out in 2012.
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