Beadwork in a Basket: An Ornamental Item from the Final Halaf Level of Mersin Yumuktepe

Abstract

In the summer excavation season of 2014 a total of nearly 1500 beads were recovered from inside a shallow circular basket in the final Halaf levels of the site of Yumuktepe in Mersin. The discovery has been provisionally dated to around 5800 B.C. When found, the beads were still arranged in the rows in which they had been threaded and it was clear that they had once been a single item of beadwork, perhaps a complex necklace or item of clothing. The beadwork consisted of small red and white stone beads that were threaded in patterns. This find gives us a rare opportunity to analyse a complete beadwork item that was recovered from a non-burial context. The find raises questions about what the artefact might originally have looked like, how the beads were made and why they were deposited in a basket, not in a burial. The large quantity of beads that were deposited also raises questions about the time used for bead production, whether it might have been specialised at a household or workshop level and the value attributed to bead products. This article explores what we can discover about this intricate piece of beadwork from the archaeological evidence, and whether it is comparable to other finds of the same period.

Sepet Dolusu Boncuk: Mersin Yumuktepe Höyüğü Son Halaf Seviyesinden Süs Malzemesi

Abstract

Mersin Yumuktepe Höyüğü’nün Halaf seviyesinde ele geçen büyük yuvarlak bir sepet içinde yer alan yaklaşık 1500 adet taş boncuk yak. M.Ö. 5800’e tarihlendirilmiştir. Söz konusu sepet, höyüğün hem Tunç Çağı teraslaması hem de Ortaçağ faaliyetleri sırasında kesilen kontekst içinde açığa çıkartılmıştır. Kırmızı ve beyaz renkli boncuklar yak. 25x20 cm.’lik bir alanda ve desen oluşturacak şekilde düzenlenmiş olarak orijinal konumlarında bulunmuştur. Aslında bu yörede, bu dönemde, tek bir kontekst içinde bu kadar çok sayıda boncuk ele geçmesi sıra dışı bir durumdur. Halaf Dönemi bezeme uygulamaları üzerine yayımlanmış çok az veri bulunduğundan bu münferit buluntu, mevcut kanıtlara önemli bir katkı yapmaktadır.

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