MARMARA BÖLGESİ NEOLİTİK DÖNEM ÖLÜ GÖMME GELENEKLERİNDE İLKLER: YENİKAPI KAZI BULGULARI

The Archaeology Museums of Istanbul have been conducting large-scale rescue excavations at Yenikapı since 2004 within the construction site of the tube-tunnel project to cross the Sea of Marmara. As the site of the rescue excavations is the now filled inancient Byzantine harbor located within the historic centre of Istanbul, numerous outstanding finds, among them over 30 Late Roman-Byzantine ships, have been recovered. The recovery of a Pottery Neolithic site that was established priorto the formation of the ancient harbor when Marmara was in lacustrine stage and later inundated with the rise in the level of the sea, was another discovery of prime importance. Prehistoric levels yielding assemblages representative of the various stages of the local Neolithic Fikirtepe culture (6500-5600 cal. BC) have also revealed human remains. Even if they are few in number, the diversity of funerary practices is surprising, ranging from simple or multiple, secondary or primary burials to cremations, the latter being the earliest of its sort yet recovered in Turkey. Moreover, the exceptionally well preservation of wood at the site provided ample evidence to reconstruct unexpected funeral practices. The analysis of the cremations is still in process. Seven urns contained remains of adults and immature individuals. Burnt human bones were also found into two pits or scattered. Two of the burials are multiple. Burial 1 counts four individuals found all in primary context. Three of them were probably placed simultaneously and the last individual added somewhat later. There are two adults, a woman and probably a man, and two immature aged of 1 to 5 years old at the time of the death. Burial 2 comprises two individuals, an adult and an immature. The adult is a female found in a primary burial context. The immature belongs also to the category of 1-5 years old at the time of the death and is in a secondary position. It is likely that the immature was buried into this place, then, when the adult has been added, its bones were collected, put into a pot and left there. The two other burials include one adult each, a male in Burial 3 and a female in Burial 4. They are primary burials and the tombs has been filled with soil after the interment of the corpse.

Makalenin konusunu oluşturan Yenikapı Çanak Çömlekli Neolitik Çağ dolgularındaki gömüt uygulamaları nicelik olarak az olmakla birlikte, nitelik açısından sunduğu çeşitliliklerle şaşırtmaktadır. Bunların içinde özellikle, Yenikapı'da bulunan ve Türkiye sınırlan içinde bilinen en eski kremasyonlar, urneler ve çukurlar içinde karşımıza çıkmaktadır. İskeletlerle birlikte bulunan çok iyi korunmuş ahşaplar, farklı kullanım biçimleriyle dikkati çekmektedir, ahşaplar iki gömütte mezar mimarisi ve süslemesine dair bilgiler verirken, bir örnekte işlenmiş ahşap mezar armağanı olarak yorumlanacak özellikler göstermektedir. İkincil gömüte ait belirlenebilen tipik bir örnek, çömleğin içine yerleştirilmiş erişkin olmayan bir bireye aittir. Gömütler ve kremasyonlar "arkeolojik ölüm-bilim" yaklaşımı ile yazıda ayrıntıları sunulan biçimde bütün verileri derleyecek kapsamlı bir çalışmayla ele alınmıştır. Bunun yanı sıra kurtarma kazılarının zaman sınırı da dikkate alınarak kazıda yeni teknikler denenmektedir, örneğin mikro aspiratör ve teknolojinin olanakları kullanılarak kalıntılar en az kayıpla gelecek kuşaklara bırakılmaya özen gösterilmektedir.