Ground Stone, Continuity, and Change at atalh yük

The Early Chalcolithic in Central Anatolia (6100-3000 B.C.E.) is a period characterized by both significant changes in the way people lived and a continuation of traditional practices. The site of atalh yük West offers a unique opportunity to study the complexities of the Early Chalcolithic. Lying only 300 meters from the Late Neolithic site of atalh yük East, the West Mound shows both continuity and change with its neighbor. The analysis of ground stone artifacts is potentially less affected by chronological gaps resulting from erosion of the mounds since ground stone is considered a relatively conservative class of artifacts in terms of rate of change. My research focuses on the ground stone artifacts excavated from atalh yük West and atalh yük East by several teams over many years. This article will use the ground stone evidence to examine the processes of change and continuity between the East and West Mounds of atalh yük, with special emphasis on raw material and typo-morphological traits.