Tepe Düzen: August 3-7, 2008

After a lot of special small finds, architectural finds and finds concerning artisanal activities at Tepe Düzen during the first three weeks of this excavation campaign, the fourth and fifth week of this year's excavation revealed both an unexpected part of the site's chronology and some information about the burial rites.

In a fifth sector (5x5m), we first came across a layer that we have encountered before, but that this time was incredibly rich in ceramics and faunal finds. Unexpectedly, underneath that layer, we found a rock-cut structure that is the oldest structure yet found at Tepe Düzen, filled with three layers of soil that are probably also older than the usual stratigraphy encountered so far. As this rock-cut structure has not been completely excavated yet, it is hard to say much about its function, but it is without a doubt that the stratigraphy going from the bottom of the structure until the present surface, and the huge amount of ceramic pieces found inside the layers, will mean a huge step forward in creating a typology of the Tepe Düzen ceramics.

Other from that, another unexpected find may mean a huge step forward in the investigation of the Iron Age society at Tepe Düzen. Inside the upper layer of the filling of the rock-cut structure mentioned above, a partly preserved ceramic vessel filled with human bones was found. A first investigation of the bones by archaeozoeologist Wim Van Neer made clear that the human remains have been exposed to fire, so the bones probably represent some of the remains of a cremation. Future DNA-investigation of these bones should give an idea about the origin of the people living in the Iron Age site of Tepe Düzen, and their possible relation to the later inhabitants of Sagalassos itself.