This multi-part project comprised my dissertation, which I am in the process of publishing as a series of articles. It centers on the use of sediment chemistry (also known as soil chemistry) as a method for elucidating the use of space in the past. Sediment chemistry is based on the understanding that most human activities—from midden accumulation to burning to metalworking—will deposit chemical residues in the underlying sediment. By collecting soil samples, measuring the concentration of various elements and/or chemical compounds and mapping the results, we are able to certain aspects of how space was used and structured in the past. This might mean identifying “cleaner” and “dirtier” areas of a settlement or locating specific activities in the past (e.g., metalworking). Sediment chemistry is also a particularly powerful tool for identifying “invisible” activities, or those that are not associated with extant architecture and/or artifact scatters.

In this study, I collected samples from three settlements in the Gediz River valley in western Turkey: a modern Yörük courtyard, an abandoned early 20th century Turkish village, and the 2nd millennium BCE citadel of Kaymakçı.

Publications

Scott, Catherine B. 2020. “Integrating Multi-Scalar Sampling Strategies for Archaeological Sediment Chemistry.” Journal of Field Archaeology 45 (8): 588–607.

Luke, Christina, Christopher H. Roosevelt, and Catherine B. Scott. 2017. “Yörük Legacies: Space, Scent, and Sediment Geochemistry.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 21: 152–177.

Articles In Submission

Scott, Catherine B. “Sample Preparation and Analytical Instrumentation for Sediment Chemistry Analysis: A Comparative Study.” Turkish Journal of Archaeological Science.

Related Presentations

Scott, Catherine B., and Christopher H. Roosevelt. 2019. “Sediments and Citadels: Using Geochemistry to Explore Spatial Organization at Kaymakçı, Western Turkey.” American Schools of Oriental Research Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA (Paper).

Scott, Catherine B. 2017. “A Comparison of Elemental Analysis Methods for Sediment Geochemistry,” Society for American Archaeology Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC, Canada (Poster).

Scott, Catherine B. 2016. “Preliminary Results from Sediment Geochemistry at the Bronze Age site of Kaymakçı,” Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations Annual Symposium, Istanbul, Turkey (Paper).