Subsistence economy and land use strategies in the Burdur province (SW Anatolia) from Prehistory to the Byzantine period

A reconstruction of the ancient subsistence economy (both animal and plant) and land use strategies is presented here for the province of Burdur, more specifically the area south and southeast of Burdur Lake, in southwestern Turkey. This contribution is based on the results from archaeozoological, archaeobotanical and stable isotope analyses available from six sites, dated to distinct time periods ranging from the Neolithic to the Middle Byzantine period. The data (both published and unpublished) are integrated with the available information on settlement development and dynamics in the study area. Results show changing agrarian and animal husbandry practices for a period of more than 8, 000 years, ranging between self-sustaining economies to specialised husbandry practices and an intensive agricultural exploitation of the landscape, in relation to human settlement activities.status: publishe