This project, the full title of which is “Special Features at Kaymakçı: Improving Understanding of Regional Practices from Fine-Grained 3D and Contextual Analysis of Burning Features and Ritual Caches,” is the focus of my 2022–2023 post-doctoral fellowship at the Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (ANAMED) at Koç University in Istanbul. My goal is to explore how we can use 3D “context volumes”—georeferenced digital representations of each context excavated at Kaymakçı—to study two groups of special features identified at the site. The first group of features are fire installations, predominately hearths and ovens. In addition to exhibiting interesting patterns in their distribution in space and stratigraphy, the architecture and artifacts surrounding the hearths and ovens suggest important social meanings beyond their functional uses. The second group of features are small ritual caches discovered in so-called stone lined pits. These ritual caches have so far only been discovered in a very constrained area of the site, but the presence of other features that look like similar stone lined pits suggests that other examples might be found in the future. Beyond the study of the 3D volumes associated with these features, this project will examine the construction, use, social context, and regional comparanda for the burning features and ritual caches to understand better how they—and Kaymakçı—fit within the broader landscape of 2nd millennium BCE western Anatolia.

This research builds on previous research I conducted on 3D models of the hearths and ovens from Kaymakçı, included below.

Related Presentations

Scott, Catherine B., and Tunç Kaner. 2023. “Monumental Loaves: The Role of Fire Installations in Structuring Elite Space at 2nd Millennium BCE Kaymakçı, Western Anatolia.” American Schools of Overseas Research (ASOR) Annual Meeting, Chicago IL. (Paper.)

Scott, Catherine B., and Christina Luke. 2023. “Gods and the Machine: Structure-from-Motion Recording in the Excavation and Analysis of Ritual Caches from Kaymakçı, Western Turkey.” 13th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Near East (ICAANE), Copenhagen, Denmark. (Paper, remote).

Scott, Catherine B. 2023. "Special Features at Kaymakçı: Improving Understanding of Regional Practices from Fine-Grained 3D and Contextual Analysis of Burning Features and Ritual Caches.” Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations, Koç University. (Paper).

Scott, Catherine B. 2020. “Around the Hearth: Reconstructing and Recontextualizing Burning Features at the 2nd Millennium BCE Citadel of Kaymakçı, Western Turkey.” Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, Brown University. (Paper).

Scott, Catherine B., and Christopher H. Roosevelt. 2020. “Digital Ovens: Using 3D Volumetrics to Study Burning Installations at Kaymakçı, Western Anatolia.” Archaeological Institute of America Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C. (Paper).