“Marginal” Landscapes: Human Activity, Vulnerability, and Resilience in the Western Taurus Mountains (Southwest Turkey)

Abstract

Abstract The western Taurus mountains, southwest Turkey, comprise a diverse set of landscape zones that are characterized by great altitude variations. This article focuses on the agricultural so-called marginal highlands within this mountainous region. Large parts of the uplands are labeled “marginal” nowadays as they are not regarded as highly productive in terms of agricultural output or permanent occupation. Three decades of interdisciplinary research within the Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project (KU Leuven) have provided an enormous amount of archaeological, bioarchaeological, and geoarchaeological datasets that will be brought together in this article to explore diachronic patterns in human-environmental interactions within these areas. The study demonstrates not only the archaeological value of a highland area, but its vulnerability for human impact as well. The changing environments both naturally and sociopolitically favored a more resilient behavior of the human groups within the highlands.