Uploaded November 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
In this episode, Dr Işılay Gürsu and Dr Peter Cherry talk with Dr Emma L. Baysal, associate professor at Bilkent University and former BIAA Postdoctoral Fellow, about her National Geographic Society-supported project Small Things, Big Stories.
Dr Baysal focuses on how ‘small things’ like, ornaments, beads, bracelets, laborers and pedants, found close to the human body in burial grounds, offer a uniquely personal window onto the lives of settled hunter-gatherers as they were dealing with the challenges of a new way of life that still affects us today. Dr Baysal talks about how these objects, whether given as gifts in death or closely treasured during life, give us insight into how neolithic societies symbolised identity factors such as achievement, status, belonging and gender.
Resources:
- Emma Baysal, “Epipalaeolithic Marine Shell Beads at Pınarbaşı. Central Anatolia from an Eastern Mediterranean Perspective” Anatolica 39 (2013): 261 – 276.
- Emma Baysal, “Neolitik Dönem Kişisel Süs Eşyaları: Yeni Yaklaşımlar ve Türkiye'deki Son Araştırmalar”, TÜBA-AR 18 (2015): 9 – 23.
- Emma Baysal, Adnan Baysal, Ali Umut Türkcan, Adam Nazaroff, “Early Specialized Production? A Chalcolithic Stone Bracelet Workshop at Kanlitaş, Turkey”, Oxford Journal of Archaeology 34/3 (2015): 235 – 257.
- Emma Baysal, “Personal Ornaments in Neolithic Turkey, the Current State of Research and Interpretation”, Arkeoloji ve Sanat Dergisi 155 (2017): 1 – 22.
- Emma Baysal, Personal Ornaments in Prehistory: An exploration of body augmentation from the Palaeolithic to the Early Bronze Age Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2019.
- Emma Baysal and Çilem Yavşan “Personal Ornaments from Chalcolithic Gülpınar, North-West Anatolia” Anadolu/Anatolia 47 (2021): 1 – 13.
- Emma Baysal and Sera Yelözer, “Searching for the Individual: Characterising Knowledge Transfer and Skill in Prehistoric Personal Ornament Making”, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 30 (2023): 172 – 202.
- Emma Baysal and Sera Yelözer, “From Prehistoric Shores: Marine Shell Ornaments, Landscape, Interaction and the Neolithic Transition in Anatolia”, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 53 (2024): 1 – 12.
In this episode, Dr Işılay Gürsu and Dr Peter Cherry talk with Dr Emma L. Baysal, associate professor at Bilkent University and former BIAA Postdoctoral Fellow, about her National Geographic Society-supported project Small Things, Big Stories.
Dr Baysal focuses on how ‘small things’ like, ornaments, beads, bracelets, laborers and pedants, found close to the human body in burial grounds, offer a uniquely personal window onto the lives of settled hunter-gatherers as they were dealing with the challenges of a new way of life that still affects us today. Dr Baysal talks about how these objects, whether given as gifts in death or closely treasured during life, give us insight into how neolithic societies symbolised identity factors such as achievement, status, belonging and gender.
Resources:
- Emma Baysal, “Epipalaeolithic Marine Shell Beads at Pınarbaşı. Central Anatolia from an Eastern Mediterranean Perspective” Anatolica 39 (2013): 261 – 276.
- Emma Baysal, “Neolitik Dönem Kişisel Süs Eşyaları: Yeni Yaklaşımlar ve Türkiye'deki Son Araştırmalar”, TÜBA-AR 18 (2015): 9 – 23.
- Emma Baysal, Adnan Baysal, Ali Umut Türkcan, Adam Nazaroff, “Early Specialized Production? A Chalcolithic Stone Bracelet Workshop at Kanlitaş, Turkey”, Oxford Journal of Archaeology 34/3 (2015): 235 – 257.
- Emma Baysal, “Personal Ornaments in Neolithic Turkey, the Current State of Research and Interpretation”, Arkeoloji ve Sanat Dergisi 155 (2017): 1 – 22.
- Emma Baysal, Personal Ornaments in Prehistory: An exploration of body augmentation from the Palaeolithic to the Early Bronze Age Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2019.
- Emma Baysal and Çilem Yavşan “Personal Ornaments from Chalcolithic Gülpınar, North-West Anatolia” Anadolu/Anatolia 47 (2021): 1 – 13.
- Emma Baysal and Sera Yelözer, “Searching for the Individual: Characterising Knowledge Transfer and Skill in Prehistoric Personal Ornament Making”, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 30 (2023): 172 – 202.
- Emma Baysal and Sera Yelözer, “From Prehistoric Shores: Marine Shell Ornaments, Landscape, Interaction and the Neolithic Transition in Anatolia”, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 53 (2024): 1 – 12.
