McMaster University - Department of Anthropology

1B03 - World Archaeology (Term 1)
3E03 Special Topics in Archaeology – Eastern Mediterranean Prehistory (Term 2)
3K03 Archaeological Interpretation (Term 2)

My research focus is East Mediterranean prehistory, primarily the Aegean, Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia, spanning the Epi-Palaeolithic to Late Bronze Age. Working mainly with stone tools, my studies consider modes of production and consumption (from raw material characterisation studies, via lithic technology and use-wear), as reflections of past cultural habits, choices that drew on their understanding of ‘how things should be’ and by extent part-constituted these prehistoric peoples’ way of life.

Recent work has involved a series of obsidian techno-typological / sourcing studies as a means of investigating inter-community relations in Bronze Age (‘Minoan’) Crete, household traditions at Aceramic Neolithic – Chalcolithic Çatalhöyük in central Anatolia and a project on the ‘materiality of pilgrimage’, sourcing the exotica from the 10th-9th millennium (PPNA/PPNB) temple complex at Göbekli Tepe in northern Mesopotamia.

The various processes involved in the ‘Neolithisation’ of Anatolia and the Aegean represent another developing area of my research, involving not only material culture studies, but also prehistoric population genetics using Y-chromosomal DNA analysis.

My future teaching and supervision interests, aside from lithic technology and East Mediterranean prehistory, include archaeology and popular culture, archaeometry, the archaeology of death, the archaeology of production and exchange, island societies, regional surveys, the politics of archaeology, state level societies and the anthropology/archaeology of the body.

The major field projects that I am involved with as a full-time member are Çatalhöyük (central Anatolia), Keros (Cyclades) and Mochlos (Crete), while I am publishing material from a number of sites in Greece and Turkey, including Knossos, Göbekli Tepe, Malia and the Okuzini Cave.

My long-term research collaborators include CNRS (Bordeaux and Paris), UC Berkeley, Stanford University and NCRS Demokritos, Athens.

2008 Publications

2008a Carter, T. Dubernet, S., King, R., Le Bourdonnec, F.-X., Milić, M., Poupeau, G. and Shackley, M.S. (2008), ‘Eastern Anatolian obsidians at Çatalhöyük and the reconfiguration of regional interaction in the Early Ceramic Neolithic’, Antiquity 82(318): 900-909.

2008b (King, R., Özcan, S., Carter, T., Kalfoglu, E., Atasoy, S., Triantiphyllidis, K., Kouvatsi, A., Lin, A., Chow, C., Zhivotovsky, L., Tsopanomichalou, M. and Underhill, P.), ‘Differential Y-chromosome Anatolian influences on the Greek and Cretan Neolithic’, Annals of Human Genetics 72: 205-214.

2008c 'Beyond the Mohs scale: raw material choice and the production of stone vases in a Late Minoan context’, in J. Ebeling and Y. Rowan (eds.), New Approaches to Old Stones: Recent Studies of Ground Stone Artifacts. Equinox, London: 66-81.

2008d ‘The consumption of obsidian in the Early Bronze Age Cyclades’, in N. Brodie, J. Doole, G. Gavalas and C. Renfrew (eds.), Horizons: A Colloquium on the Prehistory of the Cyclades. McDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge: 225-235.

2008e ‘Cinnabar and the Cyclades: Body modification and political structure in the Late EBI Aegean’, in H. Erkanal, H. Hauptmann, V. Şahoğlu and R. Tuncel (eds.), The Aegean in the Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age. Ankara University Research Center for Maritime Archaeology (ANKÜSAM), Ankara University Press, Ankara: 119-129.

2008f (Philaniotou, O., with an appendix by Carter, T.), ‘Naxos, Tsikniades: an Early Cycladic cemetery’, in N. Brodie, J. Doole, G. Gavalas and C. Renfrew (eds.), Horizons: A Colloquium on the Prehistory of the Cyclades. McDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge: 195-207 [203-207].

2007 Publications

2007a ‘The theatrics of technology: Consuming obsidian in the Early Cycladic burial arena’, in R. Flad and Z. Hruby (eds.), Rethinking Craft Specialization in Complex Societies: Analyses of the Social Meaning of Production. Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association 17(1): 88-107.

2007b '‘Of blanks and burials: hoarding obsidian at Neolithic Çatalhöyük’, in L. Astruc, D. Binder and F. Briois (eds.), Technical Systems and Near Eastern PPN Communities. Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop. Fréjus, 2004. Éditions APDCA, Antibes: 343-355.

2007c (Carter, T. and Kilikoglou, V.), ‘From reactor to royalty? Aegean and Anatolian obsidians from Quartier Mu, Malia (Crete)’, Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 20.1: 115-143.

2007d (Carter, T. and Shackley, M.S.), ‘Sourcing obsidian from Neolithic Çatalhöyük (Turkey) using Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluoresence’, Archaeometry 49(3): 437-454.

2007e (Haggis, D.C., Mook, M.S., Carter, T. and Snyder, L.M.), ‘Excavations at Azoria, 2003-2004, Part 2: The Final Neolithic, Late Prepalatial, and Early Iron Age occupation’, Hesperia 76(4): 665-716 [682-695].

2007f ‘The chipped stone’, in C.F. Macdonald and C. Knappett (eds.), Knossos: Protopalatial Deposits in Early Magazine A and the South-West Houses. British School at Athens, Supplementary Volume 41: 142-147.

2007g (Carter, T., with Renfrew, C., Geake, P; and Angelopoulou, A.), ‘The chipped stone from Kavos: a preliminary discussion’, in C. Renfrew, C. Doumas, L. Marangou and G. Gavalas (eds.), Keros, Dhaskalio Kavos, the Investigations of 1987-88. Keros I, Volume 1. McDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge: 353-360.

2007h (Members of the Çatalhöyük Teams, including Carter, T.), ‘Neolithic excavations in the South Area, North Area and KOPAL trench, Çatalhöyük’, in I. Hodder (ed.), Excavating Çatalhöyük: South, North and KOPAL Area Reports from the 1995-1999 Seasons. McDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge.

Select Other Publications

2006a (Carter, T., Poupeau, G., Bressy, C. and Pearce, N.J.G.), ‘A new programme of obsidian characterization at Çatalhöyük, Turkey’, Journal of Archaeological Science 33(7): 893-909.

2006b ‘City of glass: The role of obsidian at Çatalhöyük’, in M. Haydaroğlu (ed.) Çatalhöyük: From Earth to Eternity. Yapı Kredi Kültür Sanat Yayıncılık, Istanbul: 39-44.

2005a (Carter, T., Conolly, J. and Spasojević, A.), ‘The chipped stone’, in I. Hodder (ed.), Changing Materialities at Çatalhöyük: Reports from the 1995-1999 Seasons. McDonald Institute Monographs and BIAA, Cambridge: 221-83 & 467-533.

2005b (Cessford, C. and Carter, T.), ‘Quantifying the consumption of obsidian at Çatalhöyük’, Journal of Field Archaeology 30(3): 305-15.

2004a ‘Transformative processes in liminal spaces: Craft as ritual action in the Throne Room area’, in G. Cadogan, E. Hatzaki and A. Vasilakis (eds.), Knossos: Palace, City, State. BSA Studies Volume 12, London: 273-82.

2004b ‘Mochlos and Melos: A special relationship? Creating identity and status in Minoan Crete’, in L.P. Day, M.S. Mook and J.D. Muhly (eds.), Crete Beyond the Palaces. Prehistory Monographs 10, INSTAP Academic Press, Philadelphia: 291-307.

2003 ‘Problematizing the analysis of obsidian in the Aegean and surrounding worlds’, in K.P. Foster and R. Laffineur (eds.), METRON. Measuring the Aegean Bronze Age. Proceedings of the 9th International Aegean Conference, New Haven, Yale University, 18-21 April 2002. Aegaeum 24, Liège: 75-81.