Alvise Matessi

Because of their shared landscape and climate, southern Cappadocia is often perceived and represented as the easternmost portion of the Konya plain in South Central Anatolia (hereafter: SCA). Here we will argue that, while many interconnections did indeed exist between these two regions, the Bor-Ereğli plain with its surrounding mountains shows proper, independent historical developments in many phases of its past, particularly in pre-classical times. This picture has emerged from ten years of research that our team has been conducting in the Bor plain2. In this article, devoted to the Late Bronze Age (LBA), we will present: 1) the main features of the climate and geology of this region and their fluctuations during the Bronze and Iron Ages (ca 3000-500 BCE); 2) the change in settlement pattern and land route networks in the 2nd millennium BCE; 3) the contribution of written sources of the 2nd millennium BCE to the geography of our region, particularly the account of the battle of Tuwanuwa; and 4) the contribution of some novel data from the ongoing excavations at Kınık Höyük that, preliminary though they are, suggest a different understanding of the periodization of our region than previously thought.

As a part of the Central Anatolian Plateau, South Cappadocia corresponds to today's province of Niğde. In this paper we will discuss the diachronic evolution of settlement pattern and the route network of this region, and their relation with major events of environmental and climatic change during the Holocene. We will argue that while human response to climate and environmental change is the reason for some major change in human geography, there are climate change events not reflected in settlement pattern and long-distance routes crossing the region, and major changes in human geography independent from environmental and climate change. A case-by-case analysis is therefore suggested as the correct approach to formulate a correct understanding of the human-landscape relation through time.