The role of physical environmental features in ancient city settlements: The case of Stratonikeia

Aim of the thesis aims to evaluate the relationship between the natural environmental conditions and ancient settlements in the Dipsiz Çayı Basin of the Stratonikeia territory from a geographic archaeology perspective. Changes in the natural environment during the Holocene created different settlement patterns in ancient societies. The long-term interaction between natural environmental conditions and cultural processes has been studied using various methods. In this thesis, thematic maps were produced using data from SYM, MGM, HGM, and MTA, and raster layers obtained through classifications were analyzed using ESDA methods. Within the scope of ESDA analyses, the distributions of 20 different ancient settlements within the basin were tested, and their interaction with the natural environment was evaluated. The periodic settlement distribution in the Dipsiz Çayı Basin did not develop randomly; each period's socioeconomic and political reasons are consistent with the physical geography environment. The settlement pattern of the Stratonikeia territory shows variability at the micro-level in terms of the natural environment. Within the scope of micro-level investigations, the grain size distributions of the stratigraphies of 6 structures in the ancient city of Stratonikeia were determined using the hydrometer method. The city, founded during the Hellenistic period, has evolved from a high-energy accumulation environment to a balanced accumulation environment today. As part of dendroclimatological analyses, increment samples were taken from 12 brutia (Pinus brutia) trees with different microtopographic conditions within the basin, and wooden slices were taken from 5 different structures in the ancient city of Stratonikeia, where restoration has begun. The analysis determined the climate signals of the basin and established the climate trend between 1852 and 2025. The basin as a whole has shifted from humid-rainy conditions to humid but relatively lower-rainfall, temperate climate conditions. The findings of this study show that the distribution of settlements in the Dipsiz Çayı Basin and the ancient city of Stratonikeia exhibited a random spatial arrangement for most periods, but a distinctly dispersed settlement pattern emerged in the Post-Antique period. When natural environmental components, sedimentary processes, and dendroclimatological climate signals are evaluated together, it is concluded that settlements developed spatial strategies that were sensitive to environmental conditions and temporally variable, without being dependent on a single determining factor. The spatial analysis methods, sedimentology, and dendroclimatology analyses used in this thesis have made significant contributions to the development of geographic archaeology. Keywords: Geographic archaeology, spatial analysis (ESDA), sedimentology, dendroarchaeology, Stratonikeia. Keywords: Geographic archaeology, spatial analysis (ESDA), sedimentology, dendroarchaeology, stratonikeia.