Research interests:

As an anthropological archaeologist, I am interested in the early complex societies of southwest Asia, specifically the Near Eastern cultures between 10,000 and 1,200 BC. The foci of my research are the settlement systems, human-environment interactions, patterns of land use, paths to social complexity, and adaptive responses to environmental changes.  

I use cultural ecology, environmental archaeology, and landscape archaeology as theoretical frameworks in my research. Although each approach takes a different look at human-envıronment interactions, the common ground that all these theoretical frameworks share is the emphasis on the wide range of adaptive patterns that human societies display across time and space against natural and anthropogenically induced environmental change. These concepts help us understanding the coupled socio-ecological systems.

Combining archaeological, social, historical, economic, geological, and climatic data I seek to answer complex and dynamic aspects of human-environment interactions through stochastic and agent-based models. In these models, various scenarios may be tested by testing the contribution of different variables in each run. Besides modeling, I also employ geographical information systems, remote sensing, surveying, and geoarchaeology as research methods.

Biography:
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2013– Assistant Prof., Dept. Ecology and Evolution, Eurasia Institute of Earth Sciences, ITU
2011– 2012, Senior Research Fellow at the Research Center for  Anatolian Civilizations, Koç University
2010–2011, Post-Doc, Arizona State University, USA
2010, PhD in Anthropology, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University
2000–2010, PhD Student, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University
1997–2000, MA, Department of Archaeology and History of Art, Bilkent University
1993–1997, BA, Magna Cum Laude Dept. of Archaeology and History of Art,  Bilkent University

Most important 5 publications:

Arıkan, B. 2015. Modeling the Paleoclimate (ca. 6,000-3,200 Cal. BP) in Eastern Anatolia: The Method of Macrophysical Climate Model and Comparisons With the Proxy Data.  Journal of Archaeological Science.

Arıkan, B. Macrophysical Climate Modeling, Economy, and Social Organization in Early Bronze Age Anatolia. Journal of Archaeological Science 43 (C): 38–54. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2013.12.008]

Arıkan, B. Don’t Abhor Your Neighbor for He is a Pastoralist: The GIS–based Modeling of the Past Human–Environment Interactions and Landscape Changes   in the Wadi el–Hasa, west–central Jordan. Journal of Archaeological Science 39 (9): 2906– 2920.

Arıkan, B.  Cooperation and Competition: The Comparative Assessment of Tribal Dynamics in the Marginal Landscapes of the Wadi el–Hasa, in west–central Jordan in the Early Bronze and Iron ages.” Archaeological Traces