CSATS Lecture: Lynn Welton

Challenging Assumptions About the Anatolian Past Series:
Tell Tayinat, the Amuq Plain & Regional Networks

The Canadian Society for the Advancement of Turkish Studies (CSATS) is pleased to present Assistant Professor Lynn Welton and her talk titled “Tell Tayinat, The Amuq Plain and Regional Networks,” as part of the lecture series Challenging Assumptions About the Anatolian Past.

In this presentation, Professor Welton will explore the rich cultural heritage of Hatay, with particular attention to the often-overlooked Early Bronze Age (3rd millennium BCE). Focusing on Tell Tayinat, a major center in the Amuq Plain, she will highlight how recent archaeological research is reshaping our understanding of this formative period in the Ancient Near East.

Drawing on new evidence, the talk will examine how Tell Tayinat, a central settlement in the region, functioned within expanding regional and long-distance networks at a time marked by the rise of urbanism, intensifying interregional interaction, and significant social transformation. By situating the site within broader cultural and economic systems, Professor Welton will help us better understand its role in Early Bronze Age connectivity.

Join us for an engaging discussion that reconsiders the place of the Amuq Plain in the wider ancient world and offers new perspectives on the Early Bronze Age.

Bio: 
Professor Welton received her PhD in Near Eastern Archaeology from the University of Toronto, and has twenty years of field experience, having worked in Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, Iran and Ethiopia. Geographically, she focuses primarily on the Levant and Anatolia, especially on the Late Chalcolithic, Early Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, having published extensively on materials from the Amuq Plain in southern Turkey as part of her long-term involvement with the Tayinat Archaeological Project. During her recently completed Marie Curie fellowship at Durham University, she used isotopic analysis of animal skeletal remains to investigate the role of pastoral mobility in the rise of complex societies in the Jordan Valley and western Syria during the 5th-3rd millennia BCE.

Lynn’s recent work as part of the CRANE Project reconstructs human-environment interaction using a combination of agent-based modelling and climate modelling. Consequently, she has been collaborating with researchers in the Physics Department to implement global climate models and dynamically downscaled regional climate models to examine past climate variability. In addition to ongoing research into agricultural productivity and land use in the ancient Near East, she uses agent-based modelling to evaluate agricultural strategies and decision-making as responses to climate change.

The event is generously sponsored by Esma Fine Foods.