Two micromammal faunas from archaeological contexts in Türkiye

Abstract In the interaction between Man and his environment, the role of small mammals is often overlooked. Although micromammals are used as an indicator for palaeoenvironments of the Palaeolithic, the role of synanthropic species, from the Holocene is, particularly for Anatolia, insufficiently documented and not well understood. This study reports the discovery of micromammal remains from two archaeological sites in northeastern Türkiye: Niksar Castle and Pulur Höyük. So far, the newly discovered fauna consists of a rat ( Rattus rattus ), a murine ( Mus musculus ), and a hare ( Lepus europaeus ) in Niksar Castle, whereas the Macedonian mouse ( Mus macedonicus ), a mole rat ( Spalax leucodon ), a hamster ( Mesocricetus brandti ) and an arvicoline ( Microtus sp.) were found in Pulur Höyük. The difference between the two assemblages lies in Niksar Castle yielding mostly synanthropic species, whereas the Pulur Höyük assemblage has an indigenous wild small mammal fauna.