RESEARCH ARTICLE Exploring the common ground of landscape ecology and landscape archaeology through a case study from eastern Anatolia, Turkey Bu ¨lent Arıkan . Franziska Mohr . Matthias Bu ¨rgi Received: 24 April 2020 / Accepted: 21 September 2020 Ó Springer Nature B.V. 2020 Abstract Context Landscape archaeology has a lot to offer to landscape ecology, being an interdisciplinary approach that emphasizes the study of long-term human–environment dynamics. Objectives We outline different conceptualizations of landscape in landscape archaeology and illustrate the potential of the approach for collaborating with landscape ecologists by describing a case study from the multi-period site of Arslantepe, located in the Malatya province of eastern Anatolia, Turkey. Methods We use an agent-based modeling platform to understand the socio-economic transformations at Arslantepe during the Early Bronze Age-I. Results These simulations revealed long-term dynamics of grassland and woodland under different climate and population scenarios. It was found that both grassland and woodland responded most strongly to changes in population, with woodlands being more sensitive. Further, it becomes evident that the adapted site-tethered pastoralism could have brought more sustainable land use practices. Conclusions The example shows the tremendous potential landscape archaeology has for studying long- term sustainability issues, especially related to modes of production. The landscape archaeological perspec- tive can be linked with expertise provided by landscape ecologists, and we propose more in-depth collaboration of these two fields that offer diverse yet complementary perspectives. Keywords Abandonment Á Agent-based modeling Á Arslantepe Á Climate change Á Early Bronze Age Á Landscape archaeology Á Sustainability Introduction The debate about the Anthropocene and sustainable development has generated interest in research on long-term dynamics of socio-ecological systems to gain insights into issues like rates of change, safe operating spaces, and tipping points (Dearing et al. 2015). Landscapes are prime spheres to study such sustainability issues, as they are the result of multidi- mensional relationships between ecological and soci- etal processes (Wu 2013; Bu ¨rgi et al. 2017). B. Arıkan (&) Department of Ecology and Evolution, Eurasia Institute of Earth Sciences, Istanbul Technical University, 34469 Istanbul, Turkey e-mail: bulent.arikan@gmail.com F. Mohr Á M. Bu ¨rgi Research Unit Land Change Science, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland F. Mohr Á M. Bu ¨rgi Institute of Geography, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland 123 Landscape Ecol https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-020-01128-z