Anatolian Chronology
Early Bronze Age ca 3000-2000 BC
Middle Bronze Age ca. 2000-1650 BC
Late Bronze Age ca. 1650-1200 BC
Kanesh, Karum, Wabartum, Neshili
Hattusha, Hittites, Hattic
Social stratification
Land-deed tablet
Seals and seal impressions, bulla
Early Bronze Age
Anatolia in the Third Millennium BC
No literacy discovered so far, thus language/s not known
Life takes place mainly in villages
Larger centers do exist, beginning of settlement hierarchies = network of settlements
Increase of social stratification/ reflected in lay-out of settlements and cemeteries
Sites with monumental buildings begin to appear
i.e. West= Troia, Beycesultan, Center= KaneshTowns have fortification walls and towers and gate ways
Hisarlık = Troia (Çanakkale)
Citadel of Troia II Megaron IIA : 29m x 10m
Reconstruction of Troia
Troia Megaron II A
Dry Farming (importance of rain, W-god)
Animal husbandry (sheep, goat, cattle, pig)
Metal processing (bronze, copper, silver, gold, electrum)
Some areas involved in long-distance trade
Administration: seals and seal impressions
Formal cemeteries distinct from settlement
Complex iconography known only from Central Anatolia
Alacahöyük (Çorum)
Standardtops from Elite Burials
Bronze Solar Disc
Bronze Stag: Symbol of Deity
Kültepe=Kanesh (Kayseri)
Monumental Building at Kanesh: 3rd Millenium BC
ca. 24*22m, more than 400 squared meters
Middle Bronze Age (2000-1650 BC)
Dominant political organization city-states cf. to Early Dynastic Mesopotamia
Central authority: palace
Fierce competition
Trade network involves connections to Northern Mesopotamia
First written records appear, imported from Assyria
Private archives of merchants: historical primary source
Palace in Assur
Palace in Kanesh
Edict of Telipinu
Long historical pre-amble covering ca. 100 y of a ruling dynasty/state (cf. to modern state of Turkey 85 y)
Declared aim is to lay down formal rules of succession:
‘Let a prince, a son of the first rank, become king. If there is no prince of the first rank, let him who is a son for the second rank become king. But if there is no prince, no heir, let them take an antiyant-husband (son-in-law) for her who is a daughter for the first rank and let him become king.’ (from Bryce 2005)
Bloodshed within the dynasty banned with legal sanctions.
Hittite King and Queen Praying to the Weather God
Hattusha - Boğazköy
150 km E of Ankara
Today open-air museum
Center of a National History Park
Since 1986 one of Turkey’s nine sites in the UNESCO list of world cultural heritage
Since 2001 the clay tablet archives at Hattusha have been included in the UNESCO ‘Memory of the World’ list.
Palatial district with multi-functional purpose, multiple buildings