The past few years have witnessed a surge of interest in the development of ancient metallurgy in the Near East, and in particular, in Anatolia. Most of the work done in this field however, with the exception of analytical studies conducted in laboratories and geological surveys, hardly goes beyond the re-examination of known historical, archaeological and geological data. The results, as can be expected, are derived mainly from the re-evaluation of previous conclusions on the development of early technologies and the emergence of major production centres in the Aegean, Anatolia and Eastern Mediterranean.

Until a few years ago the origins of southeast European metallurgy were thought to be in northwest Anatolia. This traditional thesis of diffusion from the Troad to the Aegean and into the Balkans had rested on the chronological argument that the Chalcolithic cultures of Old Europe were contemporary with the EB I in Anatolia and the Aegean. The “diffusionists” lost substantial support for their theory when the chronological priority of Old European cultures based on tree-ring calibrated C-14 dates over the more traditional Near Eastern chronology was generally accepted.

The relationship between the Luwian and Phoenician versions of the bilingual texts emanating from Cilicia has never been systematically studied from the philological viewpoint. In this paper I endeavour to demonstrate that a converging set of formal arguments supports the primary character of the Phoenician versions of the ÇINEKÖY and KARATEPE 1 bilinguals and the secondary character of their Luwian versions. I interpret this as a metaphor for the relationship between two ethnic constituents of the Neo-Hittite principality of Que, whose coexistence was earlier argued for on independent grounds. According to the proposed interpretation, the Phoenician language was emblematic of the rulers of Que, who claimed Greek descent and therefore attempted to distance themselves from the traditional elites of the neighbouring Neo-Hittite states. The use of the Luwian language was a concession to the indigenous population of Que. The adoption of Phoenician as a language of written expression by the Greek colonists in Cilicia happened at the point when the Linear B script had been forgotten and represented the first step toward the creation of the Greek alphabet.

This paper synthesises the data and results of the Konya Regional Archaeological Survey Project (2016–2020) in order to address the earliest evidence for cities and states on the Konya and Karaman plains, central Turkey. A nested and integrative approach is developed that draws on a wide range of spatially extensive datasets to outline meaningful trends in settlement, water management and regional defensive systems during the Bronze and Iron Ages. The significance of the regional centre of Türkmen-Karahöyük for a reconstruction of early state polities between the 13th and eighth centuries BCE is addressed. In light of this regional analysis, it is tentatively suggested that, during the Late Bronze Age, Türkmen-Karahöyük was the location of the city of Tarḫuntašša, briefly the Hittite capital during the reign of Muwatalli II. More assuredly, based on the analysis of the newly discovered Middle Iron Age TÜRKMEN-KARAHÖYÜK 1 inscription, it is proposed that Türkmen-Karahöyük was the seat of a kingdom during the eighth century BCE that likely encompassed the Konya and Karaman plains.

The comparisons at the heart of this article concern the varying roles of cuneiform texts, instrumental analysis and artefacts at the Bronze Age capital of Alalakh, located in the northeastern Mediterranean region of southern Turkey. The production of fine artefacts, such as sophisticated metallurgy, glass, faience, ivory carving and, especially, bronze, was under palace patronage, while trade and the networks of inter-regional relations facilitated the transport of materials across great distances in the ancient Near East. Several lines of evidence suggest that exchange relationships between Alalakh and the Middle Bronze Age central Anatolian kingdoms, such as Kanesh, were established prior to the arrival of Hattusili I. One category of artefact, ivory and bone with metallic embellishments, is emphasised here since the crafting of ivory and bone entails the use of local resources, while the plating with precious metals reflects artistic expression and exploitation that is international in scope. Several analytical techniques are presented, such as lead isotope ratios, scanning electron microscopy and polarizing light microscopy, which have aided in defining the artistic expression of Alalakh and the production of artefacts of power and prestige.

Two Neo-Hittite rulers occupied positions of authority, the proper understanding of which demands a detailed examination of the textual passages describing this authority. The rulers, Azatiwatas of Karatepe and Yariris of Carchemish, seem moreover to have enjoyed curiously analogous positions. Neither gives in his inscriptions any very exact information on his rank, nor do they record their fathers' names, yet both seem to have exercised a high degree of authority over their cities, Adana and Carchemish respectively, and both refer to their “lords” and their lords' families in ways which have in the past been somewhat misunderstood.

Ever since the discovery of Karatepe in 1946, debate has continued concerning the dating of the monument and its inscriptions, and the position of Azatiwatas is to some extent bound up in this question. Azatiwatas does not directly claim any specific royal title but only the vague religious honorifics “the Sun-blessed(?) man, Tarhunzas's servant” (§ I), adding that he was promoted (“made great”) by Awarikus the king of Adana (§ II) and that Tarhunzas has made him mother and father to Adana (§ III). Although much of the inscription concerns the benefits which he conferred upon Adana (especially §§ IV–VI, XXIV, XXXI–XXXII, XXXVII), he does not claim to have sat on the throne himself — on the contrary, he explicitly, if rather imprecisely, states that he established his “lord's family” on it (§§ XIV–XVI, with the notes on these passages on p. 107). The lord in question must presumably be understood to be Awarikus, and the establishment of his family in Adana must refer to a time after his death or disappearance.

Archaeological investigations this year at Sos Höyük, carried out by the University of Melbourne and Erzurum Museum, took place in the summer, between 2 June and 3 August. The aims for the 1995 season included activities both on the mound and off-site. Among the former objectives, was the need to expose further the Medieval settlement on the summit of the mound, and the burnt building of the Hellenistic period in trenches L14 and L13. Excavation was also required in the lower northeast trenches to clarify the depositions of the late third to second millennium B.C. In addition to these largely horizontal operations, we commenced an independent vertical sounding in J14 to obtain a immediate guide to the sequence of Iron Age deposits.

The intensive field survey of the site environs continued, as did the search for the obsidian source in the hilltops around Pasinler. A detailed palaeoecological study of the region was initiated this year. Information from promising pollen cores taken at various altitudes in the Kargapazarı Dağları, the mountain range immediately to the north of the site, will no doubt complement the faunal and botanical data from the excavations. We also conducted a magnetic survey of the ancient cemeteries surrounding the site to better define their boundaries, but human and animal disturbance often made it difficult to discriminate between burials, pits and burrows of comparable magnetic intensity. Finally, there was a concerted effort to organize and establish a new exhibition at Erzurum Museum covering the campaigns at both Büyüktepe Höyük and Sos Höyük.

The recent discovery of a hitherto unknown king of Karkamiš of the Hittite Empire period is an event of some significance. This is the son of Talmi-Tešub (hitherto the last known king of the dynasty installed by Suppiluliumas I), Kuzi-Tešub by name, who is now attested on two impressions of his seal on bullae excavated at Lidar Höyük on the east bank of the Euphrates above Samsat.

The seal has a fine Storm-God figure standing on two mountain-men in the centre, and the rest of this area, apart from filling motifs of a rosette and an animal, is occupied by an inscription in Hieroglyphic. Around the outer circle, only partially preserved in both exemplars, is a Cuneiform legend. The Hieroglyphs divide into four groups: (1) the name of the Storm-God written above his outstretched left hand; (2) in front of the Storm-God a group reading “Kuzi-Tešub, King of the land of Karkamiš”; (3) behind him a group “Talmi-Tešub, King of the land of Karkamiš”. This was all clearly read by Sürenhagen, who for the fourth group, below the Talmi-Tešub group, proposed a reading “Kunitimuwas the King's Son”.

Obsidian was used to make tools and luxury items which were widely distributed in the ancient Near East. At most sites it is an imported material and, as such, has been used as an indicator of exchange, although little specific detail of the nature of that exchange is available. Even though methods of provenance analysis for obsidian are well established, often only a few samples per site have been analysed. This means there is not enough information to indicate the relative importance of the obsidian from each source, or to establish whether source preference changed through time or whether obsidians from different sources were treated differently. The restriction in numbers analysed is, at least in part, due to the expense and the destructive nature of provenance analysis and problems associated with obtaining sufficient samples. In an attempt to address these problems case-studies examining the obsidian assemblages from three sites of Halaf date will be used to demonstrate the potential of a method of grouping obsidians based on their physical characteristics, including colour; these groupings are confirmed by geochemical analysis. This allows the entire assemblage to be grouped quickly and cost effectively and, if used alongside techno-typological and spatial studies, enables us to begin to confront some of the issues outlined above.

The site of the southern Pisidian city of Panemoteichos was located by a fortunate discovery in 1993. Excavations to lay the foundations of a new mosque at Boğazköy, a village close to the southern boundary of Burdur vilayet one kilometre east of the Burdur-Antalya highway, exposed a quantity of cut limestone blocks and two Greek inscriptions, one a dedication to the emperor Septimius Severus, the other a mid 3rd century A.D. statue base in honour of C. Iulius Sempronius Visellius, who had served in the Roman army and risen to become high-priest of the emperors in his local community, which the text named as ὁ δῆμοs ὁ Πανεμοτειχειτῶν. Four fragments of the statue itself, including the head, were also recovered. The find thus resolved a long-standing problem of Pisidian topography. Panemoteichos was located at the north-east edge of the highland valley (ancient Greek aulôn), which begins at the narrow pass traversed by the modern highway (the boğaz of Boğazköy) and extends to the Çubuk boğaz to the south (see map, Fig. 1). At the same time a rapid reconnaissance of the hill east of the village revealed fortifications and numerous other remains of an ancient settlement (Pl. XVII a).

This article began as a Note, offering literary evidence for the working of the glittering black sands found on some Euxine beaches to relate to the analyses of two samples made by R. F. Tylecote in his “Iron sands from the Black Sea,” Anatolian Studies, 31 (1981), 137–9. But in preparing it I read Prentiss S. de Jesus's lucid study of The development of prehistoric mining and metallurgy in Anatolia(Oxford, 1980), and re-read Speros Vryonis Jr.'s pioneering article on “The question of the Byzantine mines,” in Speculum, 37 (1962), 1–17. This explains why, while the Note has grown into a modest article, its conclusions have shrunk.

For sources for Byzantine mining from the seventh to twelfth centuries, Vryonis had largely to fall back upon prospective and retrospective literary evidence: mostly legal before the seventh, and Turkish after the thirteenth century. He noted how very few direct references there are to mining in the central period and in Byzantine Anatolia thereafter, and while I can add a handful of further indications for Pontic iron, alum and mummy, I must discount his most important one for silver. Vryonis offered a choice of answers to his question: either that “Byzantium had no access to mines and therefore they did not appear in the sources;” or that Byzantines did mine, but “Byzantine sources simply do not mention this type of ordinary or common matter.” Vryonis favoured the latter solution, but the question remains largely where he left it twenty years ago, and his explanation was cited again recently.

Historic Landscape Characterisation (HLC) is a method for mapping, presenting and understanding the landscape with reference to its historical development. By using high-resolution satellite imagery and archive maps we have employed Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to integrate these data with other archaeological and historical sources to create HLC-based case-studies on landscapes in the eastern Mediterranean. This article is one of two pilot studies and aims to map the landscape character in the area around Silivri west of Istanbul. HLC analysis reveals much more diversity and complexity than might be expected. The results have revealed a far greater time-depth than was anticipated with important implications for future landscape research and for regional planning.

The region discussed in the present article lies on the Phrygian border of Pisidia, just beyond the eastern boundary of the province of Asia, and in the north-west corner of the enlarged province of Pamphylia as reconstituted by Vespasian; previously it belonged to the huge and straggling province of Galatia. It coincides approximately with the Milyas as defined by Strabo 631, and nowadays with the eastern half of the vilâyet of Burdur. First visited by Lucas in 1714, then by Arundell in 1833 and Schönborn in 1842, this region was, towards the end of last century, the scene of considerable activity on the part of scholar-explorers.

The inscription under consideration is at present on exhibition in Niğde archaeological museum, where it bears the inventory number 369. For permission to publish it, as well as for every assistance in taking a squeeze and photographs I am much indebted to Bay Kemal Germiyanoğlu, the curator. While working on this inscription in Niğde, and on the Babil stele in Adana published below, I received the necessary permission and support from the Turkish Department of Antiquities, for which I am very grateful. My work was made possible by a travel grant from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

The inscription is incised on a rectangular-faced block of white limestone approximately 130 cm. in length. The ends and the top of this block are only roughly smoothed, the top in fact sloping away towards the back. In this upper surface at either end a shallow groove is visible, such as would have held the metal clamps often used in antiquity to secure masonry. This would indicate that the block had formed part of a wall, with only the inscribed front face exposed.

The valley of the river Göksu (the ancient Calycadnus) is not unique as a road through the Taurus mountains. At least one other route was used in antiquity; this was by the Cilician Gates (now the Gülek boğazı). The valley of the Göksu, however, provides the easiest means of access from the coast to the plateau and, conversely, the easiest descent from the plateau to the coast. At the upper end of the route lies the Konya Plain with the sites of Çatal, Can Hasan, Karahüyük-Konya and numerous mounds of the Hittite period; at the lower end, the Plain of Adana and the sites of Mersin and Tarsus.

The excavations at Çatal East and West, Can Hasan and Karahüyük-Konya promise to produce an almost complete pottery sequence for the Konya Plain. At certain points in this sequence influence from the south coast has been suggested. Traces of this contact, if it existed, between the two areas might possibily be found in the valley of the Göksu. With this possibility in mind, a re-examination of the Mut area was carried out and, at the same time, an attempt was made to verify the suggested relationship of the Göksu valley to the two “culture-areas”, the Konya Plain and the Plain of Adana, from the Neolithic period until the Iron Age.

In the fall of 1988, Cemal Pulak, acting field director and assistant director of the Ulu Burun excavations, asked the authors to identify the wood used in the diptych found on the fourteenth- or very early thirteenth-century Ulu Burun shipwreck. Although it has been stated generally that Greco-Roman writing tablets were made of boxwood, other woods were also used for writing tablets in various periods of antiquity. The second oldest known writing-boards, from 8th-century Nimrud, were made of walnut (Juglans nigra), and from Assyrian records we know that writing-boards were constructed of tamarisk, cypress and cedar woods. Geography clearly played a role in the choice of wood. At the port of Roman London, for example, “most of the twenty-two fragments of writing tablets recovered from the recent waterfront excavations were of the wax-impressed type made from larch, cedar or silver fir, suggesting that they … were brought over [from the continent] as finished products”; the only boxwood tablet, perhaps locally made, was not of the type that held wax.

Recent work in the Göksu river valley has brought questions of long-distance communication routes to the forefront of discussion. The valley has been long regarded as a potential conduit from the Anatolian plateau to the Mediterranean, yet no formal testing as to whether it was geographically suited to this use has taken place. The discovery of the site of Çömlek Tepesi in the upper Göksu valley and work at Kilse Tepe south of Mut has given further weight to the idea that the valley served as a communication route at points in time, and has encouraged testing the notion that a route through the valley would be attractive based on geography. Computerised modelling using least-cost pathway analysis (LCPA) was used to test whether the Göksu valley could serve as a communication route, and if so, the approximate location of that route based upon geographical constraints. In this paper, the methods of LCPA are reviewed and an example of its use is presented. Advocated as an exploratory rather than explanatory technique, the application of LCPA in the Göksu valley has strengthened current assumptions about regional and extra-regional interaction and raised new questions that refined the project's research design.

Two pollen sequences from the Classical city of Sagalassos (Pisidia, southwest Turkey) show that the hills just north of the city were forested during the main occupation period of the city (late Hellenistic to early Byzantine). They demonstrate that there was a mixed needle-leaved forest of Pinus, Cedrus libani and Abies cilicica. The platform on which the city sat was already deforested, as is indicated by the presence of pollen from various light demanding herbs. Furthermore, there is evidence that grapevines (Vitis) were cultivated, indicating that much of the land below the city was already exploited for agricultural purposes. Walnut trees were also cultivated near the city. It is probable that suburban farmsteads were present close to the city. The pollen sequences show that man-made deposits from high altitudes may contain important information on the former natural and cultural vegetation of mountain sites in Anatolia. Archaeologists and palynologists should draw more attention to these pollen rich man-made contexts.

The Gediz valley of modern, western Turkey is a major gateway linking the Aegean spheres with the central Anatolian plateau. The making of cultural heritage in Anatolia plays out in very different ways depending on the physical location of the community and the level of implementation of the post-1923 social- and political-engineering agendas of the authorities of the Republic of Turkey. In this case-study we analyse one community, a village of just under 200 people known as Hacıveliler in the Marmara Lake basin of the Gediz valley in western Turkey (province of Manisa). We explore how this community continues to (re)define its heritage (from the 19th century to the present day) in light of contemporary policies. The approach combines historiographical, archaeological, preservation and ethnographical datasets.

Turkey has always served as a bridgehead between the continents of Europe and Asia and there are four main ways of crossing it (Fig. 1). The southerly route ran up one or other of the west coast valleys onto the Anatolian plateau, and crossed by the great lakes of Eǧridir and Beyşehir to Konya and thence down through the Taurus mountains by the Cilician Gates into the plain of Adana. From here the routes southwards into Syria and Egypt or eastwards into Mesopotamia and Persia were clear of further geographical obstacles. This was the great route of the Hellenistic and Roman periods when the trade and communications network of Asia Minor were channelled westwards through the ports either of Ephesus or one of the other west coast cities.

In our 1949 budget, the Directing Committee of the Institute put at my disposal a sum of one hundred pounds, for the purpose of an excavation in collaboration with the Turkish Department of Antiquities. On discussing the matter with the Director, Dr. Hamit Koşay, I found that the mound in which he was at the moment most interested was near the small modern town of Polatli, about forty miles from Ankara, on the main railway line to Istanbul. I understood from Dr. Koşay that a large part of this mound had been quarried away by peasants in need of earth for making bricks, and that, as a result, a number of whole pots and metal objects of the Copper Age had found their way to Ankara. I was subsequently shown these objects by Bay Nuri Gökçe, Director of the Hittite Museum, and a few days later visited the site in his company.

The hüyük, which takes its name from Polatli (Plate II), is situated on the outskirts of the modern town, near a spring of water. Its height is impressive, though the area which it covers suggests that the ancient settlement which it represents would have been hardly more than a village.