Ünan, Serdar and Nazan, (Turkey), “Stone jewelry moulds from Seyitömer Höyük”, TALANTA LII, (2020), 37-53. (original) (raw)

Archaeological excavations have been ongoing at Seyitömer Höyük, province of Kütahya, Turkey, at intervals since 1990. The stratigraphy shows five layers: (I) Roman, (II) Hellenistic, (III) Achaemenid, (IV) Middle Bronze Age, (V) Early Bronze Age III. It has been determined that the layer dated to the Early Bronze Age III has four stages: A, B, C, D. In this article, 4 lead jewelry moulds from the Phase C layer are presented. The moulds show negatives of lead figurines, earrings, seals, pendants and various objects. By referring to the places where the jewelry moulds were found, they are compared with moulds with similar motives dated to the same period and with analogues of the objects that can be cast with these moulds. Based on these examples, Seyitömer Höyük’s commercial activities with Anatolia, Mesopotamia and Greece are clarified.

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Lead Ingots and Rings Discovered in Central Anatolia during the Karum Period

Program for the 4th Kültepe International Meeting/4. Uluslararası Kültepe Toplantısı Programı, Kültepe, Kayseri, August 1-4, 2019/Ağustos 1-4, 2019, 2019

At Kültepe lead weights, ingots and rings of various forms were used during the Early Bronze Age. This usage continued also during the Assyrian Trading Colony Period. Lead, which is mentioned only in a few Kültepe cuneiform tablets was not widely traded by merchants due to its abundance and low value. In the Assyrian trading system where payments are made with silver, worthless metals such as lead may have been used as an exchange tool. It is also known in the cuneiform documents that gold and silver are sealed and shipped also in chains (riksum) of certain weights. In this context, the interlocking rings discovered in Kültepe and Alişar Höyük indicate that the lead was kept in the form of chains, just like silver and gold. Apart from Kültepe and Alişar Höyük, lead ingots and rings were also discovered in other settlements such as Acemhöyük, Boğazköy, Alacahöyük, Konya-Karahöyük and Kaman-Kalehöyük in the Assyrian Trading Colony Period levels in Central Anatolia. This paper presents a study on lead ingots and rings which constituted an element of the highly developed economic system in Central Anatolia during the Assyrian Trading Colony Period.

Early Bronze Age Metallurgy At Murat Höyük, Eastern Anatolia: Archaeometrical Assessments of a Figurine and a Metal Tool

TÜBA-KED Turkish Academy of Sciences Journal of Cultural Inventory, 2021

Murat Höyük lies on the bank of the Murat River in Solhan district of Bingöl province in Eastern Anatolia. This study presents archaeometrical analyses of a unique metal figurine and a metal tool recovered in situ during the 2019 Murat Höyük Excavations, the first systematic archaeological excavation project in Bingöl. Four cultural layers (Medieval, Middle Iron, Early Iron, and Early Bronze Age) were documented at the site, where the earliest settlement is dated to the EBA III (2500-2200 BC). The metal figurine and tool were found in this earliest phase (IV), where stone mould fragments and a crucible were also found in associated contexts. Portable XRF (p-XRF) analyses performed on the figurine, and p-XRF and metallography analyses conducted on the copper tool revealed that metals used in the manufacture of these artefacts were smelted from different polymetallic copper ores. Additionally, production process of the objects was examined in this study. A holistic evaluation of finds related with metallurgy at Murat Höyük reflects cultural affiliation with the Upper Euphrates Basin in terms of material choice and production technology. The present study on Murat Höyük metal finds provide new insight into Early Bronze Age metallurgy, belief systems, and art in Eastern Anatolia.

Mehofer, M., Metallurgy during the Chalcolithic and the Beginning of the Early Bronze Age in Western Anatolia, in: B. Horejs – M. Mehofer (eds.), Western Anatolia before Troy - Proto-Urbanisation in the 4th millennium BC, OREA 1, Vienna 2014, 463–490.

Abstract: The archaeometallurgical and archaeological research carried out in southeastern Europe, the Aegean and Anatolia has provided a general insight into cultural interactions that occurred during the 4th millennium BC. For example, metal objects that were found in the rich graves of Novosvobodnaja, Majkop or Arslantepe provide evidence that various metals such as gold, silver, lead and arsenical copper were already available in Anatolia and the Caucasus in the 4th (and early 3rd) millennium BC; heavy shaft hole axes and other implements occurred in the Balkans during that period as well. To date only a few settlements have been found along the west Anatolian coastline which yielded evidence confirming the production or melting of metal in the 4th and early 3rd millennia BC. Çukuriçi Höyük as one of these few examples provides evidence for intensive metalworking, e.g. the production of arsenical copper during EBA 1. Moreover, the production of a silver-copper alloy suggests that the metallurgists at Çukuriçi Höyük had the knowledge of particular smelting and alloying techniques, which attests to a wide-ranging social and technological network at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. This well-developed system of metalworking is rooted in the Late Chalcolithic period, as indicated by lead isotope analyses carried out on objects found at Çukuriçi Höyük. Furthermore, archaeological objects as well as analytical results obtained from finds unearthed in the regions under study indicates a ‘connection’ with the Balkans, as shown by two recently found ‘ring idols’ near Izmir.

2022 / Murat Höyük Early Bronze Age Metal Figurine / Murat Höyük Erken Tunç Çağı Metal Heykelciği

OLBA XXX, 2022

This study presents a detailed excamination of a metal figurine found during the 2019 excavations at Murat Höyük, located on the bank of the Murat River in the Solhan district of the Province Bingöl in Eastern Anatolia. Because the mound was to be inundated by the Aşağı Kaleköy hydroelectric dam, extensive salvage excavations were conducted at the site in 2019 under the directorship of the Elazığ Museum. Four main settlement phases (Medieval, Middle Iron, Early Iron, Early Bronze) were documented at the site with the earliest habitation dating to the Early Bronze Age III (2500-2200 BC). While figurines shaped out of clay, stone, and marble are more common in the archaeological record of Early Bronze Age (EBA) Anatolia, and metal figurines are relatively rare, a metal figurine ('statuette’) was discovered in the EBA settlement level of Murat Höyük. In terms of typological and stylistic details, the metal figurine of Murat Höyük appears unique in the 3rd millennium records of Mesopotamia, the Aegean, and the Balkans. The figurine depicts a standing nude with stylized hands and feet. Eye-sockets are marked as shallow pits; while the mouth is not indicated. Arms are stretched out on both sides; head is slightly inclined to the left; breasts are fashioned as appliqué protrusions; and pubic triangle is indicated with incised lines. The fact that stone mold and crucible fragments were found in the same level of the site suggests that the object was most probably produced locally by casting. Casting defects (flash lines) are observable on the surface. In this study, based on a comparative iconographic examinations we propose that a goddess is depicted here. With its unique characteristics, the Murat Höyük goddess figurine is a significant contribution to the repertoire of metal figurines’ in Anatolia Syria and Mesopotamia with broader implications about EBA metallurgy art and belief systems.

A Group of Jewellery from Diyarbakır Archaeological Museum

A Group of Jewellery from Diyarbakır Archaeological Museum, 2021

In this article, we present a selection of previously unpublished metal jewellery (decorative pins, fibulae, bracelets, neck rings, and earrings) housed at Diyarbakır Museum, where they were acquired by requisition or purchase. The objective of this study is to evaluate these jewellery items with common characteristics as a group and to provide a chronological assessment based on comparative typological analysis in reference to ancient Near Eastern jewellery. This contribution furthers our knowledge about the archaeological record of the Upper Tigris basin in southeast Turkey, where Diyarbakır province is located. All categories of jewellery items examined in this study show typological variability in sub-types and exhibit stylistic diversity. The majority are made of bronze, while fewer are gold-plated or made of gold, silver or iron. Jewellery items vary in terms of manufacturing technology, as well: toggle pins are produced by lost wax (cire pérdue) technique; fibulae and bracelets are made by casting; and earrings and metal neck rings are made by hammering. Decorations are executed as incised patterns in linear style. Figurative adornments of toggle pins, fibulae, bracelets, and neck rings bear testimony to the high level of craftsmanship that their makers had achieved. These artefacts from Diyarbakır Museum, like most known jewellery in the archaeological record, must have been used as grave offerings or worn as items of personal adornment, amulets or accessories for garments. Based on comparative analysis, the 47 jewellery items in Diyarbakır Museum examined here are dated to the Early and Middle Iron Age

READING THE LATE BRONZE AGE CERAMIC EVIDENCE AT UŞAKLI HÖYÜK - CENTRAL TURKEY. The pottery from the Area A test sounding

Anatolica, 2018

Excavations at the site of Uşaklı Höyük, on the central Anatolian Plateau, have revealed traces of a lengthy occupation ranging from the Early Bronze Age to the Late Roman periods. In particular, they have provided sound confirmation of the importance of the centre during the Late Bronze Age, when it was probably to be identified with the sacred Hittite city of Zippalanda. The Late Bronze Age monumental structures uncovered on the lower terrace and on the high mound had been markedly affected by later building activities, but a perfectly sealed sequence of materials has been revealed in a test sounding below monumental Building II, in Area A. After an overview of the different contexts brought to light between 2013 and 2017 at Uşaklı Höyük, the paper discusses the Late Bronze Age ceramic evidence in the frame of the long sequence of occupation of the site and against the background of central Anatolian cultural horizons. The analysis focuses on the materials from the Area A test sounding, which provide a reference post quem for the construction of the monumental Building II.

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Lead Ingots and Rings in Central Anatolia during the Assyrian Trade Period

in F. Kulakoğlu, G. Kryszat & C. Michel (eds), Cultural Exchanges and Current Research at Kültepe and its Surroundings, Kültepe, 1–4 August, 2019. KIM 4 — Kültepe International Meetings 4, Subartu XLVI, Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium, pp.143-159., 2021