2013 | Anatolica Volume 39 2013 ISSN: 0066-1554; 39
This and two following articles outline results of the joint Syrian-Danish studies carried out at the site of Qala’at Halwanji (mohafazat of Aleppo) in 2008 and 2009. Qala’at Halwanji is located on the south bank of the Sajour River ca. 15 km west of the Euphrates junction at Aushariye. The site lies on a limestone cliff, and appears as a roughly square, fortified enclosure with wide ramparts, on two sides broken by gullies which could represent ancient gates. The surface survey and sondages carried out show that the site was first occupied in the Early Bronze Age IV, but its main level, immediately under the modern surface, represents a brief Middle Bronze Age II occupation destroyed by fire. Excavated rooms in the well-preserved southern and south-western parts of the site contain numerous in situ ceramic vessels and specimens of remarkable sealings. During this period Qala’at Halwanji seems likely to represent imposition on the local region by a regional or international power. An identification with ancient Dūr-Šamšī-Adad, a fortress established in this region by Šamšī-Adad I ca. 1786 BC, and lost to Jamhad ca. 1779 BC, although far from assured, is a possibility. — Jesper Eidem
Six terracotta figurines, all of EB IV date, and found on the surface of Qal’at Halawanji (northwestern Syria), are presented and discussed. — Eva Ishaq
This article presents and discusses selections of EB IV and MB II ceramics excavated by a Syrian-Danish team at Qal’at Halawanji (north-western Syria) in 2008-2009. — Michel Al-Maqdissi
This article presents the current state of research on the two earliest levels encountered at Barcın Höyük, Located in the Yenişehir Plain, Barcın Höyük is excavated as part of a long-term research project on early farming communities in the southern Marmara Region. Even though the exposures are small, excavations have uncovered notable differences between the phases termed VIe and VId. The two phases are compared in terms of pottery traditions, cooking practices, bone tools, beads and stone artifacts, ultimately allowing us to understand some of the key changes that were taking place among the earliest permanently settled communities of this region. The article places the stratigraphy and relative ceramic chronology into a chronological and regional context. Eleven radiocarbon determinations demonstrate that Barcın VIe and VId date to the 66th through 64th centuries BC. — Fokke A. Gerritsen, Rana Özbal and Laurens C. Thissen
Excavations at the seventh millennium settlement of Barcın Höyük in NW Anatolia have yielded burials of adults, juveniles and infants. This article reports on 34 burials excavated in the years between 2007 and 2012. Most are single and primary burials, with the body in flexed position on its side. The preferred location to bury adults was in open areas between houses, used also for outdoor activities. Babies in contrast were frequently buried in the rubble of abandoned houses. Grave goods are not numerous and include animal bones and bone implements. Osteological examinations revealed high infant mortality, especially in the 0-3 months range. Coarse food consumption led to bad dental health among adults and juveniles. Among the observed pathological conditions degenerative arthritis was common. — M. Songül Alpaslan Roodenberg, Fokke A. Gerritsen, Rana Özbal
Çadır Höyük, on the north central Anatolian plateau, is one of the few multi-period sites in the region. Presently, excavations spanning 1994 to 2012 have demonstrated that occupation at the site span the millennia from ca. 5200 BCE to the 11th century CE. Reported here are major findings from excavations conducted in the 2009 and 2012 seasons; some data from previous seasons is also presented. Excavations in recent seasons have targeted four main periods: the Late Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age (ca. 3600-2900 BCE), the Middle Bronze/Hittite period (ca. 1800-1200 BCE), the Middle and Early Iron Age (ca. 1200-800 BCE) and the Middle Byzantine (6th-11th c. CE). Significant discoveries in the 2012 season reported on here include a major Hittite-period casemate wall, and a Chalcolithic period pottery production area. Our Iron Age excavations continue to demonstrate that a significant industrial area existed at Çadır during this period; Byzantine excavations confirm the tripartite phasing outlined in previous seasons and further defined the incremental but apparent decline in fortunes during the passage of the Byzantine centuries. — Sharon R. Steadman, Gregory McMahon, Jennifer C. Ross, Marica Cassis, Jeffrey D. Geyer, Benjamin Arbuckle, and Madelynn von Baeyer
Once poorly neglected by scholars of the Classical world, Galatia in the heartland of Anatolia has developed into one of the most productive areas of Ancient History, Graeco-Roman epigraphy, and Classical Archaeology in the course of the last few decades. Given the wealth and diversity of recent contributions and ongoing research activities, it is timely to present a concise overview that not only provides readers with easy access to at times remote publications, but also summarizes and contextualizes major results. This will allow us to point out some converging discoveries or insights as well as old and new views that may conflict with documentary evidence that has been recently found or better understood. Likewise, various new problems and re-opened questions that deserve scholarly attention in the future will be put forward. The debt that the scholarly community owes to Stephen Mitchell is outstanding, as the author of the most comprehensive study of roughly one millennium of Galatian history (1993) as well as the co-editor of the monumental Inscriptions of Ankara I, which he has produced together with David French (2012). These milestones of Galatian Studies will serve as a framework for this report. — Altay Coşkun
This article presents the first results of excavations at Tell Satu Qala, ancient Idu, in the Kurdish Region of Iraq. It gives an account of the two excavation seasons that have taken place in 2010 and 2011. The preparations that led to the excavation, the reasons for selecting this tell, and people instrumental in starting this project are mentioned. In the next section the archaeological evidence is discussed, both the squares on the north side of the tell and the cross-section made on the southern slope. This is followed by an overview of the inscriptions from Satu Qala, on finds from the present excavation as well as museum objects. The material is arranged chronologically, and an image of every inscription is added. The article is concluded by two sections on the history of Idu, the first treating the interval between the Middle Assyrian and the Neo-Assyrian empires, and the second presenting the historical evidence for the Old Babylonian period. — W.H. van Soldt, C. Pappi, A. Wossink, C.W. Hess, and K.M. Ahmed
During the 2011 Sagalassos project survey, a Bronze Age pithos cemetery was discovered in the vicinity of the multi-period site of Gâvur Evi Tepesi, in the Burdur Plain, SW Turkey. Despite ongoing quarrying of gravel at the cemetery, several in situ pithoi were found. The following paper is the first report of our work at this cemetery and discusses and contextualizes the findings at Gâvur Evi Tepesi. Furthermore it illustrates how the cemetery belongs to a more widespread tradition attested at similar contemporary cemeteries in Western Anatolia: the deceased were interred in pithoi closed with large stone slabs and oriented to the E/SE. A study of this cemetery suggests that it was used during the Early Bronze Age II (2600-2300 BC) and Middle Bronze Age (2000-1450 BC) since some pithos burials associated with fine ware from both periods were recovered. Six different pithos types were identified ranging from neck pithoi to rib pithoi. In addition, this paper considers the Gâvur Evi Tepesi cemetery and its settlement within the broader Early Bronze Age social landscape of the Burdur Plain. It is clear that in this period this plain witnessed an increase in human settlement density and the development of a distinct settlement pattern: multiple village-type settlements with discrete cemeteries, located close to water and agricultural land. Ultimately, the research in the Burdur Plain faced also problems with regard to the recognition and definition of local EB phases among which the EB III. — Ralf Vandam, Eva Kaptijn, Jeroen Poblome and Marc Waelkens
The Epipalaeolithic bead assemblage from Pınarbaşı in the Konya Plain provides a unique window on the use of beads in the earliest context yet known from Central Anatolia. The assemblage is largely associated with the inhumation of a single individual who was interred with a variety of possessions including marine shell beads, mostly Dentalium and Nassarius. This article examines the extensive assemblage of marine shell beads that was found in the limited exposure of Pınarbaşı’s earliest levels, including the possible meaning of the objects to these early inhabitants of the Anatolian plateau in the light of similar discoveries in the Levant. Possible reasons for the longevity of longdistance procurement of marine shell – the tradition endured for thousands of years after its initial appearance – in both the Konya Plain and the Levant are discussed, and some of the changes in marine shell use during this period are examined. — Emma Baysal
This paper discusses the identity of King Masaurhisas known from the PORSUK Hieroglyphic Luwian inscription and the related geographical and chronological problems. It will be argued that Masaurhisas was a king of Tuwana and a renewed palaeographic, iconographic, and chronological analysis of the Tuwana inscriptions confirms the traditional sequencing of the Tuwana kings (Muwaharanis I > Warpalawas > Muwaharanis II) and suggests a dating of Masaurhisas after Muwaharanis II, i.e. to the beginning of the 7th c. BC. A discussion of various connected toponyms confirms the necessity of distinguishing between Atuna/Tunna to be located in the vicinity of Bohca and Dunna/Tynna/Zeyve Höyük, where also an explanation will be offered to the hitherto unexplained alternation of Atuna/Tunna. It will be furthermore suggested that the latter one is to be identified with the settlement of Tuna of the KULULU lead strip No. 1. — Zsolt Simon
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