Networks before Empires: cultural transfers in west and central Anatolia during the Early Bronze Age

541 Pages·2016·43.78 MB·English

by  Atmo Nirjharo

Networks before Empires:
cultural transfers in west and
central Anatolia during the
Early Bronze Age

Michele Massa

A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Institute of Archaeology
University College London

January 2016

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Declaration
I, Michele Massa, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own.
Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has
been indicated in the thesis.

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Abstract
This dissertation offers an analysis of social interaction in west and central Anatolia during the
Early Bronze Age (EBA, c.3200-1950 BC). It aims at identifying potential rationales for and
mechanisms of exchange from the intra-settlement to the interregional scale, within the context
of growing socio-economic and political complexity experienced by the local communities
across the EBA. Through distributional and contextual analysis of a large range of case studies,
this dissertation explores how different products, raw materials, technological knowledge and
cultural behaviours circulated within Anatolia, and does so both by mapping likely flows of
goods and ideas and by analysing the context of artefact use and deposition. It also investigates
how increasing degrees of organization affected patterns of exchange, both at the production
(specialisation, scale and intensity of production) and the circulation stages (presence of
specialised exchange intermediaries, innovations in transport technology, investment in road
infrastructure, control over routes). This research further attempts to reconstruct the structure of
physical and social networks in EBA Anatolia, looking at how topographic and cultural
constraints funnelled movement (and hence interaction) along specific landscape corridors.
Lastly, it explores the role played by rising local elites and the importance of Anatolia’s vast
metal resources in the process of expansion of long-distance exchange networks, which
ultimately allowed the integration of Anatolia within the Near Eastern and Aegean worlds
towards the end of the EBA.

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I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter’d visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp’d on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock’d them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal those words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Percy Bysshe Shelley

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Table of contents
Volume 1
Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... 5
Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................................... 27
Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................... 29
1.1 Research questions and analytical strategies ..................................................................... 31
1.2 The structure of this doctoral dissertation ......................................................................... 32
1.3 The study area ................................................................................................................... 33
1.4 The relative and absolute chronology of the Anatolian Early Bronze Age ....................... 35
1.4.1 Analytical limitations .................................................................................................. 36
1.4.2 The chronological framework of this dissertation ...................................................... 38
1.5 The historical background ................................................................................................. 40
1.5.1 The 3200-2700 BC period .......................................................................................... 40
1.5.2 The 2700-1950 BC period .......................................................................................... 41
1.5.3 The human landscapes of EBA Anatolia .................................................................... 43
1.6 Data collection ................................................................................................................... 44
1.6.1 The nature of the dataset ............................................................................................. 44
1.6.2 Strategies for data collection and management .......................................................... 45
1.7 Data quality assessment..................................................................................................... 46
1.7.1 Archaeological preservation, recovery and visibility ................................................. 46
1.7.2 Intensity of archaeological investigation .................................................................... 46
1.7.3 Accessibility and quality of primary sources .............................................................. 47
1.7.4 Specialist studies ......................................................................................................... 48
Chapter 2. Theoretical frameworks for the study of interaction ................................................. 51
2.1 Defining terms ................................................................................................................... 52
2.1.1 Interaction, exchange and trade .................................................................................. 52
2.1.2 Networks ..................................................................................................................... 56
2.1.2.1 Physical networks ................................................................................................ 57

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2.1.2.2 Social networks .................................................................................................... 59
2.2 The network structure ........................................................................................................ 61
2.3 Mechanisms of interaction ................................................................................................ 65
2.3.1 Meeting places ............................................................................................................ 65
2.3.2 Organisation of interaction ......................................................................................... 65
2.3.4 Diffusion of innovation ............................................................................................... 67
2.3.5 Networks at different scales ........................................................................................ 69
2.3.6 Networks through time ............................................................................................... 71
Chapter 3: Travelling in Early Bronze Age Anatolia .................................................................. 75
3.1 Early Bronze Age transport technology ............................................................................ 75
3.1.1 Wheeled carts .............................................................................................................. 75
3.1.2 Donkeys ...................................................................................................................... 76
3.1.3 Horses ......................................................................................................................... 77
3.1.4 Longboats and sailboats .............................................................................................. 78
3.1.5 Cargo capabilities, costs and travel ranges ................................................................. 79
3.2 Roads and overland routes in EBA Anatolia ..................................................................... 80
3.2.1 Environmental constraints to overland movement ..................................................... 83
3.2.2 Cultural elements affecting overland movement ........................................................ 84
3.2.3 Reconstructing Early Bronze Age land routes ............................................................ 85
3.3 Maritime routes in the EBA Aegean and Anatolia ............................................................ 88
3.3.1 Environmental constraints to maritime travel ............................................................. 89
3.3.2 Reconstructing Early Bronze Age maritime routes .................................................... 91
3.4 Estimating journey times ................................................................................................... 91
3.5 Chapter conclusions .......................................................................................................... 93
Chapter 4: Small-scale interaction – a perspective from two EBA village communities ........... 95
4.1 Demircihöyük .................................................................................................................... 96
4.1.1 The settlement ............................................................................................................. 97
4.1.2 The necropolis ............................................................................................................ 98
4.1.3 Social organisation at Demircihöyük .......................................................................... 99

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