EARLY BRONZE AGE DAGGERS IN CENTRAL ... - Bilkent University

As a background of the developments in the Early Bronze Age, the Late
Chalcolithic will be discussed briefly but the scope of the research on the typology and
the chronology of daggers starts in the Early Bronze Age I (EB I, or alternatively the
Late Chalcolithic, ca. 3200-3000 B.C.) and covers EB II and III, terminating with the
appearance “intermediate” ware at the end of Early Bronze Age IIIb (ca. 2000-1950
B.C). This also coincides with the appearance of the Karum-Kültepe (level II), Old
Assyrian trade colonies in Anatolia along with the written records associated with it.
The greatest challenge one has to face concerning any study in the EBA
Anatolia is the problematic chronological framework of Central Anatolia. There are
several alternative theories and approaches of Low, Middle and High chronologies.
One of the alternative theories is that some scholars suggest that the conventional Near
Eastern oriented approach to the chronology of Anatolia might be partly responsible
for the chronological problems we are facing today. As it will be presented, there are
pottery sequences in Central Anatolia with some possible connections to Southeast
European cultures and the Caucasus region. It seems that the Near Eastern influences
were only visible in the late third millennium. Therefore, it is well worth exploring the
possibility that Anatolia was at the fringes of the traditional Near East and the
Bosporus was not an impenetrable obstacle as apparently once thought. Although
these issues will be further discussed in the chronology chapter, this study will utilize
the more conventional approach of the Middle chronology as much as possible.
At the end of this study, the dagger typology and chronology of the third
millennium B.C. will support the other types of evidence concerning the cultural
makeup of Central Anatolia. The research shows that the dagger typologies and
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