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

2010:11). Excavations between 2003 and 2010 revealed 276 graves belonging to three
different levels. Based on the comparative chronology, a large number of the graves
came from the Level III and Level II are dated to the second half of the third
millennium B.C. The final level of the cemetery, Level I, is dated to the very
beginning of the second millennium B.C. (Yıldırım, 2010: 11). Although there is a
small number of a simple earthen grave, the majority of the graves are of pithos type,
in addition to some cist graves. A very small number of intramural graves outside of
the cemetery area are also found in the settlement area, but most of these burials
underneath the houses belong to children (Yıldırım, 2010: 11).
The excavators of the cemetery state that the cemetery was divided according
to the social status of the individual tomb owner. The higher status individuals were
buried in stone lined cist graves on the northeast facing the slope of the cemetery
(Yıldırım, 2010: 17). These graves, however, did not offer rich array of grave goods
since they were heavily looted. These larger graves are placed in the second level of
the cemetery.
The remaining grave offerings from the Resuloğlu cemetery are similar in
character to those found in Alaca Höyük, Kalınkaya, Horoztepe, Mahmatlar,
Yenihayat, Oymaağaç and Balıbağ (Yıldırım, 2010: 11). The major contribution of the
site to our understanding of the EBA in Anatolia is the presence of a large number of
graves belonging to what seems to be a “middle class” of the inhabitants along with
the EBA settlement itself (Yıldırım, 2010: 11).
Resuloğlu’s apparent place in the central Anatolian cultural sphere is also
evident from the burial rituals performed during, and/or after the burial had taken
36