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

millennium. Even starting with the Late Chalcolithic, there were already settlements
with evidence of metallurgical activities, such as the small settlement of Çamlıbel
Tarlası, near Boğazköy. The copper smelting activities are evident at this small
settlement, in some phases semi-permanent, by the presence of pits used for this
purpose (Schoop, 2011). This evidence indicates that the metal resources in Anatolia
were already being exploited by the local inhabitants in the late Chalcolithic. In the
later era, the EBA, it is clear that Anatolia became an important center in the broad
trade networks. Due to the position and the resources of Anatolia in the EBA, the
social change was inevitable.
At the same time, we cannot disregard the possibility of population movements
as a result of climatic, or the socio-cultural changes (e.g. formation of large chiefdoms,
competition for metal resources) which might have caused demographic instability. If
there were migrations, they are likely to be were several waves of migration stretched
out a long period rather than a single mass migration that can be given a specific date.
We need to consider the already existing cultural ties of Anatolia and its own local
culture before we can arrive to any conclusions to explain cultural changes in
Anatolia. The complete demographical replacement of existing cultures in Anatolia is
a very unlikely scenario.
Besides the regions mentioned in the previous sections, the cultural
connections of Central Anatolia can be traced to two additional regions: Southeast
Europe (Balkans) and Caucasia in the northeast.
Southeastern European cultural influences in Anatolia are most clearly
discerned in Alişar, Samsun-Sinop, Amasya and Çorum districts as well as the pottery
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