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

A shaft-hole axe hammer; a mace head, the hammer-headed and double-spiral
headed pins present in the archaeological record there indicate that the metallurgy of
Ahlatlıbel belonged to the Pontic sphere, which includes the major part of our Central
Anatolia in our discussion (Yakar, 1985: 34). Some of the daggers discussed above, as
noted, have their parallels in Alaca Höyük, Polatlı and İkiztepe; some of the other
daggers have their parallels in the west, especially in Ovabayındır. The typological
similarity of the dagger from Ahlatlıbel (Cat. No: 2) to a dagger in Ovabayındır (Fig.
12) might suggest contacts between these two sites. Another dagger (Cat. No: 1) in
Ahlatlıbel, which has a close parallel in Karabayır, might support this suggestion. The
stylistic similarity of an Ahlatlıbel dagger to a dagger from Karabayır does not
necessarily indicate a direct contact, but rather reinforces the idea of a land trade route
from the Yortan province to the Elmalı plain, as it was suggested by Stronach by the
distribution of his Type III daggers and the Yortan type wares (Stronach, 1957: 97).
Therefore, it is likely that the Karabayır type dagger might have reached Ahlatlıbel
through Ovabayındır, reinforcing an idea of contact between Ovabayındır and
Ahlatlıbel. This does not mean, however, that the Ovabayindir dagger and the
Karabayır dagger were exported from Central Anatolia nor the dagger typology
arrived to Central Anatolia from the southwest.
Alaca Höyük is an important site for the establishment of dagger typologies in
Central Anatolia. The daggers recovered from the royal graves are well known, yet the
repertoire of publications about these daggers is very limited in scope. There are
unique daggers, such as the iron examples, in addition to more familiar forms and
materials.
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