Underwater excavations of a Late Bronze Age shipwreck at Uluburun, Turkey recovered a combined 475 oxhide and plano-convex discoid copper ingots. While the hoard of ingots excavated at Uluburun brings the total number of copper ingots from the Late Bronze Age to over 1000, interestingly, only one ingot mold from the that period has been identified. Scholars have speculated over the means behind the creation of these ingots for decades, but with a relative absence of archaeological molds the most promising method of reaching any conclusions as to the types of molds used in antiquity seems to be experimentation. Experimental archaeology, has, in recent years been responsible for many breakthroughs in how the past is viewed. In the face of an overwhelming disparity of copper ingot molds from the Late Bronze Age, trials designed around testing different mold materials and casting techniques have the potential to determine, with relative certainty, how copper ingots were cast over 3000 years ago. This thesis examines the possible materials used to create copper ingot molds through a study of their prevalence in antiquity and also details experiments in which these materials were used, in concert with different casting techniques, to create copper ingots. The results of these experiments are combined with analyses of the Uluburun ingots in an effort to bring some closure to the debate surrounding copper ingot molds in the Late Bronze Age.

During the fall of 1973, the newly formed (American) Institute of Nautical Archaeology conducted its first systematic underwater survey of the southwestern coast of Turkey with the goal of locating the first shipwreck to be subsequently excavated by the Institute. Of the 18 wreck sites identified during the survey, a site off Sheytan Deresi (Devil’s Creek) proved to be the one that attracted George Bass, director of the survey, as most meriting further study. During the excavation that followed in September and October 1975, the site produced a number of complete and fragmentary ceramic vessels that formed the main artifact assemblage. Although the ceramic vessels brought to light at Sheytan Deresi have been studied by George Bass, Roxani Margariti and others since the 1975 excavation, locating precise parallels for the assemblage proved a difficult task and resulted in a less than full understanding of the site. The following thesis represents a renewed effort to answer a number of questions still surrounding the Sheytan Deresi site. In addition to expanding the extensive search for parallels undertaken by Bass and Margariti, recent research has involved a number of scientific analyses, including petrographic analysis of the ceramic assemblage, luminescence dating of ceramic fragments, and elemental examination of the fabric through neutron activation analysis and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The use of three-dimensional modeling has been adopted for the purposes of site interpretation. Although the impact of this more holistic approach cannot be entirely foreseen at this time, a number of interesting hypotheses regarding the site can now be suggested. It appears that the ceramic assemblage, which is now conclusively of a single origin, may be of a specialized maritime nature, and likely belongs to the Middle Bronze Age, reminiscent of, but entirely similar to, regional types of Anatolian and Cretan vessels. These tentative conclusions, as well as an examination of the site itself, suggest that the (Minoanizing) ceramic assemblage of Sheytan Deresi stood witness to a fairly small Middle Bronze Age coastal trading vessel that capsized rounding a dangerous cape, not far from its point of origin. We are still not in a position to fully comprehend the wrecking event that took place at Sheytan Deresi, but we are now firmly on course towards reaching that objective.

Although it is accepted that Phoenician colonization occurred on Sardinia by the 9th century B.C., it is possible that contact between Sardinia‟s indigenous population and the Levantine region occurred in the Late Bronze Age (LBA). Eastern LBA goods found on the island are copper oxhide ingots and Aegean pottery. Previously, it has been suggested that Mycenaeans were responsible for bringing the eastern goods to Sardinia, but the presence of Aegean pottery shards does not confirm the presence of Mycenaean tradesmen. Also, scholars of LBA trade have explained the paucity of evidence for a Mycenaean merchant fleet. Interpretations of two LBA shipwrecks, Cape Gelidonya and Uluburun, indicate that eastern Mediterranean merchants of Cypriot or Syro-Canaanite origin, transported large quantities of oxhide ingots from the Levant towards the west. It remains possible that similar itinerant merchants conducted ventures bringing eastern goods to Sardinia while exploring the western Mediterranean. Trade in eastern goods may have stimulated the advancement that occurred in Nuragic culture in the LBA, resulting in the emergence of an elite social stratum in the Nuragic society. Archaeological evidence, such as elitist burials and increasingly complex architecture, supports the idea of cultural change due to internal competition. This „peer-polity‟ effect may have been incited because of limited accessibility to the exotic eastern goods and the „ownership‟ to the rights of this exchange.

Kinet H&ouml / y&uuml / k with its 3.3 ha size, is multi-period site located on the iskenderun Gulf of Eastern Cilicia. The research subject is: Middle ronze II (1800-1600 .C) burnt uilding complex located in the east terrace of the mound. The part of the building that has been exposed is representing the general characteristics of Levantine style monumental architecture of MBII with its 50 m exposure. The primary goal of the thesis is to understand the function of this specific building in its local context and to compare the building with similar building in Anatolia, Syria and the Levant to see the cultural interaction that is visible in the architectural evidence. Thje widely accepted conventions for the mound size and the settlement activity patterns are re-examined in the final chapter on the basis of the contradictory relationship between the size of the settlement and the monumental architecture at Kinet H&ouml / y&uuml / k.

The &Ccedil / ukurova Region (Cilicia) is an alluvial plain enriched by the rivers of Seyhan and Ceyhan, surrounded by the Taurus mountain range in the North and West and the Amanos Mountains in the east / and stretching from the skirts of the Bolkar-Aladag massif to Mediterranean Sea at its southern most extension. The region is thus an inaccessible marginal zone except only reachable through several mountains passes from the Anatolian Plateau or from the sea through the harbour towns. The research subject of this thesis is to evaluate the region and the changes in the settlement pattern, covering the time period from the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1900-1650 B.C.) to the end of Late Bronze Age (ca. 1200 B.C.) by using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to analyse archaeological survey data. Data sets are collected from old and recent archaeological surveys and spatially analysed under a set of parameters (density and proximity) in order to define the habitation patterns throughout the mentioned time periods. An effort was made to challenge the theory that settlement pattern changes were resulted from the impact of the Imperial Hittite policy in the LBA, and some alternative suggestions are presented.

ikiztepe is the largest excavated mound type settlement of prehistoric times in the Black Sea region in Turkey. It is located ca. 55 km northwest of Samsun, 7 km northwest of Bafra and is within the boundary of the present day village of Ikiztepe. The carbonised seeds and fruits secured from the occupation levels of ikiztepe houses dating from Chalcolithic to the Transition period are used to identify the crop processing activities conducted within the domestic units. Areas of fine sieving activity and the storage areas could be detected by the help of the analysis of the archaeobotanical materials. A comparison of the crop processing habits of the occupants of ikiztepe and other Early Bronze Age settlements in Anatolia is also made.

This study is a conclusion of radiocarbon datings which are depend on evaluations of archaeologists or scholars who publishes these datings. So it is very attached to observations of those scholars especially for determining sub-phases of samples which are dated. According to these datings, the radiocarbon story of Anatolian Early Bronze Age starts with a dating from Troia from 3760 cal. BC and ends with a dating from &Ccedil / adirh&ouml / y&uuml / k in 1630 cal. BC. Of course these dates are the lower and higher borders of the 68% probability band. As a result of assessments of all datings it can be said that the beginning of Early Broze Age in Anatolia is started equally more or less in every region at the same time interval that corresponds 3700/3400 BC and continued 800 years approximately. Although error deviation bands overlap onto each other, it is possible to say that the EB2 period of Anatolia ruled between 2800-2400 BC roughly. In this work it can be observed that the ending of the Early Bronze Age in Anatolia generally not ocured simultaneously. Sos H&ouml / y&uuml / k for example in the East Anatolia for example, drawing a very special profile with an ending date 2300 BC for the Early Bronze Age. Some other sites giving results as late as nearly in 18th. and 17th. century BC. For the timing of the end of Early Bronze Age in Anatolia, it can be said that, inequality among the sites are more likely other than regions.

This thesis focuses on late Early Bronze Age metal objects from funeral context from the site Kalinkaya-Toptastepe, dated to the late 4th and 3rd millennium BCE. The site yielded a large number of metal objects from EBA necropolis of the southern slope of Toptastepe, offering an ideal closed assemblage for an archaeometrical analysis to reveal the metalworking technologies of an early small rural community of Central Anatolia. First archaeometrical analysis applied on these objects, however, revealed unexpectedly high amounts of Zinc, which turned out to be not an intentional alloy, but modern contamination due to the electrochemical cleaning, carried out in the 1970s. A second analysis has carried out after cleaning the metal objects with micro-sandblasting technique, to remove the artificial Zn contamination. The accumulated data provided us with important insights into the metal consumption and alloying traditions of a late EBA village community in Central Anatolia, showing the earliest conscious alloys were being applied in small hamlets of the EBA as well. It has been apparent that any pre-Iron Age metal object, revealing Zn in its chemical composition can not be considered as early brass, but clearly a result of modern, ill-advised cleaning application.

Texte remanié de: Dissertation--Philosophische Fakultät--Universität des Saarlandes, 1995. / Bibliogr. p. 9-49 (vol. 2).

Habilitationsschrift--Fachbereich Geschichte und Kulturwissenschaften--Marburg--Philipps-Universität, 2002. / Bibliogr. p. 343-396.