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.

Located in today’s southern Israel, Tell el Hesi provides archaeologists with important clues to political and social changes in the ancient Near East. Zooarchaeological and stable isotopic analyses were conducted to evaluate shifts in animal husbandry practices during changing socioeconomic and sociopolitical conditions in the southern Levant. During the Early Bronze Age, Tell el Hesi thrived as an agricultural grain producing center for the southern Levant. The acropolis served as both a storage and redistribution center for the inhabitants of Tell el Hesi. Coinciding with the collapse of the southern Levant, Tell el Hesi was abandoned throughout the Middle Bronze Age and Late Bronze Age. Socioeconomic relations collapsed between the southern and northern Levant as foreign cultures swept into the region. The Iron Age and Persian Period represented constant sociopolitical change as Assyrian and Persian armies battled against Egypt for territory and natural resources, using Tell el Hesi as a military outpost and storage facility for soldiers and equipment. Unsystematic excavations at the site make it difficult to interpret how animals were used at Tell el Hesi over time. Zooarchaeological analysis suggests, however, that amidst constant societal changes at Tell el Hesi, the inhabitants of the site used animals in similar ways throughout time. Statistically, there seems to be little difference in the quantity of animal species represented during the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Persian Period. This suggests that the once common specialized pastoralism found in the Early Bronze Age survived into the Persian Period at Tell el Hesi and was an effective herd management strategy for small populations living in ever changing societies. Future excavation and analysis would be able to further assess this hypothesis. The stable isotope results suggest that domesticated animals at Tell el Hesi were consuming both C3 domesticated grain along with C4 wild grasses. Economically significant animals appear to have been foddered within the city boundaries of Tell el Hesi but predominantly grazed in the surrounding foothill area. Wild animals such as deer, gazelle and antelope share similar δ13C values with the domesticated animals at the site.

Every father is the son of a mother. While this would appear to be a commonplace, studies of patrimonialism as a political system in the ancient Near East have rarely considered its implications. Royal women, as objects of exchange and as agents of political action, played a central role in negotiations between Late Bronze Age states and in dynastic struggles within these states. The relative positions of royal men were shaped by their relationships to royal women. / Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations

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In this thesis settlement areas and settlements from the Bronze Age on Gotland are in focus. The island of Gotland in the middle of the Baltic Sea is famous for its rich archaeological remains of monuments and relics from all pre-historic periods, and the Bronze Age (1700-500 BC) especially is well repre- sented. There are nearly a thousand cairns, over 300 stone-ship settings and a large amount of bronze finds, but there are few traits of contemporary settlements. With few exceptions the settlements from all pre-historic periods are in one way “invisible” but during the last decades the context has changed, as has knowledge of the settlements from the Bronze Age. Research published throughout the first ten years of the 21th century offers new and refreshing interpretations concerning settlements and houses from the period in question on both a regional level and in more comprehensive studies across Scandinavia. This is due to continued advances in archaeological methods to see the invisible remains however many of the sites are discovered in exploitation-excavations. In a smaller scale this is also true for Gotland and during the last decade there are scattered finds of houses from the period in the shape of post-holes, hearths and cooking pits. The situation on the island is not to expect larger ex- ploitations followed by excavations so we have to test other ways to look for the settlement areas and settlements. In this study I therefor examine if there are any relations to the visible, in first hand cont- emporary types of monuments such as burnt mounds, cairns, stone ship settings and finds of bronzes, to sites seen as possible settlement areas from the Bronze Age. In this context I also have to consider the remains from the early Iron Age, foremost the visible remains of fossilised fields and ancient forts. The theoretical framework is a hermeneutic approach in the study of the relations of each cont- emporary types of monuments contextualized with possible settlements. As Gotland is an island I have to relate to the meaning of landscape and islands. To get closer to the society and the social orga- nisation, my aim is also to come closer to the people who lived their daily lives on Gotland during the Bronze Age and to consider the question of the chiefdoms and the social organisation.

A log-coffin excavated in the early nineteenth century proved to be well enough preserved in the early twenty-first century for the full armoury of modern scientific investigation to give its occupants and contents new identity, new origins and a new date. In many ways the interpretation is much the same as before: a local big man buried looking out to sea. Modern analytical techniques can create a person more real, more human and more securely anchored in history. This research team shows how.