INTRODUCTION: THE LUWIANS AND THEIR CONTEMPORARIES IN LATE BRONZE AGE WESTERN ASIA MINOR
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 02/04/2021

Whilst we know of numerous Late Bronze Age (LBA; c. 1700-1200 BC) sites, including a number of very sizable ones, in western Asia Minor, remarkably little archaeological fieldwork has focused on uncovering these settlements and establishing their role vis-a-vis their surroundings. Contemporary texts indicate that the region was of major political and military importance, and that individual  states  and  federations  at  times  challenged  Hittite  hegemony  over  Anatolia.  Yet  most  text  books  largely  ignore  the  region’s importance and consider it as a conflict zone between the two great powers to its west (Mycenaean Greece) and east (Hatti). To overcome the rigid Eurocentric paradigms at the core of Aegean prehistory, a discipline conceived by Arthur Evans a century ago, it has recently been suggested to use “Luwian” as an umbrella term for the petty states and various ethnic groups which populated western Asia Minor during the Middle and Late Bronze Age. This session now aims to contextualize the region’s role and the interactions with its neighbours – including Greece, central Anatolia, the Levant, Egypt, Cyprus, and the Balkan. By scrutinizing  the  archaeological  and  philological  evidence  from  all  sides  of  the  Aegean  as  well  as  the  Balkan,  and  by  discussing  fieldwork  results  and  new  interpretations  of  available  evidence,  the  session  aims  to  present  western  Anatolia  not  simply  as  a  buffer zone between other regions and states, but as a region with its own socio-political and cultural developments, that was fully integrated and played an active role in the LBA eastern Mediterranean.


Author(s): Zangger, Eberhard (Luwian Studies)