AN IMPORTANT BRONZE AGE SETTLEMENT IN INLAND WESTERN ANATOLIA: INTENSIVE SURVEY PROJECT
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2021-04-03

The Eskişehir and Kütahya provinces survey project (Turkey), started in 2017, has three main aims: (a) identifying previously-un-known settlements in the western Anatolian highlands; (b) investigating prehistoric metal mining activities; (c) shed light on the political geography of the region during the Middle and Late Bronze Ages. As part of this effort, we intensively surveyed the mounded settlement of Tavşanlı Höyük (Kütahya). The systematic collection of archaeological materials on the mound itself and on the surrounding plain indicates an occupied area exceeding 40ha. Further-more, geoarchaeological corings carried out in the plain and radiocarbon analysis from charred materials suggest the existence of a lower settlement already in the middle Early Bronze Age.The preliminary results presented here indicate that Tavşanlı Höyük was one of the biggest centres in the region during the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC, due to its strategic location on a major route between the Aegean coast and the central Anatolian plateau, as well as its proximity to important copper and silver deposits.


Author(s): Türkteki, Murat - Fidan, Erkan (Bilecik Şeyh Edebali University)