Current Research at Kültepe-Kanesh: An Interdisciplinary and Integrative Approach to Trade Networks, Internationalism, and Identity
Synopsis
The material remains and the more than 23,500 cuneiform tablets unearthed at the site of Kültepe (ancient Kanesh) shed light on social, political, and economic aspects of the Middle Bronze age (ca. 2000–1700 years BC) in central Anatolia, but also in upper Mesopotamia. The rich textual record provides ample information on a very sophisticated supraregional market economy, representing one of the best-documented historical cases of long-distance trade in the ancient world. Although the site was first excavated in 1893, followed by intermittent excavations between 1906 and 2005, modern scientific and interdisciplinary excavations have only been undertaken since 2006. The new scientific research at Kültepe-Kanesh has already begun amassing new data and providing us with a unique opportunity to generate new perspectives and to challenge previous models and assumptions about, for example, trade, colonialism, ethnicity, art, religious ideas, identity, and patterns of social, political, and economic organization in the Near East during the Middle Bronze Age. A primary goal of this special volume is to integrate the work of scholars in archaeology, archaeometry, bioarchaeology, geoarchaeology, and history to develop a new synthetic research paradigm for investigating issues of trade, colonialism, ethnicity, art, identity, and urbanization in the Near East in a unified fashion.
Chapters
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Table of Contents
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IntroductionIntegrating current research at Kültepe-Kanesh
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1. Kültepe-Kanesh in the Early Bronze Age
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2. The Lower Town of KültepeUrban Layout and Population
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3. The Size of Kanesh and the Demography of Early Middle Bronze Age Anatolia
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4. Considerations on the Assyrian Settlement at Kanesh
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5. Kanesh after the Assyrian Colony PeriodCurrent Research at Kültepe and the Question of the End of the Bronze Age Settlement
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6. An Archaeological Survey in the Vicinity of Kültepe, Kayseri Province, Turkey
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7. The Old Assyrian Glyptic StyleAn Investigation of a Seal Style, Its Owners, and Place of Production
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8. Behind the ScenesA Look at Seal Carvers as Artists and Artisans in the Old Assyrian Period
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9. Metal Technology, Organization, and the Evolution of Long-Distance Trade at Kültepe
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10. Human Remains from Kültepe-KaneshPreliminary Results of the Old Assyrian Burials from the 2005–2008 Excavations
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11. Preliminary Archaeobotanical Investigations of Plant Production, Consumption, and Trade at Bronze Age Kültepe-Kanesh
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12. Food and Ethnicity at Kültepe-KaneshPreliminary Zooarchaeological Evidence
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Concluding RemarksKanesh, the City
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Indexes
