Keywords
Central-South Anatolia
Middle Bronze Age
Old Hittite Kingdom
Late Bronze Age I
Ceramic Seriation
How to Cite
Abstract
This study examines the ceramic assemblage recovered from a stratigraphically continuous sondage excavated in the southwestern sector of Konya Karahöyük, where excavations resumed in 2022. The approximately 3 × 3m sondage, reaching a depth of 3.20 m, yielded 597 ceramic sherds, which were classified into four groups corresponding to successive occupational phases dating from the late Middle Bronze Age to the beginning of the Late Bronze Age I. Typological analysis indicates an assemblage dominated by bowls, including simple-rimmed, carinated, and inward-turned forms, together with long-necked jars, cups, beakers, and cooking pots with double-crescent handles. The deepest level also produced distinctive prestige vessels, including a trefoil jug and a wheel-made chalice. The assemblage has been evaluated through comparison with ceramic repertoires from Central and Southern Anatolia. This material is significant not only because it belongs to a period corresponding to the decline of major Middle Bronze Age centres but also because it demonstrates the urban continuity of Konya Karahöyük. Moreover, it represents the first systematically excavated ceramic assemblage of this period from the Konya Plain. The ceramic repertoire presented here provides an important reference for establishing the ceramic chronology of southern Central Anatolia from the late Middle Bronze Age to the early phases of the Late Bronze Age I.
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