Staff
Miss Mai Tsuneki
(email at mai.tsuneki@durham.ac.uk)
Research Topic
The material culture of Bronze Age Anatolia in its regional and socio-political context
Abstract
The objective of my research is to examine bronze objects from Bronze Age Anatolia. During the Early Bronze Age, earlier arsenical copper was gradually replaced by tin bronze in use. In this period, Anatolia still falls within the category of prehistory. In the Middle Bronze Age, in which the historical period of Anatolia began, an alloy of copper and tin, i.e. bronze, was an essential metal in common use. The Middle Bronze Age of Anatolia is known as the “Assyrian Colony” period in historical terms in Anatolia. In other words, this period is also called “Old Assyrian” at the site of Ashur itself, a city-state in north Mesopotamia. This period had been traded by Assyrian merchants from Ashur in Mesopotamia and Kültepe in Anatolia. One of important trading goods was tin. Tin was necessary for alloying it with copper to make bronze at that time. Thus, tin was in great demand for making bronze not only in early 2nd millennium Mesopotamia but also in early 2nd millennium Anatolia.
My study is focusing on enlarging the extent of my research beyond central Anatolia. Accordingly, contemporary bronze objects from sites in Syria and in northern Mesopotamia, and if possible in western Turkey and in trans-Caucasia, will be examined. The interaction between these regions in the Bronze Age can be clarified in a point of view of stylistic similarities or differences of bronze objects. Furthermore, it seems possible to investigate the socio-political context at the time as the research progresses.
