Ancient Turkey

Students of antiquity often see ancient Turkey as a bewildering array of cultural complexes. Ancient Turkeybrings together in a coherent account the diverse and often fragmented evidence, both archaeological and textual, that forms the basis of our knowledge of the development of Anatolia from the earliest arrivals to the end of the Iron Age. Much new material has recently been excavated and unlike Greece, Mesopotamia, and its other neighbours, Turkey has been poorly served in terms of comprehensive, up-to-date and accessible discussions of its ancient past. Ancient Turkeyis a much needed resource for students and scholars, providing an up-to-date account of the widespread and extensive archaeological activity in Turkey. Covering the entire span before the Classical period, fully illustrated with over 160 images and written in lively prose, this text will be enjoyed by anyone interested in the archaeology and early history of Turkey and the ancient Near East.

Introduction 1. Environmental Setting 2. The Age of Experiment (11,0005500 BC). The beginnings of settled life. Emergence of agriculture and stockbreeding. Symbolic complexity and ritual activity 3. The Transformation of Anatolia (55003200 BC). Move towards socio-political complexity. Intercultural Contact: the Balkans, Syro-Mesopotamia 4. Metalsmiths and Migrants (32002000 BC). The emergence of élites. Metallurgy and its impact. The process of urbanisation. Transhumance and agriculture 5. Internationalism, Merchants and City-states (20001700 BC). Texts and trade: early historical Anatolia. Powerful polities. The Indo-Europeanisation of Anatolia. 6. The Period of Hittite Domination (17001200BC). Frontiers and boundaries aspects of historical geography. Society and government. Warfare. Art and crafts. "City of a thousand temples'- religious worship in the Hittite homeland 7. Neo-Hittite Principalities in Southern Anatolia (1200-700 BC). Causes and consequences of the collapse of the Hittite Empire. The Hittite Legacy at Carchemish, Sam'al, Malatya, and Karatepe. Arameanization. The rise of Assyria and its interaction with southern Anatolia 8. Urartu and Eastern Anatolia in the Iron Age (1200-600 BC). Antecedants of Urartu in eastern Anatolia. The Kingdom of Bianili. Kimmerian and Skythian incursions. The Medes 9. The Aegean Coast in the early Iron Age (1200-600 BC). The "Trojan War" as an historical event. Greek migrations and settlements. 10. Phyrgia and Central Anatolia in the Iron Age (1200-650 BC). Central Anatolian cultural divisions in the early Iron Age. Gordion. The Phyrgian Legacy 11. Lydia (650-550 BC). Sardis. The Lydian Legacy. 12. The Achaemenid conquest and Conclusions