Sagona A., Zimansky P. Ancient Turkey

Routledge, 2009. — 432 p. — (Routledge World Archaeology). — ISBN: 978–0–415–48123–6.Students of antiquity often see ancient Turkey as a bewildering array of cultural complexes. Ancient Turkey brings 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 Turkey is 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.The land and its water.
Climate and vegetation.
Earliest arrivals: The Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic (1,000,000–9600 BC).
Lower Palaeolithic (ca. 1,000,000–250,000 BC).
Middle Palaeolithic (ca. 250,000–45,000 BC).
Upper Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic (ca. 45,000–9600 BC).
Rock art and ritual.
A new social order: Pre-Pottery Neolithic (9600–7000 BC).
The Neolithic: A synergy of plants, animals, and people.
New perspectives on the Neolithic from Turkey.
Beginnings of sedentary life.
Collapse of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic.
Concluding remarks.
Anatolia transformed: From Pottery Neolithic through Middle Chalcolithic (7000–4000 BC).
Pottery Neolithic (ca. 7000–6000 BC).
Spread of farming into Europe 122
Early and Middle Chalcolithic (ca. 6000–4000 BC).
Metalsmiths and migrants: Late Chalcolithic and the Early Bronze Age (ca. 4000–2000 BC).
Late Chalcolithic (ca. 4000–3100 BC).
Early Bronze Age (ca. 3100–2000 BC).
Wool, milk, traction, and mobility: Secondary products revolution.
Burial customs.
Foreign merchants and native states: Middle Bronze Age (2000–1650 BC).
The Karum Kanesh and the Assyrian trading network.
Middle Bronze Age city-states of the Anatolian plateau.
Central Anatolian material culture of the Middle Bronze Age.
Indo-Europeans in Anatolia and the origins of the Hittites.
Middle Bronze Age Anatolia beyond the horizons of literacy.
The end of the trading colony period.
Anatolia’s empire: Hittite domination and the Late Bronze Age (1650–1200 BC).
The rediscovery of the Hittites.
Historical outline.
The imperial capital.
Hittite sites in the empire’s heartland.
Yazılıkaya and Hittite religion.
Hittite architectural sculpture and rock reliefs.
Hittite glyptic and minor arts.
Fringes of empire: Hittite archaeology beyond the plateau.
Legacy of the Hittites: Southern Anatolia in the Iron Age (1200–600 BC).
The concept of an Iron Age.
Assyria and the history of the Neo-Hittite principalities.
Key Neo-Hittite sites.
A kingdom of fortresses: Urartu and eastern Anatolia in the Iron Age (1200–600 BC).
Early Urartu, Nairi, and Biainili.
Historical developments in imperial Biainili, the Kingdom of Van.
Fortresses, settlements, and architectural practices.
Smaller artefacts and decorative arts.
Language and writing in Urartu.
Urartian religion and cultic activities.
Demise.
New cultures in the west: The Aegean coast, Phrygia, and Lydia (1200–550 BC).
The Trojan War as prelude.
The Aegean coast.
The Phrygians.
The Lydians.
The Achaemenid conquest and its antecedents.