Archeology

II. Philipos'un ölümünden sonra tahta geçen oğlu Makedonya Kralı Büyük İskender (III. Alexandros), on üç yıl (İ.Ö. 336-323) tahtta kalmış ve düzenlediği askeri seferler ile ülkesini İmparatorluk düzeyine çıkartmıştır. Büyük İskender'in generalleri tarafından bölgelere ayrılarak yönetilen İmparatorluk, Uzakdoğu'ya kadar yayılmıştır. Büyük İskender'in askeri seferleri, siyasi yönden olduğu kadar kültürel yönden de çok önemli sonuçlar doğurmuştur. Çünkü kültürel olarak Antik Hellen Uygarlığı, Mısır, Mezopotamya, İran ve Hint uygarlıklarıyla etkileşerek İ.Ö. 330-30 yılları arasında yeni bir uygarlığı yani Hellenistik Uygarlığı oluşturmuştur. Klasik dönemin bitişi ve Hellenistik dönemin başlaması (İ.Ö. 330) ile seramik sanatında yeni form ve üsluplar ortaya çıkmıştır. Beyaz astarla kaplı, çeşitli renklerde boyanmış kabartma bezemeli seramikler, Hadra vazoları, kurşun astarlı vb. seramiklerin çıktığı Hellenistik dönemde en iyi bilinen gruplardan biri kalıp yapımı kaselerdi...

Ivory carving, which is thought to enter Anatolia as a result of highly advanced commercial and cultural relations of the 1st Millennia BC, spread to a wider area and every region created their own school once it became a tradable product. The ivory artefacts found in Urartian settlements such as Altıntepe, Toprakkale and Karmir Blur suggest that Urartu was not indifferent to ‘Ivory Artefact Carving’, which is also known to exist in the 1st Millennia BC in Syria, Iran, Assyria, Phoenicia, Phrygia, and some of the Neo-Hittite Kingdoms. Technical competence seen in these artefacts brings up the question of whether they came to the Urartian lands via commercial activities such as import and export between these small states or it was Urartu’s own development of turning this art into local production.

The subject of this study is ‘Evolution, Geographical Distribution and Dating of Bottle Shaped Forms in the Context of Relations between Anatolia and its Southern Neighbors’.
The main purpose of this study is to reveal the evolution, geographical distribution and dating of bottle shaped forms which are also called ‘Syrian Bottles’. These bottles are found in remains of Early Bronze Age and Middle Bronze Age settlements and it is known that some of them produced locally and some of are imported. In addition to this, it is pointed out that these pottery forms had special areas of utilization. Also, origins and from where and in what ways did these pottery forms brought in Anatolia has researched.
To examine these pottery forms, ‘bottle’ shaped forms in remains of Early Bronze Age settlements in Anatolia were determined and categorized typologically. Main principle in categorizing these forms was the ability to stand by them on a plane and they separated according to this principle into two main sections. Under these sections, these potteries are sorted according to form characteristics and ornaments from the simplest to more advance as subsections. To further investigate this case, some bottle shaped pottery which are stored in ‘İstanbul Arkeoloji Müzeleri-Eski Şark Eserleri Müzesi’ storage with unknown origins are thoroughly examined, photographed, detailed drawings are made, and these findings added to typological study.
A distribution map and graphic has prepared in order to examine the distribution of pottery form which is one of the main questions of this study.

3rd millennium BC is a very important period in which relations between Anatolia and Syria-Mesopotamia intensified and impacted the development of civilizations directly. With these relations, trade activities increased and new pottery vessel types resulting from intercultural interaction appeared. One of these vessel types consists of 'Bottle' shaped vessels used for keeping and transporting liquid materials. In this period Syrian Bottles, which are distinguished from these vessel types by their form and labeling, have been a noteworthy group and in this context the issue of their import from N. Syria to Anatolia and why they were labeled as such has often been discussed. However, what is essentially thought-provoking about the Anatolian bottle shape repertoire is that relevant publications discuss these vessels using general definitions such as 'Bottle', 'Syrian bottle' or 'Alabastron' without establishing a typology within the group; that is, whether Anatolia had a bottle form of its own. A secondary question about these vessel forms that are generally considered to be imported is whether Anatolia was familiar with bottle shaped vessels before Syrian bottles, or whether it also had original forms within its own vessel repertoire that were used together with the aforementioned imported forms.

The Bronze Age in Anatolia was a turning point in which new vessel forms appeared. Archaeological studies have shown that many innovations sourced from the interaction between Anatolia and Syria-Mesopotamia were transferred between the regions in this period, particular-ly through trade dynamics. One of these innovations consisted of bottle-shaped vessels, which comprised one of the vessel types used to carry and keep liquids. This type of vessels are fre-quently encountered in EBA and MBA settlements in Anatolia. Within this vessel group, a special vessel group called ‘Syrian Bottles,’ which are distinguished from other bottle-shaped ves-sels by their forms, uses and names, is quite noteworthy. Discussions about this vessel type often consider their import to Anatolia from Northern Syria and the reasons for their naming. This article discusses the occurrence of Syrian bottles in Anatolia, where they appeared as a result of long-distance cultural interaction through dynamics such as trade in the Bronze Age.
In this context, we will discuss some questions such as: Was the vessel group called Syrian bottles indeed an innovation carried to Anatolia from the south in the Bronze Age? How was the distribution of this form in Anatolia?
Did bottle shaped vessels begin to be used in Anatolia through the interaction with the vessel group called Syrian bottles, main production center of which is considered to have been North-ern Syria in the Bronze Age and which was distributed across a wide area?

Urartu had significant rock-carving works, including a series of carvings on massive rock formations in various V-shaped, U-shaped, sickle-shaped, circular, and channel forms. Research has shown that these "signs" were not made randomly, but within a standard framework and according to certain measurements. These carvings were initially called "Monumental Rock Signs. " Although there are some other signs dated to the Hittite and Late Hittite periods that have been called rock signs in the literature, these more identifiable signs-which fit certain standards and consist of geometric shapes-appeared only in the first millennium. These signs are observed predominantly in the areas around the Lake Van basin; in other words, at sites within the Urartian region. On the one hand, this distribution suggests that almost all such rock signs emerged from Urartu; however, this type of rock carving also appears in certain areas within the land of the Phrygians (the western neighbors of Urartu), raising the question of the exact origins and interactions of these signs. This essay will discuss the interaction between these two regions within the framework of the rock signs found in the Urartian region and data from Hamamkaya and Zey Necropolis in the Phrygian region.