Analysis of specialized Iron Age Wares at Kaman-Kalehöyük

Abstract

During the Iron Age, after the collapse of the Hittite Empire, groups in central Anatolia reorganized and developed new forms of political economy (Yakar 2006). As yet, the nature of these inland political economies, their scale, and their interactions are poorly understood. The relative importance of trade vs. emulation among polities provides one means to evaluate both the nature of local political economic structures and relationships between polities in central Anatolia. In this paper we explore the ceramic evidence for the changes in types and scale of interaction during the Iron Age at the site of Kaman-Kalehöyük (Figure 1a). Kaman is one of several sites currently being excavated that were continuously occupied through this political and economic transition; it is situated between the major Anatolian Iron Age polities (Phrygia and Urartu), providing a measure of the power of local vs. non-local political economies. Ceramics, as one of the most ubiquitous items of material culture that was both locally made and traded, provide a useful avenue for investigating how Kaman-Kalehöyük interacted with its neighbours in the Iron Age.