Western Anatolia in the 2nd Millennium BC: Local Culture and Foreign Contacts
Final Report Abstract
The project's primary objective was to present various aspects of the culture of western Anatolia in the 2nd millennium BC, demonstrating the impact of both local developments and foreign influences. As set out in the proposal, the research focused on the western part of Western Anatolia, a region defined here as 'Aegean Anatolia'. This was the first project to systematically address this area during the Late Bronze Age. The analysis concentrated on specific environmental conditions, written sources, settlements, cemeteries, settlement structure, ceramics, small finds, religious practices and cults, the economy, socio-political structures and exchange networks. The research revealed an area dominated by powerful political forces. This was evident from the available written sources, such as Hittite chronicles, letters and treaties, Luwian inscriptions and the Amarna correspondence, and can now also be supported by archaeological evidence, particularly from the 15th-13th centuries BC. The studies carried out as part of this project have produced a much clearer picture of the political entities of Arzawa, Mira, Seha and Wilusa. One of the most important questions investigated was Aegean Anatolia's external relations with the Aegean (i.e. the Minoan and later Mycenaean cultural sphere), the eastern Mediterranean and central Anatolia. Foreign contacts increased significantly in the 2nd millennium BC due to the growing importance of maritime transport, as well as socio-political and economic interactions. This is evidenced in Aegean Anatolia by the distribution of foreign pottery, weapons, jewelry, seals, and other objects. A close look at the data has revealed some surprising results. The contacts in this study exhibited unique patterns of interaction, both in terms of time and space. Some of these patterns mirrored the well-known networks connecting other Aegean regions and the eastern Mediterranean, while others diverged from these established patterns. However, the most significant outcome is that the centres of Aegean Anatolia were not only major consumers of luxury goods and other imports, but also played an active role in exchange networks, mediating between the Eastern Mediterranean, Anatolia, and the northern and western Aegean regions. In this respect, the role of Aegean Anatolia had been underestimated in previous research. The project has resulted in important publications and events.
Publications
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Of Networks and Knives: A Bronze Age Knife with Herringbone Decoration from the Citadel of Kaymakçı. Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 49/2, 197‒214
M. Pieniążek, C. H. Roosevelt, C. Luke, P. Pavúk
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PAST AND PRESENT:. MNHMH / MNEME. Past and Memory in the Aegean Bronze Age (2019, 4, 9), 523-531. American Geophysical Union (AGU).
GIRELLA, Luca; PAVÚK, Peter & PIENIĄŻEK, Magda
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Trojan Archery: Arrowheads from the 3rd and 2nd Millennium BC. In: S. Blum ‒ T. Efe ‒ T. L. Kienlin ‒ E. Pernicka (Hrsg.), From Past to Present. Studies in Memory of Manfred O. Korfmann (Bonn 2020) 33–43
M. Pieniążek
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Troy VI–VII and its Place in the Bronze Age World. In: M. Pieniążek et al. (Hrsg.), Troia 1987–2012: Grabungen und Forschungen III. Troia VI bis Troia VII: Ausgehende mittlere und späte Bronzezeit. Studia Troica Monographien 7 (Bonn 2020, erschien 2021), 1080–1127
P. Pavúk and M. Pieniążek
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Kleinfunde aus Metall, Glas/Fayence, Ton und Stein. In: M. Pieniążek ‒ P. Pavúk ‒ D. Thumm-Doğrayan ‒ E. Pernicka (Hrsg.), Troia 1987– 2012: Grabungen und Forschungen III. Troia VI bis Troia VII: Ausgehende mittlere und späte Bronzezeit. Studia Troica Monographien 7 (Bonn 2020, erschien 2021) 582–1078
M. Pieniążek
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Foreign Impact and Local Creativity. The case of Late Bronze Age Seals from Aegean Anatolia,” Studia Hercynia XXVI/2 (2022) 7–38
M. Pieniążek
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Foreign, local, multicultural: 2nd Millennium BC seals from Western Anatolia. Conference organised by N. Stampolidis, C. Kopanias, C. Maner und I. Fappas, Nostoi II. Traveling in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea + Inland Routes from the Early Bronze to the End of the Early Iron Ages
M. Pieniążek
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Leaving Homer Behind. Changing Research Perspectives on Troy and Western Anatolia during the Late Bronze Age. In: R. Laffinuer ‒ M. Perna (Hrsg.): IXNH. Walking in the footsteps of the Pioneer of Aegean Archaeology ‒ in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Heinrich Schliemann. Proceedings of the 19th International Aegean Conference (Aegaeum), Oristano 9‒15th May 2022 (zum Druck angenommen)
M. Pieniążek; P. Pavúk
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Troia, Schliemann und Tübingen. Katalog der Ausstellung im Museum der Universität Tübingen 28.10.2022– 30.04.2023 (Tübingen 2022)
E. Seidl, S. Blum, M. Pieniążek, M. La Corte
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Western Anatolia during the Late Bronze Age: A Cultural Landscape on the Search for Identity. EAA Session organised by S. Menelaou und O. Kouka, Borderlands, Interaction Zones, and Bounded Spaces in the Prehistoric Eastern Mediterranean: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Reconstruction of Connectivity
M. Pieniążek
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Western Anatolia and its Neighbours: Communication and Exchange during the Late Bronze Age. In: Proceedings of the symposium "WANAT: Western Anatolia in the second Millennium BCE. Recent Developments and Future Prospects”, Istanbul 14.–15. April 2021" Organisiert von C. Roosevelt, M. Pieniążek and P. Pavúk
M. Pieniążek
