New Assessments of the Middle and Late Bronze Age Pottery Recovered in the First Excavation Period at Tilmen Höyük

Year 2019, Issue: 22, 101 - 144, 11.10.2019

Aslıhan Yurtsever

Abstract

This article presents the Middle and Late
Bronze Age pottery of Tilmen Höyük unearthed
during the first excavation season.
The pottery is classified in 15 different groups
based on surface colour and temper of clay,
with eight groups belonging to the Middle
Bronze Age and the remaining seven to the
Late Bronze Age. Focusing on various aspects
of pottery at Tilmen Höyük and its neighbouring
contemporaneous settlements, the study
expands our knowledge of the second millennium
BC ceramic assemblages and traditions.
The pottery repertoire of Tilmen Höyük finds
its closest typological parallels in the adjacent
settlements of northern Syria. The existence of
prominent structures at Tilmen Höyük, represented
by a strongly fortified palace and temple,
highlights the settlement as a significant
city that may have served as the centre of a
kingdom.

Keywords

Tilmen, Middle Bronze Age, Late Bronze Age, Pottery

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