An Updated Assessment on Western Anatolian Middle Bronze Age Chronology in Light of Excavations of the Izmir Region

Year 2013, Issue: 12, 37 - 57, 01.06.2013

Ayşegül Aykurt

Abstract

The use of writing was limited to central Anatolia during the Middle Bronze Age. Consequently, the chronologies of regions in which writing had not been introduced were established according to stratigraphically retrieved findings. Until recently, the stratification determined from the Troia excavations has been taken as the basis for all Bronze Ages in Western Anatolia. As suggested by Carl Blegen, the settlement strata of Troia IV to VIIa dated to the 2nd millennium BC. According to Blegen, settlement IV dated to the years 2050-1900 BC, settlement V to 1900-1800 BC, settlement VI to 1800-1300 and settlement VIIa to 1300-1260 BC Blegen 1963: 174 . Settlement VI, which extends over a long time, is further sub-categorized into the early, middle and late periods. Peter Pavuk suggested an approximate timeline of 1750- 1450 BC for Settlement VI Pavuk 2007: fig. 1 . This date range was the result of comparing Troia with Crete, the Cyclades and some centres in continental Greece, which were dated in accordance with Egyptian chronology

Keywords

Western Anatolia, Middle Bronze Age, Chronology, Izmir Region, pottery