RETHINKING: ON THE URARTIAN IVORY ARTEFACTS

Year 2017, Issue: 20, 135 - 159, 12.11.2017

Esra Alp

Abstract

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 Kamir 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.

Keywords

Urartu, Urartian Art, Ivory Artefacts, Trade

References

• Barnett, R. D. 1950 “The Excavations of the British Museum at Toprakkale near Van”, Iraq XII/1: 1-43.
• 1957 A Cataloque of the Nimrud Ivories, London.
• 1982 Ancient Ivories in the Middle East, Qedem: 14 Monographs of the Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
• Bittel, K. 1957 Boğazköy III, Berlin.
• Bossert, T. H. 1942 Altanatolien, Berlin.
• Boysal, Y. 1961 “Aznavur’da Definecilerin Meydana Çıkardığı Urartu Eserleri”, Belleten 98: 199212.
• Burney, C.A. 1966 “A First Season of Excavation at the Urartian Citadel of Kayalıdere”, Anatolien Studies 16:55-111.
• Hermann, G. 2012 “Some Assyrianizing İvories Found at Nimrud: could they be Urartian?”, S. Kroll- C. Gruber- U. Hellwag- M. Roaf- P. Zimansky (eds), Biainili-Urartu (Leuven: Peeters), 339-350.
• Kantor, H. J. 1958 “The İvories from Floor 6 of Sounding IX”, C. W. McEwan (ed.), The Soundings at Tell Fakhariyah (OIP 79), Chicago.
• Kyrieleis, H. 1965 ‘Urartäische Elfenbeinrelielf aus Nimrud’, Berliner Jahrbuch für Vor und Frühgeschicte 5: 199-206
• Luckenbill, D. D. 1968 Ancient Records of Assyria and Babilony Vol. I, Chicago.
• Mallowan, M.E.L. 1966 Nimrud and its Remains II, Aberdeen and Newyork.
• Özgüç, T. 1969 Altıntepe II: Mezarlar, Depo Binası ve Fildişi Eserler (Tombs, Storehouse and İvories), 5. Seri, no. 27, Ankara.
• 1966 Altıntepe I. Mimarlık Anıtları ve Duvar Resimleri/ Architectural Monuments and Wall Paintings, Ankara.
• 1959 Kültepe-Kaniş, Asur Ticaret Kolonilerinin Merkezinde Yapılan Yeni Araştırmalar/ New Reseaches at the Centre of the Assyrian Trade Colonies, Ankara.
• Piotrovsky, B. B. 1967 Urartu: the Kingdom of Van and its Art, London.
• Riefstahl, E. 1943 “Doll, Queen or Goddess?”, Brooklyn Museum Journal 44:7-21.
• Sağlamtimur, H. 2009 “Urartu Krallığı’nda Fildişi Oymacılığı, Ayanis Kalesi Taş Kapları Ve Haldi Tapınağı”, H. Sağlamtimur- E. Abay- Z. Derin- A. Ü. Erdem- A. Batmaz- F.Dedeoğlu- M. Erdalkıran- M. B. Baştürk- E. Konakçı (eds), Altan Çilingiroğlu’na Armağan. Yukarı Denizin Kıyısında Urartu Krallığı’na Adanmış Bir Hayat / Studies in Honour of Altan Çilingiroğlu. A Life Dedicated to Urartu on the Shores of the Upper Sea, İstanbul: 485-499.
• Simpson, E. 2013 “An Early Anatolian Ivory Chair: The Pratt Ivories in the Metropolitan Museum of Art”, R.B. Koehl (ed.), In Amilla: The Quest for Excellence. Studies Presented to Guenter Kopcke in Celebration of His 75th Birthday, Philadelphia: INSTAP Academic Press: 221-262.
• Van Loon, M.N. 1966 Urartian Art, Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Institut, İstanbul.
• Wartke, R.B. 1993 Urartu Das Eeicham Ararat, Mainz.