What Happened Between Beycesultan XIII and XII? New Answers from Laodikeia-Kandilkırı Early Bronze Age Levels

Abstract

Beycesultan has provided the longest chronological sequence in southwest Anatolia for the Bronze Age. There J. Mellaart noticed a change in the material culture at level XIII and called it a “complete break in the culture.” He claimed that the fire and destruction at this level was the result of the migration of Indo-Europeans to the region Some scholars suggest that there is a chronological gap in Beycesultan between levels XIII and XII, which is the cause of this so-called break. Recently pottery seriation and absolute dating obtained by the excavations at Laodikeia-Kandilkırı in Denizli province yielded enough evidence to prove that there was neither a break in the material culture nor any sign of invasion in the Denizli region in Early Bronze Age 2 or 3A. Instead, there existed a moderate period of change in the Denizli region due probably to the impact of the network of interregional connections in Anatolia’s EBA 3A during the chronological gap between Beycesultan levels XIII and XII. Kandilkırı was abandoned around 2200 BC, probably due to a climate crisis and the fall of the interregional connective network.

Keywords

• Early Bronze Age
• West Anatolia
• chronology
• Laodikeia-Kandilkırı

References

1. Abay, E. 2011. “Preliminary Report on the Survey Project of Çivril, Baklan and Çal Plains in the Upper Meander Basin, Southwest Anatolia.” Ancient Near Eastern Studies 48:1-87.
2. Abay, E., and F. Dedeoğlu. 2009. “Beycesultan 2007-2008 Yılları Kazı Çalışmaları Ön Raporu.” Ege Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Arkeoloji Dergisi 13.1:53-79.
3. Bachhuber, C. 2015. Citadel and Cemetery in Early Bronze Age Anatolia. Monographs in Mediterranean Archaeology 13. Sheffield: Equinox.