New evidence for international trade in Bronze Age central Anatolia: recently discovered bullae at Kultepe-Kanesh.
Kulakoglu, Fikri ; Ozturk, Guzel
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Ancient Kanesh--the site of Kultepe, central Turkey--is well-known
for its large corpus of Old Assyrian cuneiform tablets that document the
extensive trade networks across the Near East during the Middle Bronze
Age (early second millennium BC). New work at the site is investigating
the Early Bronze Age (third millennium BC) phases. Excavation of a
monumental public building, unique in central Anatolia at this date,
suggests that Kanesh was a prosperous regional centre long before the
arrival of Assyrian merchants during the second millennium BC. A
collection of stamp-seal impressions and bullae (pieces of stamped clay
used to seal packages) provides the first evidence for tags attached to
goods sent from northern Mesopotamia to Anatolia before the development
of the better known Assyrian Trading Colonies Period' of the Middle
Bronze Age.
