Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-9pm4c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T03:25:31.826Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

New tin mines and production sites near Kültepe in Turkey: a third-millennium BC highland production model

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2015

K. Aslıhan Yener ,
Fikri Kulakoğlu ,
Evren Yazgan ,
Ryoichi Kontani ,
Yuichi S. Hayakawa ,
Joseph W. Lehner ,
Gonca Dardeniz ,
Güzel Öztürk ,
Michael Johnson  and
Ergun Kaptan
...Show all authors
K. Aslıhan Yener
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology and History of Art, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey (Email: akyener12@gmail.com)
Fikri Kulakoğlu
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Ankara University, Turkey (Email: kulakoglu@yahoo.com; guzelozturk@gmail.com)
Evren Yazgan
Affiliation:
General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration (Retired), Turkey (Email: evrenyazgan@hotmail.com)
Ryoichi Kontani
Affiliation:
Department of Contemporary Sociological Studies, Notre Dame Seishin University, Okayama, Japan (Email: kontani.ryoichi@gmail.com)
Yuichi S. Hayakawa
Affiliation:
Center for Spatial Information Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan (Email: hayakawa@csis.u-tokyo.ac.jp)
Joseph W. Lehner
Affiliation:
Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, 308 Charles E Young Drive West, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA (Email: jwlehner@ucla.edu)
Gonca Dardeniz
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology and History of Art, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey (Email: akyener12@gmail.com)
Güzel Öztürk
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Ankara University, Turkey (Email: kulakoglu@yahoo.com; guzelozturk@gmail.com)
Michael Johnson
Affiliation:
Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, 1155 East 58th Street, University of Chicago IL 60637, USA (Email: mjohnson086@uchicago.edu)
Ergun Kaptan
Affiliation:
General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration (Retired), Turkey (Email: evrenyazgan@hotmail.com)
Abdullah Hacar
Affiliation:
Archaeology Department, Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir (Email: abdullahhacar@hotmail.com)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An unexpected new source of tin was recently located at Hisarcık, in the foothills of the Mount Erciyes volcano in the Kayseri Plain, close to the Bronze Age town of Kültepe, ancient Kanesh and home to a colony of Assyrian traders. Volcanoes in Turkey have always been associated with obsidian sources but were not known to be a major source of heavy metals, much less tin. X-ray fluorescence analyses of the Hisarcık ores revealed the presence of minerals suitable for the production of complex copper alloys, and sufficient tin and arsenic content to produce tin-bronze. These findings revise our understanding of bronze production in Anatolia in the third millennium BC and demand a re-evaluation of Assyrian trade routes and the position of the Early Bronze Age societies of Anatolia within that network.

Keywords

Kültepe KaneshBolkardağKestelAnatoliaBronze AgepXRFtintrade networks
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 89 , Issue 345 , June 2015 , pp. 596 - 612
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adriaens, A., Earl, B., Özbal, H. & Yener, K.A.. 2002. Characterisation of early Anatolian bronze by electron probe microanalysis and alloying simulation. International Mining and Minerals 2: 35–39.Google Scholar
Algaze, G. 2008. Ancient Mesopotamia at the dawn of civilization: the evolution of an urban landscape. Chicago (IL): University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Boroffka, N., Cierny, J., Lutz, J., Parzinger, H., Pernicka, E. & Weisgerber, G.. 2002. Bronze Age tin in Central Asia: preliminary notes, in Boyle, K., Renfrew, C. & Levine, M. (ed.) Ancient interactions: east and west in Eurasia: 135–59. Cambridge: McDonald Institute of Archaeological Research.Google Scholar
Courcier, A. 2014. Ancient metallurgy in the Caucauses from the sixth to the third millennium BCE, in Roberts, B.W. & Thornton, C.P. (ed.) Archaeometallurgy in global perspective: methods and syntheses: 579–664. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Craddock, P.T. 2001. From hearth to furnace: evidences of the earliest metal-smelting technologies in the eastern Mediterranean. Paléorient 26: 151–65. http://dx.doi.org/10.3406/paleo.2000.4716 Google Scholar
Dercksen, J.G. 1996. The Old Assyrian copper trade in Anatolia. Istanbul: Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut te Istanbul.Google Scholar
Dercksen, J.G. 2005. Metals according to documents from Kültepe-Kanish dating to the Old Assyrian colony, in Yalçın, Ü. (ed.) Anatolian metal III, der Anschnitt 18: 7–34. Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau-Museum.Google Scholar
Esin, U. 1969. Kuantitatif spektral analiz yardımıyla Anadolu’da başlangıcından Asur Kolonileri Çağına kadar bakır ve tunç madenciliği . İstanbul Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Yayınları 1427. Istanbul: Taş Matbaası.Google Scholar
Ezer, S. 2014. Kültepe-Kanesh in the Early Bronze Age, in Levent Atici, Fikri Kulakoğlu, Barjamovic, G. & Fairbairn, A. (ed.) Recent research at Kültepe-Kanesh (Journal of Cuneiform Studies supplemental series 4): 5–23. Atlanta (GA): Lockwood.Google Scholar
Genz, H. & Hauptmann, A.. 2002. Chalcolithic and EBA metallurgy in the southern Levant, in Yalçın, Ü. (ed.) Anatolian metal II: 149–57. Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau Museum.Google Scholar
Golden, J.T., Levy, E. & Hauptmann, A.. 2001. Recent discoveries concerning Chalcolithic metallurgy at Shiqmim, Israel. Journal of Archaeological Science 28: 951–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/jasc.2000.0626 Google Scholar
Grant, M.R. 1994. Iron in ancient tin from Rooiberg, South Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 21: 455–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/jasc.1994.1044 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hauptmann, A. 2003. Rationales of liquefaction and metal separation in earliest copper smelting: basics for reconstructing Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age smelting processes. Archaeometallurgy in Europe: Proceedings of the International Conference 24–26 September 2003, Milan: 459–68. Milan: Associazione Italiana di Metallurgia.Google Scholar
Hauptmann, A., Begemann, F., Heitkemper, R., Pernicka, E. & Schmitt-Strecker, S.. 1992. Early copper production at Feinan, Wadi Arabah, Jordan: the composition of ores and copper. Archaeomaterials 6: 1–33.Google Scholar
Hauptmann, A., Schmitt-Strecker, S., Begeman, F. & Palmieri, A.. 2002. Chemical composition and lead isotopy of metal objects from the ‘royal’ tomb and other related finds at Arslantepe, eastern Anatolia. Paléorient 28 (2): 43–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.3406/paleo.2002.4745 Google Scholar
Huska, A., Powell, W., Mitrovic, S., Bankoff, H.A., Bulatovic, A., Filipovic, V. & Boger, R.. 2014. Placer tin ores from Mt. Cer, west Serbia, and their potential exploitation during the Bronze Age. Geoarchaeology: An International Journal 29: 477–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/gea.21488 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaptan, E. 1995. Tin and ancient tin mining in Turkey. Anatolica 21: 197–203.Google Scholar
Kontani, R., Sudo, H., Yamaguchi, Y., Hayakawa, Y.S., Kulakoğlu, F., Emre, K., Ezer, S. & Öztürk, G.. 2012. Preliminary report for the archaeological survey in Kayseri Province, Turkey (KAYAP), fourth season (2011). Bulletin of the Okayama Orient Museum 26: 41–62.Google Scholar
Kontani, R., Sudo, H., Yamaguchi, Y., Hayakawa, Y.S. & Odaka, T.. 2014a. Archaeological survey in the vicinity of Kültepe at Kayseri Province, Turkey, in L. Atici, F. Kulakoğlu, Barjamovic, G. & Fairbairn, A. (ed.) Current research at Kültepe-Kanesh. An interdisciplinary and integrative approach to trade networks, internationalism, and identity: 95–106. Atlanta (GA): Lockwood.Google Scholar
Kontani, R., Odaka, T., Sudo, H., Hayakawa, Y.S., Kulakoğlu, F., Emre, K. & Öztürk, G.. 2014b. Preliminary report for the archaeological survey in Kayseri Province, Turkey (KAYAP), sixth season (2013). Bulletin of the Okayama Orient Museum 28: 25–34.Google Scholar
Kulakoğlu, F. 2010. Kültepe Kanis-Karumu: Anadolu’nun En Eski Uluslararası Ticaret Merkezi/Kültepe Kanesh Karum: the earliest international trade center in Anatolia, in Kulakoğlu, F. & Kangal, S. (ed.) Assyrians in Istanbul (Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality Cultural Publication 78): 40–51. Istanbul: Avrupa Kültür Bașkenti.Google Scholar
Kulakoğlu, F. 2011. Kültepe-Kaneš: a second millennium B.C.E. trading center on the central plateau, in Steadman, S.R. & McMahon, G. (ed.) The Oxford handbook of Ancient Anatolia, 10,000–323 BCE: 1012–31. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kulakoğlu, F. & Kangal, S.. 2010. Anatolia's prologue. Kültepe Kanesh Karum. Assyrians in Istanbul (Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality Cultural Publication 78). Istanbul: Avrupa Kültür Bașkenti.Google Scholar
Kuruçayırlı, E. 2007. Tin and tin-bronze in the Bronze Age: their use, sources and trade from the Balkans to India. Unpublished MA dissertation, Bryn Mawr University.Google Scholar
Kuruçayırlı, E. & Özbal, H.. 2005. New metal analysis from Tarsus-Gözlükule, in Özyar, A. (ed.) Field seasons 2001–2003 of the Tarsus-Gözlükule interdisciplinary research project: 177–95. Istanbul: Ege Yayınları.Google Scholar
Larsen, M.T. 1976. The Old Assyrian city-state and its colonies. Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag.Google Scholar
Lehner, J. W. 2014a. Metal technology, organization, and the evolution of long-distance trade at Kültepe, in Atıcı, L., Kulakoğlu, F., Barjamovic, G. & Fairbairn, A. (ed.) Current research at Kultepe/Kanesh: an interdisciplinary and integrative approach to trade networks, internationalism, and identity: 135–55. Boston (MA): American School of Oriental Research.Google Scholar
Lehner, J.W. 2014b. A report on the archaeometallurgical research at Boğazköy, in A. Schachner (ed.) Die Ausgrabungen in Boğazköy-Ḫattuša 2013. Archäologischer Anzeiger 2014: 129–37.Google Scholar
Lehner, J.W. & Schachner, A.. In press. The organization of metal production at Hattuša: a first assessment, in Maner, Ç., Gilbert, A. & Horowitz, M. (ed.) Overturning certainties. Studies presented to Kutlu Aslıhan Yener for her 40 years of field archaeology in the eastern Mediterranean. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Lehner, J.W. & Yener, K.A.. 2014. Organization and specialization of early mining and metal technologies in Anatolia, in Roberts, B.W. & Thornton, C.P. (ed.) Global archaeometallurgy: methods and syntheses: 529–57. New York: Springer. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9017-3_20 Google Scholar
Levy, T.E. 1995. Cult, metallurgy and rank societies—Chalcolithic period (ca. 4200–3500 BCE), in Levy, T.E. (ed.) The archaeology of the Holy Land: 226–44. London: Leicester University Press.Google Scholar
Levy, T.E., Adams, R.B., Hauptmann, A., Prange, M., Schmitt-Strecker, S. & Najjar, M.. 2002. Early Bronze Age metallurgy: a newly discovered copper manufactory in southern Jordan. Antiquity 76: 425–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00090530 Google Scholar
Liritzis, I. & Zacharias, N.. 2011. Portable XRF of archaeological artifacts: current research, potentials and limitations, in Shackley, M.S. (ed.) X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) in geoarchaeology: 109–42. New York: Springer. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6886-9_6 Google Scholar
Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Republic of Turkey. 2013. Available at: http://www.kulturvarliklari.gov.tr/TR,75962/anadolunun-kalay-yataklari-hakkinda-yeni-bulgular.html (accessed 04 March 2015).Google Scholar
Muhly, J.D. 1985. Sources of tin and the beginnings of bronze metallurgy. American Journal of Archaeology 89: 275–91. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/504330 Google Scholar
Muhly, J.D. 1993. Early Bronze Age tin and the Taurus. American Journal of Archaeology 97: 239–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/505658 Google Scholar
Özbal, H. 2006. Tell Atchana metal Buluntularının Kimyasal Analizi. 21. Arkeometri Sonuçları Toplantısı: 29–40. Ankara: Ministry of Culture.Google Scholar
Özgüç, T. 1955. Report on a workshop belonging to the late phase of the colony period IB. Belleten 73: 77–80.Google Scholar
Özgüç, T. 1986. New observations on the relationship of Kültepe with southeast Anatolia and north Syria during the third millennium B.C., in Canby, J. V., Porada, E., Ridgway, B. & Stech, T. (ed.) Ancient Anatolia: aspects of change and cultural development. Essays in honor of Machteld J. Mellink: 31–47. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Palmieri, A., Frangipane, M. & Hess, K.. 1999. Early metallurgy at Arslantepe during the Late Chalcolithic and the Early Bronze Age IA–IB periods, in Hauptmann, A., Pernicka, E., Rehren, T. & Yalçın, Ü., (ed.) The beginnings of metallurgy: 141–48. Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau-Museum.Google Scholar
Parzinger, H. 2002. Das Zinn in der Bronzezeit Eurasiens, in Yalçin, Ü. (ed.) Anatolian metal II. Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau-Museum.Google Scholar
Pehlivan, A.N., Yıldırım, S., Tufan, E., Tuvar, O., Yiğit, E. & Yazgan, E.. 2005. Preliminary geologic and archeologic findings for Kıranardı (Kayseri) tin mineralisation. 58thGeological Congress of Turkey, 11–17 April 2005 abstracts: 91–94. Ankara: MTA Kültür sitesi.Google Scholar
Radivojević, M., Rehren, T., Kuzmanović-Cvetković, J., Jovanović, M. & Northover, J.P.. 2013. Tainted ores and the rise of tin bronzes in Eurasia, c. 6500 years ago. Antiquity 87: 1030–45.Google Scholar
Rovira, S., Montreo-Ruiz, I. & Renzi, M.. 2009. Experimental co-smelting of copper-tin alloys, in Kienlin, T.L. & Roberts, B.W. (ed.) Metals and societies: studies in honour of Barbara S. Ottaway: 407–14. Bonn: Dr Rudolf Habelt. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0003598´0004984X Google Scholar
Sarp, H. & Cerny, R.. 2005. Yazganite, NaFe3+ (Mg,Mn)(AsO4)3·H2O, a new mineral: its description and crystal structure. European Journal of Mineralogy 17: 367–74. http://dx.doi.org/10.1127/0935-1221/2005/0017-0367 Google Scholar
Sillitoe, R.H., Halls, C. & Grant, J.N.. 1975. Porphyry tin deposits in Bolivia. Economic Geology 70: 913–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.2113/gsecongeo.70.5.913 Google Scholar
Smith, R. 1996. An analysis of the processes for smelting tin. Mining History: The Bulletin of the Peak District Mines Historical Society 13: 91–99.Google Scholar
Stech, T. 1999. Aspects of early metallurgy in Mesopotamia and Anatolia, in Pigott, V.C. (ed.) The archaeometallurgy of the Asian Old World (University Monographs 89): 59–72. Philadelphia (PA): University Museum.Google Scholar
Stöllner, T., Samaschev, Z., Berdenov, S., Cierny, J., Doll, M., Garner, J., Gontscharov, A., Gorelik, A., Hauptmann, A., Herd, R., Kusch, G.A., Merz, V., Riese, T., Sikorski, B. & Zickgraf, B.. 2011. Tin from Kazakhstan—Steppe tin for the West?, in Yalçin, Ü. (ed.) Anatolian metal V: 231–52. Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau-Museum.Google Scholar
Thornton, C.P. 2009. The emergence of complex metallurgy on the Iranian Plateau: escaping the Levantine Paradigm. Journal of World Prehistory 22: 301–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10963-009-9019-1 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Türkecan, A., Acarlar, M., Dönmez, M. & Bilgin, R.. 1998. Kayseri, Bünyan, Develi, Tomarza Yörelerinin Jeolojisi ve Volkanik Kayaçları. MTA Derleme Rapor 10186, Ankara.Google Scholar
Westenholz, J.G. 1997. Legends of the kings of Agade: the texts. Winona Lake (IN): Eisenbrauns.Google Scholar
Wright, P.A. 1982. Extractive metallurgy of tin. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Yalçın, Ü. & Özbal, H.. 2009. Ein Neues Zinnvorkommen in Kayseri-Hisarcık, Zentralanatolien: Ein Vorbericht. TÜBA-AR 12: 117–22.Google Scholar
Yazgan, E. 2005. Cassiterite (tin) mineralization related with Erciyes volcanic activities and the mode of formation of the magnetite-cassiterite-yazganite-tridymite paragenesis. 58thGeological Congress of Turkey, 11–17 April 2005 abstracts: 135–138. Ankara: MTA Kültür sitesi.Google Scholar
Yazgan, E. In press. Cassiterite (tin) mineralization related with Erciyes volcanic activities and the mode of formation of the hematite-cassiterite-yazganite-tridymite paragenesis and its implication for bronze alloys, in Kulakoğlu, F. & Michel, C. (ed.) Proceedings of the 1st Kültepe International Meeting. Subartu, Brepols, Leuven.Google Scholar
Yener, K.A. 2000. The domestication of metals: the rise of complex metal industries in Anatolia (c. 4500–2000 B.C.). Leiden: E.J. Brill.Google Scholar
Yener, K.A. 2008. The dynamics of local provisioning of tin during the Early Bronze Age, in Yalçın, Ü., Özbal, H. & Paşamehmetoğlu, A.G. (ed.) Ancient mining in Turkey and the eastern Mediterranean (Turkey Historical Research Applications and Research Center Publications 2): 57–64. Ankara: Atılım University.Google Scholar
Yener, K.A. 2009. Strategic industries and tin in the Ancient Near East: Anatolia updated. TUBA-AR 12: 143–54CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yener, K.A. & Özbal, H.. 1987. Tin in the Turkish Taurus Mountains: the Bolkardağ mining district. Antiquity 61: 220–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00052029 Google Scholar
Yener, K.A., Özbal, H., Kaptan, E., Pehlivan, A.N. & Goodway, M.. 1989. Kestel: an Early Bronze Age source of tin ore in the Taurus Mountains, Turkey. Science 244: 200–203. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.244.4901.200 Google Scholar