Ancient Kanesh: A Merchant Colony in Bronze Age Anatolia
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The ancient Anatolian city of Kanesh (present-day Kültepe, Turkey) was a continuously inhabited site from the early Bronze Age through Roman times. The city flourished c.2000–1750 BCE as an Old Assyrian trade outpost and the earliest attested commercial society in world history. More than 23,000 elaborate clay tablets from private merchant houses provide a detailed description of a system of long-distance trade that reached from central Asia to the Black Sea region and the Aegean. The texts record common activities such as trade between Kanesh and the city state of Assur and between Assyrian merchants and local people. The tablets tell us about the economy as well as culture, language, religion, and private lives of individuals we can identify by name, occupation, and sometimes even personality. This book presents an in-depth account of this vibrant Bronze Age Anatolian society, revealing the daily lives of its inhabitants.
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Documents recovered at Kültepe place the transition from Lower Town Level II to Ib between REL 138 and REL 142 (thus REL 138-141).
“Documents recovered in houses belonging to Assyrian merchants settled at Kültepe (ancient Kaneš) [4] place the transition from Kültepe Lower Town (referred to as the “kārum” in earlier literature) Level II to Ib between REL 138 (latest attested year eponym in Level II) and REL 142 (first attested year eponym in the subsequent Level Ib)–thus REL 138–141 [5].”
From Integrated Tree-Ring-Radiocarbon High-Resolution Timeframe to Resolve Earlier Second Millennium BCE Mesopotamian Chronology (2016) · cites this paper as [4]
The simultaneous destruction and transition from Lower Town Level II to Ib and from Old Palace to Waršama Palace has been maintained as the most likely scenario and employed as a premise, but this assumption cannot itself form a fundamental link in the evidence chain and needs to be tested.
“A simultaneous destruction and transition from (i) Lower Town Level II to Ib, and (ii) the destruction and transition from the Old Palace to the Waršama Palace has hitherto been maintained as the most likely scenario (e.g. [4]) and employed as a premise in [5]. But this assumption cannot itself form a fundamental link in the evidence chain and needs to be tested.”
From Integrated Tree-Ring-Radiocarbon High-Resolution Timeframe to Resolve Earlier Second Millennium BCE Mesopotamian Chronology (2016) · cites this paper as [4]
There is a critical gap: the documentary record comes from the lower town area, which is entirely discrete from and with no stratigraphic or decisive documentary relationship to the Waršama Palace.
“However, there is a critical gap in the evidence: the documentary record comes from the lower town area, which is entirely discrete from and with no stratigraphic or decisive documentary relationship to the Waršama Palace [4, 5, 24].”
From Integrated Tree-Ring-Radiocarbon High-Resolution Timeframe to Resolve Earlier Second Millennium BCE Mesopotamian Chronology (2016) · cites this paper as [4]
The Waršama Palace of Mound Level 7 was constructed at approximately the same time as the Kültepe Lower Town Level II to Ib transition, on the citadel at the site of the burnt-down Old Palace of Mound Level 8, and is contemporary with Kültepe Lower Town Level Ib.
“At approximately the same time a new palace–the so-called Waršama Palace of Mound Level 7 –was constructed on the citadel at the site of its burnt-down predecessor, the so-called Old Palace of Mound Level 8, and is contemporary with Kültepe Lower Town Level Ib [4, 5, 24].”
From Integrated Tree-Ring-Radiocarbon High-Resolution Timeframe to Resolve Earlier Second Millennium BCE Mesopotamian Chronology (2016) · cites this paper as [4]
The construction of the Waršama Palace occurred at least a few years before the beginning of the Lower Town Level Ib.
“It is evident that the construction of the Waršama Palace (or at least the building of the northwest area of this 1 hectare monumental complex [4, 24]–the location of the sampled wood) occurred at least a few years before the beginning of the Lower Town Level Ib.”
From Integrated Tree-Ring-Radiocarbon High-Resolution Timeframe to Resolve Earlier Second Millennium BCE Mesopotamian Chronology (2016) · cites this paper as [4]
This importantly questions the long-held but unsubstantiated assumption that the destruction/transition between Lower Town Levels II and Ib equates with the destruction of the Old Palace and building of the new Waršama Palace.
“This importantly questions the long-held but unsubstantiated assumption that the destruction/transition between Lower Town Levels II and Ib equates with the destruction of the Old Palace and building of the new Waršama Palace (as accepted or used by e.g. [4, 5, 24, 74]).”
From Integrated Tree-Ring-Radiocarbon High-Resolution Timeframe to Resolve Earlier Second Millennium BCE Mesopotamian Chronology (2016) · cites this paper as [4]
This offers a scenario compatible with the documentary evidence presently available from the subsequent Lower Town Level Ib, which has texts containing dates from REL 141 onwards, including the reign of Šamši-Adad I placed REL 165-197.
“This offers a scenario compatible with the documentary evidence presently available from the subsequent Lower Town Level Ib [4–5, 7], which has texts containing dates from REL 141 onwards, including the reign of Šamši-Adad I placed REL 165–197.”
From Integrated Tree-Ring-Radiocarbon High-Resolution Timeframe to Resolve Earlier Second Millennium BCE Mesopotamian Chronology (2016) · cites this paper as [4]
Cited by
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Manning, S. W., Griggs, C. B., Lorentzen, B., Barjamovic, G., Ramsey, C. B., Kromer, B., & Wild, E. M. (2016) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0157144 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
New evidence for Middle Bronze Age chronology from the Syro-Anatolian frontier
Herrmann, V. R., Manning, S. W., Morgan, K. R., Soldi, S., & Schloen, D. (2023) · Antiquity · doi:10.15184/aqy.2023.30 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
- Authors
- Larsen, M. T.
- Affiliations
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- Corresponding author
- Larsen, Mogens Trolle
- Venue
- Cambridge University Press eBooks
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press
- Published
- 2015-09-17
- OpenAlex
- W4240045034
- Cited by
- 91
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 36 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 2 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 12.52
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Cambridge University Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Ancient Near East History
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Classical Antiquity Studies
- Keywords
- Kanesh, Kültepe, Old Assyrian period, clay tablets, long-distance trade, Assyrian merchants, Assur, Bronze Age Anatolia, everyday life, economy, religion, language, commercial society
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