Prehistory of Anatolia
The prehistory of Anatolia stretches from the Paleolithic era through to the appearance of classical civilization in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. It is generally regarded as being divided into three ages reflecting the dominant materials used for the making of domestic implements and weapons: Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. The term Copper Age is used to denote the period straddling the stone and Bronze Ages.
Anatolia, also known by the Latin name of Asia Minor, is considered to be the westernmost extent of Western Asia. Geographically it encompasses the central uplands of modern Turkey, from the coastal plain of the Aegean Sea east to the western edge of the Armenian Highlands and from the narrow coast of the Black Sea south to the Taurus Mountains and Mediterranean Sea coast.
The earliest representations of culture in Anatolia can be found in several archaeological sites located in the central and eastern part of the region. Stone Age artifacts such as animal bones and food fossils were found at Burdur. Although the origins of some of the earliest peoples are shrouded in mystery, the remnants of Bronze Age civilizations, such as Troy, the Hattians, the Akkadian Empire, Assyria, and the Hittites, provide us with many examples of the daily lives of its citizens and their trade. After the fall of the Hittites, the new states of Phrygia and Lydia stood strong on the western coast together with Lykia and Caria. Only the threat from a distant Persian kingdom prevented them from advancing past their peak of success.
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a prehistoric period in which stone was widely used in the manufacture of implements. This period occurred after the appearance of the genus Homo about 2.6 million years ago and roughly lasted 2.5 million years to the period between 4500 and 2000 BC with the appearance of metalworking.Paleolithic
In 2014, a stone tool was found in the Gediz River that was securely dated to between 1.17 and 1.24 million years ago. Evidence of Paleolithic habitation include the Yarimburgaz Cave, Karain Cave, and the Okuzini, Beldibi and Belbasi, Kumbucagi and Kadiini caves in adjacent areas. Examples of paleolithic humans can be found in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, in the Archaeological Museum in Antalya, and in other Turkish institutions.Evidence of fruit and of animal bones has been found at Yarimburgaz. The caves of the Mediterranean region contain murals. Original claims of 250,000-year-old, Middle Pleistocene, Homo sapiens footprints at Kula and Karain Caves are now considered erroneous and have been revised to the Late Pleistocene era.
Mesolithic
Remains of a Mesolithic culture in Anatolia can be found along the Mediterranean coast and also in Thrace and the western Black Sea area. Mesolithic remains have been located in the same caves as the paleolithic artefacts and drawings. Additional findings come from the Sarklimagara cave in Gaziantep, the Baradiz cave, as well as the cemeteries and open air settlements at Sogut Tarlasi, Biris and Urfa.Neolithic
Because of its strategic location at the intersection of Asia and Europe, Anatolia has been the center of several civilizations since prehistoric times. The Anatolian hypothesis, first developed by British archaeologist Colin Renfrew in 1987, proposes that the dispersal of Proto-Indo-Europeans originated in Neolithic Anatolia. It is the main competitor to the Kurgan hypothesis, or steppe theory, the more favoured view academically. Neolithic settlements include Çatalhöyük, Çayönü, Nevali Cori, Aşıklı Höyük, Boncuklu Höyük, Hacilar, Göbekli Tepe, Karahan Tepe, Norşuntepe, Kosk, and Mersin.Çatalhöyük is considered the most advanced of these, and Çayönü in the east the oldest. We have a good idea of the town layout at Çayönü, based on a central square with buildings constructed of stone and mud. Archeological finds include farming tools that suggest both crops and animal husbandry as well as domestication of the dog. Religion is represented by figurines of Cybele, the mother goddess. Hacilar followed Çayönü, and has been dated to 7040 BC.
Chalcolithic (Copper) Age
Straddling the Neolithic and early Bronze Age, the Chalcolithic era is defined by the first metal implements made with copper. This age is represented in Anatolia by sites at Hacilar, Beycesultan, Canhasan, Mersin Yumuktepe, Elazig Tepecik, Malatya Degirmentepe, Norşuntepe, and Istanbul Fikirtepe.Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is characterised by the use of copper and its tin alloy, bronze, for manufacturing implements. Asia Minor was one of the first areas to develop bronze making.Early Bronze Age (3000–2500 BC)
Although the first habitation appears to have occurred as early as the 6th millennium BC during the Chalcolithic period, functioning settlements trading with each other occurred during the 3rd millennium BC. A settlement on a high ridge would become known as Büyükkaya, and later as the city of Hattush, the center of this civilization. Later still it would become the Hittite stronghold of Hattusha and is now Boğazköy. Remnants of the Hattian civilization have been found both under the lower city of Hattusha and in the higher areas of Büyükkaya and Büyükkale,Another settlement was established at Yarikkaya, about 2 km to the northeast.
The discovery of mineral deposits in this part of Anatolia allowed Anatolians to develop metallurgy, producing items such as the implements found in the royal graves at Alaca Höyük, about 25 km from Boğazköy, which it preceded, dating from 2400 to 2200 BC. Other Hattian centers include Hassum, Kanesh, Purushanda, and Zalwar.
During this time the Hattians engaged in trade with city-states such as those of Sumer, which needed timber products from the Amanus mountains.
Anatolia had remained in the prehistoric period until it entered the sphere of influence of the Akkadian Empire in the 24th century BC under Sargon of Akkad, particularly in eastern Anatolia. However, the Akkadian Empire suffered problematic climate changes in Mesopotamia, as well as a reduction in available manpower that affected trade. This led to its fall around 2150 BC at the hands of the Gutians.
The interest of the Akkadians in the region as far as it is known was for exporting various materials for manufacturing. Bronze metallurgy had spread to Anatolia from the Transcaucasian Kura-Araxes culture in the late 4th millennium BC.
While Anatolia was well endowed with copper ores, there was no evidence of substantial workings of the tin required to make bronze in Bronze-Age Anatolia.
Middle Bronze Age (2500–2000 BC)
At the origins of written history, the Anatolian plains inside the area ringed by the Kızılırmak River were occupied by the first defined civilization in Anatolia, a non-Indo-European indigenous people named the Hattians. During the middle Bronze Age, the Hattian civilization, including its capital of Hattush, continued to expand.The Anatolian middle Bronze Age influenced the early Minoan culture of Crete
as evidenced by archaeological findings at Knossos.
Late Bronze Age (2000–1200 BC)
Hattians
The Hattians came into contact with Assyrians traders from Assur in Mesopotamia such as at Kanesh near modern Kültepe who provided them with the tin needed to make bronze. These trading posts or Karums, have lent their name to a period, the Karum Period. The Karums, or Assyrian trading colonies, persisted in Anatolia until Hammurabi conquered Assyria and it fell under Babylonian domination in 1756 BC. These Karums represented separate residential areas where the traders lived, protected by the Hattites, and paying taxes in return. Meanwhile, the fortifications of Hattush were strengthened with construction of royal residences on Büyükkale.After the Assyrians overthrew their Gutian neighbours they claimed the local resources, notably silver, for themselves. However the Assyrians brought writing to Anatolia, a necessary tool for trading and business. These transactions were recorded in Akkadian cuneiform on clay tablets. Records found at Kanesh use an advanced system of trading computations and credit lines. The records also indicate the names of the cities where the transaction occurred.
Hittites
The history of the Hittite civilization is known mostly from cuneiform texts found in the area of their empire, and from diplomatic and commercial correspondence found in various archives in Egypt and the Middle East.Old Kingdom
Hattian civilization was also impacted by an invading Indo-European people, the Hittites, in the early 18th century BC, Hattush being burned to the ground in 1700 BC by King Anitta of Kussar after overthrowing King Piyushti. He then placed a curse on the site and set up his capital at Kanesh 160 km south east.The Hittites absorbed the Hattians over the next century, a process that was essentially complete by 1650 BC.
Eventually Hattusha became a Hittite centre by the second half of the 17th century BC, and King Hattusili I moved his capital back to Hattusha from Neša.
The Old Hittite Empire was at its height in the 16th century BC, encompassing central Anatolia, north-western Syria as far as Ugarit, and upper Mesopotamia. Kizzuwatna in southern Anatolia controlled the region separating the Hittite Empire from Syria, thereby greatly affecting trade routes. The peace was kept in accordance with both empires through treaties that established boundaries of control.
Middle Kingdom
Following the reign of Telipinu the Hittite kingdom entered a relatively weak and poorly documented phase, known as the Middle Kingdom, from the reign of Telipinu's son-in-law, Alluwamna to that of Muwatalli I.New Kingdom
King Tudhaliya I ushered in a new era of Hittite power, often referred to as the Hittite Empire. The Kings took on a divine role in Hittite society and the Hittite peoples, often allied with neighbours such as the Kizzuwatna began to expand again, moving into Western Anatolia, absorbing the Luwian state of Arzawa and the Assuwa League.It was not until the reign of King Suppiluliumas that Kizzuwatna was taken over fully, although the Hittites still preserved their cultural accomplishments in Kummanni and Lazawantiya, north of Cilicia.
In the 13th century, after the reign of Hattusili III, Hittite power began to wane, threatened by Egypt to the South and Assyria to the East, effectively ending with Suppiluliuma II.