Obsidian and Rock Crystal Artefacts as Prestige Finds Based on Raw Material Resources in Çine-Tepecik
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Sevinç Günel
Abstract
Within its location on the Çine plain, south of the Great Meander River, Çine-Tepecik is an important settlement inhabited continuously from the Chalcolithic to the end of the Bronze Age. Çine-Tepecik reflects an advanced lithic assemblage based on different raw material resources from the earliest period. Obsidian is among the earliest finds in Tepecik showing interregional trade based on the system of exchange, and is a resource that societies prioritized in their social lives and interregional communication since the beginning of the settlement process. Starting from the 4th millennium BCE until the end of the 2nd millennium BCE, obsidian was obtained from three main resources in the Aegean. These are Melos and Antiparos from the Cyclades; Giali from the Dodecanese and Göllü Dağ, Nenezi and Acıgöl from Central Anatolia. These connections, based on trade with the Aegean and Central Anatolia, reveal a skilled craft of obsidian tool production, as well as an obsidian and rock crystal vessel tradition in Tepecik during the Middle Bronze Age. The assemblage, which has a special meaning among prestige products, belongs to a craft activity that requires skill and experience, and is an indicator of socio-cultural richness. During the 2nd millennium BCE, in the wide geographical region covering Anatolia, Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean obsidian and rock crystal vessels were among the special items produced for the royal or elite class. The stone vessel assemblage reflects the political and economic power of these regions, and also provides an understanding of interregional cultural and commercial connections. In the Çine-Tepecik Middle Bronze Age settlement, the obsidian and rock crystal vessel traditions followed a similar chronological development as the geography extending to Anatolia, the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean, and brings new finds to regional archaeology.
Özet
Büyük Menderes Nehri’nin güneyinde, Çine ovasındaki konumuyla Çine-Tepecik, Kalkolitik Çağ’dan Tunç Çağları sonuna değin kesintisiz yerleşim gören önemli bir merkezdir. Çine-Tepecik en erken yerleşim sürecinden itibaren farklı hammadde kaynaklarına dayalı gelişmiş bir yontmataş endüstrisini yansıtmaktadır. Tepecik’te erken buluntular arasında obsidiyen, değiş-tokuşa dayalı bölgelerarası ticareti ve yerleşim sürecinin başlangıcından itibaren toplumların sosyal yaşamlarında ve bölgelerarası iletişimde de öncelik verdikleri bir kaynaktır. Obsidiyen MÖ. 4. Binyıldan başlayarak MÖ. 2. Binyıl sonuna değin Ege’de üç kaynaktan temin edilmiştir. Bu kaynaklar, Kiklad adalarından Melos, Antiparos ile Dodacanese adalarından Giali adası ve ayrıca İç Anadolu’dan Göllü Dağ, Nenezi ve Acı Göl’dür. Ege ve İç Anadolu ile ticarete dayanan bu bağlantılar, Tepecik’te Orta Tunç Çağı’nda obsidiyen alet üretiminin yanı sıra obsidiyen ve dağ kristali kap geleneğini de göstermektedir. Prestij ürünler arasında özel anlam taşıyan bu buluntu grubu, beceri ve deneyim gerektiren bir zanaat faaliyeti olup sosyo-kültürel zenginliğin de bir göstergesidir. MÖ. 2. Binyılında Anadolu, Ege ve Doğu Akdeniz’i kapsayan geniş coğrafi bölgede obsidiyen ve dağ kristali kaplar, krali ya da elit kesim için üretilen özel eşyalar arasında yer almaktadır. Hammadde kaynaklı taş kap endüstrisi, bölgelerin siyasi ve ekonomik gücünü yansıtmakta ve aynı zamanda bölgelerarası kültürel ve ticari bağlantıların da anlaşılmasını sağlamaktadır. Çine-Tepecik Orta Tunç Çağı yerleşmesinde, obsidiyen ve dağ kristali kap geleneği, Anadolu, Ege ve Doğu Akdeniz’e uzanan coğrafya ile benzer bir kronolojik gelişimi vermekte ve bölge arkeolojisine yeni örnekler kazandırmaktadır.
Zusammenfassung
Çine-Tepecik liegt in der Ebene von Çine, südlich des Flusses Büyük Menderes, und ist ein wichtiges Zentrum, das von der Jungsteinzeit bis zum Ende der Bronzezeit durchgehend bewohnt war. Çine-Tepecik spiegelt eine fortschrittliche Steinindustrie wider, die seit der frühesten Besiedlung auf verschiedenen Rohstoffressourcen basiert. Unter den frühen Funden in Tepecik ist Obsidian eine Ressource, die für den interregionalen Handel auf der Grundlage von Tauschgeschäften und für das soziale Leben und die interregionale Kommunikation der Gesellschaften seit Beginn des Siedlungsprozesses von vorrangiger Bedeutung war. Obsidian wurde vom 4. Jahrtausend v. Chr. bis zum Ende des 2. Jahrtausends v. Chr. aus drei Quellen in der Ägäis gewonnen. Diese Quellen sind Melos und Antiparos auf den Kykladen und Giali auf den Dodakanesischen Inseln sowie Göllü Dağ, Nenezi und Acı Göl in Zentralanatolien. Diese auf dem Handel mit der Ägäis und Zentralanatolien beruhenden Verbindungen zeigen, dass in Tepecik in der mittleren Bronzezeit Obsidianwerkzeuge sowie Obsidian- und Bergkristallgefäße hergestellt wurden. Diese Fundgruppe, die unter den Prestigeprodukten eine besondere Bedeutung einnimmt, erfordert von der handwerklichen Seite Geschicklichkeit und Erfahrung und ist ein Indikator für soziokulturellen Reichtum. Im 2. Jahrtausend v. Chr. gehörten Obsidian- und Bergkristallgefäße zu den Spezialprodukten, die in einem weiten geografischen Gebiet, das Anatolien, die Ägäis und das östliche Mittelmeer umfasste, für Könige und Eliten hergestellt wurden. Die rohstoffbasierte Steingefäßindustrie spiegelt die politische und wirtschaftliche Macht der Regionen wider und ermöglicht auch ein Verständnis der kulturellen und kommerziellen Verbindungen zwischen den Regionen. Die Obsidian- und Bergkristallgefäßtradition in der mittelbronzezeitlichen Siedlung von Çine-Tepecik zeigt eine ähnliche chronologische Entwicklung mit einer geographischen Ausdehnung auf Anatolien, die Ägäis und das östliche Mittelmeer und liefert neue Beispiele für die Archäologie der Region.
© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
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- On the chronology of the Vinča culture chronology: Vasić’s legacy of the Vinča-Belo Brdo datings
- Obsidian and Rock Crystal Artefacts as Prestige Finds Based on Raw Material Resources in Çine-Tepecik
- Searching for islands of happiness – LBK settlement at Cząstków Polski site XII, Czosnów Commune in Mazovia, Central Poland
- Re-evaluating Cambaztepe in the Context of its Yamnaya (Pit-Grave) Origin, the Anatolian Trade Network and Possible Early Migrations towards Anatolia in the 3rd Millennium BC
- Granhammar Man: axed down and thrown into the sea in Late Bronze Age Uppland, Sweden
- Salt, clay, and society: Towards a reconstruction of salt-making chaînes opératoires in the Bronze and Early Iron Age in the Kraków–Wieliczka salt-bearing region
- Recycling Metal, Mobility and Connectivity. An Analysis of Rochelongue Underwater Site Assemblage (seventh–sixth BC) West Languedoc (France)
- Burials and Rituals in the La Tène Period: The Quadrangular Enclosure from Němčice
- Reconstructions of the La Tène wagon wheels of Southeast Europe
- Beyond cemeteries – excavation of a settlement of Poieneşti-Lucaşeuca Culture in Ivancea, Republic of Moldova
- Fragment of a Roman Period jug handle from Vanovice, Blansko District (Moravia, Czech Republic) – interpretation possibilities
- Horsemen in social structures of Central European Barbaricum – Analysis 1: grave contexts
- The Åker assemblage: Provenance and local workshop-traditions in the North Sea region in the late 6th and early 7th centuries
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Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Abhandlungen
- On the chronology of the Vinča culture chronology: Vasić’s legacy of the Vinča-Belo Brdo datings
- Obsidian and Rock Crystal Artefacts as Prestige Finds Based on Raw Material Resources in Çine-Tepecik
- Searching for islands of happiness – LBK settlement at Cząstków Polski site XII, Czosnów Commune in Mazovia, Central Poland
- Re-evaluating Cambaztepe in the Context of its Yamnaya (Pit-Grave) Origin, the Anatolian Trade Network and Possible Early Migrations towards Anatolia in the 3rd Millennium BC
- Granhammar Man: axed down and thrown into the sea in Late Bronze Age Uppland, Sweden
- Salt, clay, and society: Towards a reconstruction of salt-making chaînes opératoires in the Bronze and Early Iron Age in the Kraków–Wieliczka salt-bearing region
- Recycling Metal, Mobility and Connectivity. An Analysis of Rochelongue Underwater Site Assemblage (seventh–sixth BC) West Languedoc (France)
- Burials and Rituals in the La Tène Period: The Quadrangular Enclosure from Němčice
- Reconstructions of the La Tène wagon wheels of Southeast Europe
- Beyond cemeteries – excavation of a settlement of Poieneşti-Lucaşeuca Culture in Ivancea, Republic of Moldova
- Fragment of a Roman Period jug handle from Vanovice, Blansko District (Moravia, Czech Republic) – interpretation possibilities
- Horsemen in social structures of Central European Barbaricum – Analysis 1: grave contexts
- The Åker assemblage: Provenance and local workshop-traditions in the North Sea region in the late 6th and early 7th centuries
- Wissenschaft und prähistorische Forschung in fünf politischen Systemen. Robert Rudolf Schmidt (1882–1950) und die SS-Grabung Mauern 1937 bei Rennertshofen
