New Assessments of the Middle and Late Bronze Age Pottery Recovered in the First Excavation Period at Tilmen Hoyuk

Abstract

This article presents the Middle and Late Bronze Age pottery of Tilmen Hoyuk unearthed during the first excavation season. The pottery is classified in 15 different groups based on surface colour and temper of clay, with eight groups belonging to the Middle Bronze Age and the remaining seven to the Late Bronze Age. Focusing on various aspects of pottery at Tilmen Hoyuk and its neighbouring contemporaneous settlements, the study expands our knowledge of the second millennium BC ceramic assemblages and traditions. The pottery repertoire of Tilmen Hoyuk finds its closest typological parallels in the adjacent settlements of northern Syria. The existence of prominent structures at Tilmen Hoyuk, represented by a strongly fortified palace and temple, highlights the settlement as a significant city that may have served as the centre of a kingdom.