The
Bronze period begins around 3000 BC in Anatolia, around 2500 BC in
the Aegean and Crete, and around 2000 BC in Europe. Bronze is obtained
by mixing copper and tin (% 90 copper, % 10 tin). In this period apart
from bronze tools, other kinds such as copper, gold and electron,
which is an alloy of natural gold and silver were also produced for
using in religious ceremonies. The people in this period lived in
cities surrounded with fortified walls. Houses were built in rectangular
shapes on stone foundations with sundried brick walls. Agriculture,
animal husbandry, merchandise and mine production are the means of
life. Alacahoyuk, 67 km from Yozgat city and 3 hours away from Ankara
was the most advanced settlement area in Anatolia from this period.
The rich graves discovered here are in shapes of regular stone rooms.
The dead were put in the center of these rooms with gifts, in a posture
that the knees are pulled up to the belly (hocker position). Sacrificed
and presented during the ceremony, bull heads and feet were left on
top of the roofs. Goats and sheep were also sacrificed. They might
have been served to the attendants at the funeral. The graves were
thought to be used for many generations. Most of the gifts were composed
of gold, silver, electron, bronze objects and decorative items such
as diadems, necklaces, hairpins, bracelets, earrings made of precious
stones like amber, rock crystal, etc. Bronze and gold weapons, sun
discs, deer and bull figurines, goddess statues of religious services
are invaluable works of art discovered here. For the first time in
this period do we find bronze spear heads in Anatolia. They resemble
very much their counterparts in Mesopotamia and Syria which is an
interesting point. Another important place in the bronze age is Troy,
Level 1, dated back to 2900-2500 BC. This first city in Troy, now
partly unearthed is wrapped with a 90 meter wall. Houses are in megaron
type again and the entrances are along the narrow sides. Walls are
stone and set in the herring bone pattern. Troy, Level 2, is dated
back to 2500-2000 BC. It is built on top of Troy Level 1. The inhabitants
of this level come from the Aegean and Balkans like those of the first
level. It is also surrounded with walls but this time they are 20
meters longer. The expedition team uncovered a royal residence that
belonged to a king on one of the hilltops. Heinrich Schlieman, the
German businessman who dug the Trojan mound in 1870, discovered a
treasury at this level of Troy 2. Knowing Homer's Iliad by heart,
he was in search of King Priamos's treasury and for years he believed
the treasury he had discovered at the site was it. In the last years
of his life, however, he learned that the treasury actually belonged
to a different level, the level 2, thus, to a different time period.
Hatti Culture
The information
about the Hatti civilization comes to us through the Accadian sources
(2350-2150 BC). The Hattis are believed to be the one of the indigenous
peoples in Anatolia. They lived around 2500 BC in city kingdoms and
small tribes and by 2000 BC all of them were taken under the rule
of the Hittites. Different from other cultures though,the Hatti art
gives us the examples of a human-shaped pottery type (anthropomorphic)
rather than an animal shape or a hybrid form. They worshipped such
statues and figurines, and each one of them carried his or her name.
The Hittites, an Indo-European tribe that came to Anatolia over the
Caucasus around 2000 BC, were influenced by the Hatti culture in religion,
mythology and literature. Not only did they take the names of mountains,
rivers and towns from them; Hittites preserved even the original Hatti
name of the country they lived in as "the land of Hatti". It would
not be an exaggeration to say that the Hittites formed one of the
most interesting and authentic civilizations of the history with the
help of the rich cultural background they inherited from the Hattis
over 250 years. The peaceful times in Anatolia that lasted for thousands
of years came to an end with a fierce attack around 2000 BC. There
is only the remains of a thick fire layer dating back to 2000 BC in
the settlement areas of the central Anatolia such as Alacahoyuk. Assyrian
Trade Colonies (1900-1700 BC) The Assyrian merchants established trade
colonies in central parts of Asia Minor during this period. Their
aim was to sell and barter the goods they produced for timber, silver,
copper and raw material from Anatolia. According to thousands of tablets
discovered at Kultepe, the Assyrians had established independent trade
colonies here named karum. The gold and silver were the two basic
norms for trade, the former for the wholesale and the latter for the
retail business.The method of trade was bartering. The donkey was
the main transportation animal. This period marks a big interaction
and cultural exchange between Anatolia and Mesopotamia. The Indo-European
tribes that until then lived on the north of Europe, for an unknown
reason, migrated southward between 2250 and 2000 BC into a vast area
from the Indian to the Atlantic Ocean. During this migration, tribes
like Germans, Latins ,Iranians, Cimmerians, Indians and Hellens moved
to the areas and the countries around their present day locations.
In the meantime some tribes, likeTrojans, Thracians, Phrigians and
Hittites came to Anatolia.