Early Bronze age pottery manufacture in Western Anatolia: Identifying hybrid technologies through X-ray Analysis

Abstract

An emerging set of studies on the application of the potter's wheel in the wider ancient Near East indicates that it was often employed in combination with other methods of pottery making, especially during the early stages of its use. Due to absence of research focusing on this topic, our knowledge of the early use and succeeding developments of wheel technology in central and western Anatolia (c. 2500-2000 cal BC) is at present very limited. Thus, the main purpose of this study is to supply additional information on the diversity of pottery-manufacturing techniques through X-ray analysis of ceramic samples recovered from the Early Bronze Age settlement layers of Küllüoba (Eskişehir, Turkey), a settlement mound with a long and well-documented stratigraphic sequence. The use of the potter's wheel allowed pottery to be produced in larger quantities to meet an increasing demand, which hints at a new political and commercial formation, and its relatively early occurrence in Küllüoba seems to be contemporary with the appearance of archaeological evidence for long distance trade. The significance and appropriateness of using the term "wheel-made" with regards to Anatolian EBA pottery - a term often linked with standardization and mass production - is also discussed.