Çukuriçi Höyük 3. An EBA metal working centre

The research results presented here focus on the East Aegean-West Anatolian region, which has always been considered to have a bridging function between the Near East and the European region. Although this diffusionist approach allows us to postulate some assumptions about the transfer of metallurgical knowledge, the role of the western Anatolian coast as a starting point for exchange and technology transfer during the first half of the 3rd millennium BC remains largely unclear. The tell ukuriçi Höyük (western Turkey), with its extensive metallurgical remains and metal workshops, offers the unique opportunity to investigate metal production, technology transfer and metal trade during the Early Bronze Age. The aim of this study is to conduct interdisciplinary research on the metallurgical activities at the tell and to investigate its interaction with already known technological spheres in the Anatolian region. The metallurgical techniques as well as the associated work steps of the technology chain will also be examined. The emergence of tin bronze alloying - the eponymous material for an entire epoch - will also be given appropriate attention. The existing precious metal finds give reason to assume that the occurrence of these special materials in the area under investigation is connected to the wide- ranging social and technological networks in which the tell participates. Finally, the analysis of the provenace of the ores and metals used will be used to examine possible networks of supply and distribution of copper in the East Aegean-West Anatolian region. The presented interdisciplinary research approach combines both humanities and natural science methods to answer cultural-historical questions. In addition to archaeological methods, such as typology, metallography, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray fluorescence and mass spectrometer analysis are used to first describe an object biography in individual cases and, based on this, a complete technological chain from raw material to end product is reconstructed. The final theory- based discussion brings the research results together with the aim of describing and understanding human activities and interactions within prehistoric exchange and social systems. Therefore, the research at Cukurici Höyük represents the first comprehensive archaeometallurgical investigation of an Early Bronze Age craftsmen`s settlement, the like of which has not been undertaken for the research area to date. The interdisciplinary methods used allow for far-reaching statements and conclusions on cultural-historical questions.