Tell Atchana, Ancient Alalakh Volume 1

The Oriental Institute initiated the first two excavation seasons based at Tell Atchana, ancient Alalakh, in the Amuq Valley, east of Antakya, Turkey with a team from the University of Chicago under the directorship of Prof. Kutlu Aslihan Yener.
The Oriental Institute initiated the first two excavation seasons based at Tell Atchana, ancient Alalakh, in the Amuq Valley, east of Antakya, Turkey with a team from the University of Chicago under the directorship of Prof. Kutlu Aslihan Yener. The Tell Atchana/Alalakh Excavations are presently under the auspices of the Turkish Ministry of Culture. Institutional support is provided by Koc University in Istanbul with the continuing collaboration of the Antakya Mustafa Kemal University. This volume with specialist reports presents the first two seasons (2003-2004) of the new round of ongoing excavations at the site after a pause of 54 years. Archaeological and textual evidence from the earlier 1930-1940’s excavations has defined this important site as the regional capital (Alalakh) of a small territorial state, Mukiš, which existed during the 2nd millennium BC. Deposits from the Late Bronze Age occupations were identified above an extensive Middle Bronze Age settlement with evidence of site-wide destruction and reorganization of the settlement at the turn of the 13th-14th centuries BC. The publication of the 2003-2004 results represents the first volume in a monograph series of the team’s continued systematic work at the site. Subsequent volumes will specifically target the Late Bronze Age levels and the Middle Bronze Age city. A separate volume on ceramics will present the relative sequences, technical analyses, and experimental procedures on pottery. Earlier references pertaining to Leonard Woolley’s operations, the excavation results and ongoing interpretations of these materials prior to the team’s new excavations are listed in the bibliography. Further references for the 2003-2004 seasons can be found in the bibliography and on the project website www.alalakh.org.

List of Figures
List of Tables
Preface
Acknowledgments
Team Members
Bibliography
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION / Kutlu Aslihan Yener
INTRODUCTION
REGIONAL HISTORY
HISTORY OF RESEARCH
RESEARCH DESIGN AT ALALAKH
THE 2003-2004 EXCAVATIONS
CHAPTER 2: EXCAVATION RESULTS / Kutlu Aslihan Yener, G. Bike Yazicioglu
AREA 1
Phase 2: Fortress
Phase 1: Mixed Cultural Fill and Modern Deposition
AREA 2
Phase 2: Habitation Quarters
Building A
Alley or Corridor
Outdoor Activity Area
Building B
Street
Building C
Phase 1: Craft Quarters and Architectural Remains
Phase 1b Craft Quarters
Phase 1a Craft Quarters
Phase 1 Architectural Structures
Phase 1 Street
Phase 1a Stone Enclosure Wall
Surface Finds
AREA 3
Phase 4: Middle Bronze Age City Wall
Phase 3: Step Trench Necropolis
Phase 2: Kitchen/Workshop
Phase 1: Latest LBA Necropolis Burials and Plastered Tomb
Phase 1a/1b: Stone Enclosure Wall and Installation 3
Surface Finds
COMMENTS AND CONCLUSIONS
The Architecture
ENCLOSURE WALL
THE GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE CRAFT QUARTERS (PHASES 1A AND 1B)
Stratigraphic and Chronological Imlications
CHAPTER 3: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE ALALAKH 2003-2004 SEASON POTTERY WITH WOOLLEY’S
LEVELS / Robert A. Mullins
STRATIGRAPHY AND POTTERY
THE MIDDLE BRONZE AGE (AREA 3: PHASES 2-4)
Phase 4 (Area 3): The City Wall (Woolley’s Levels VII)
Phase 3 (Area 3): The MBIIC Burials (Woolley’s Levels VII-VI)
Bowls (B)
Closed Pots (T)
Juglets (J)
Bottles (E)
Discussion of the MB Burials
Phase 2 (Area 3): Kitchen/Workshop (Locus 03-3005)
Bowls (B)
Goblets and Beakers (G)
Kraters (K)
Jars (R)
Juglets (J)
Bottles (E)
Discussion of the Kitchen/Workshop Assemblage (Woolley’s Level VI)
TRANSITION FROM MIDDLE BRONZE TO LATE BRONZE (WOOLLEY’S LEVELS VI-V)
THE LATE BRONZE AGE (AREAS 2-3: PHASES 1-2)
Phase 1 (Area 3): The Plastered Tomb
Phase 2 (Area 2): Buildings A, B and C (The Dating of Woolley’s Level I Houses)
Phase 2 (Area 2) : The Pottery From Buildings A, B and C
Plates (P)
Bowls (B)
Goblets and Beakers (G)
Kraters (K)
Colanders (O)
Closed pots (T)
Stands (Y)
Phase 1 (Area2): Craft Quarters
The Phase 1 Pottery in Area 2
Jugs (N)
Vases (V)
Discussion of Late Bronze Age Speciality Wares
CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY
Woolley’s Level VII (17th Century BC)
Woolley’s Level VIA (16th Century BC)
Woolley’s Level VIB (16th Century BC)
Woolley’s Level V (Early 15th Century BC)
Woolley’s Level IV (MID-15th Century Through the 14th Century)
CHAPTER 4: CYPRIOT POTTERY / Ekin Kozal
WARES
Red-on-Black/Red-on-Red
Black Lustrous Wheel-Made
White Slip
Monochrome
Base-Ring I
Base-Ring II
Red Lustrous Wheel-Made Ware
White Lustrous Wheel-Made Ware
White Shaved Ware
White Slip II
CONTEXTS
Area 1 (Squares 32.52, 32.53, 32.63)
Area 2 Northwestern Sector (Squares 44.45, 44.46, 44.54, 44.55)
Area 2 Southeastern Sector (Squares 44.68, 44.69, 44.79, 44.80)
Area 3 (Squares 45.62, 45.71, 45.72)
CONCLUSIONS
CATALOGUE
CHAPTER 5: MYCENAEAN POTTERY / Robert B. Koehl
INTRODUCTION
CATALOGUE
DISCUSSION
CHAPTER 6: EPIGRAPHIC REPORT / Jacob Lauinger
AO3-R1001+A03-R1139
Description
Dating
A03-R1002
Description
Dating
A03-R1112
Description
Dating
A03-R1600
Description
Dating
A03-R1326
Description
Dating
CHAPTER 7: REPORT ON THE SEALS AND SEALINGS FOUND AT TELL ATCHANA DURING THE 2003 SEASON OF
EXCAVATION / Dominique Collon
SUMMARY OF THE RESULTS
EARL STAMP SEALS
UNCLASSIFIED SEALS
MIDDLE BRONZE AGE GLYPTIC
LATE BRONZE AGE GLYPTIC
CHAPTER 8 : SMALL FINDS / Kutlu Aslihan Yener
INTRODUCTION
TERRACOTTAS AND OTHER CLAY OBJECTS
BONE, ANTLER, AND IVORY
STONE OBJECTS
METAL TOOLS AND WEAPONS
Weapons
Tools
PERSONAL ORNAMENTS: PINS, JEWELRY, AND BEADS
GLASS AND FAIENCE
CHAPTER 9: BURIALS / Alexis T. Boutin
ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXTS
OSTEOLOGICAL METHODS
SUBADULT HEALTH AND BEHAVIOR
ADULT HEALTH AND BEHAVIOR
THE PLASTERED TOMB
DISCUSSION
CHAPTER 10: FLOURISHING AGRICULTURE IN TIMES OF POLITICAL INSTABILITY: THE ARCHAEOBOTANICAL AND ISOTOPIC EVIDENCE FROM TELL ATCHANA / Simone Riehl
INTRODUCTION
The Late Bronze Age Environment
The Political Background
METHODS
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Taphonomic Issues
The Crop Assemblage
Environmental Aspects
Agro-Production At Late Bronze Age Alalakh
CONCLUSIONS
CHAPTER 11: ANTHRACOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON CHARCOAL SAMPLES FROM ATCHANA / Katleen Deckers
CHAPTER 12: FAUNAL REMAINS FROM THE 2003-2004 EXCAVATIONS AT TELL ATCHANA / Canan Çakirlar, Stine Rossel
INTRODUCTION
THE MATERIAL
THE DATA
DISCUSSION
CHAPTER 13: METALLURGICAL ANALYSIS OF CLOTHING PINS FROM THE 2004 SEASON / Stephanie Selover
INTRODUCTION
METHODOLOGY AND SAMPLING PROCEDURES
RESULTS
DISCUSSION OF THE DATA
CONCLUSIONS
CHAPTER 14: TEMPLE DEEP SOUNDING INVESTIGATIONS 2001-2006 / Stephen Batiuk, Mara Horowitz
EXCAVATIONS OF THE EARLY LEVELS AT TELL ATCHANA
The 2001 Section Cleaning
Section 1
Section 2
Ceramics from the 2001 Sections
Investigations on the Early Levels of Tell Atchana
Conclusion
APPENDIX B: 2003-2004 SMALL FINDS CATALOGUE / K. Aslihan Yener, G. Bike Yazicioglu
POTTERY
TERRACOTTAS AND OTHER CLAY OBJECTS
BONE, ANTLER, AND IVORY
STONE OBJECTS
METAL TOOLS AND WEAPONS
PERSONAL ORNAMENTS: PINS, JEWELRY, AND BEADS