Mind in metal :|contextualizing late bronze age metal artifacts from Tarsus-Gözlükule, Turkey

Abstract

This thesis aims to re-present the metal artifacts from the Late Bronze Age levels of Tarsus-Gözlükule through a contextual approach. These artifacts were assiduously excavated, examined and published by Hetty Goldman and her team from early to mid-twentieth century. The results of this excavation project galvanized Anatolian archaeology yet also followed the methodological conventions of the time where context was peripheral to the study of artifacts. The re-investigation of metal artifacts resumed within the new phase of archaeological research during the early twenty-first century, however, these focused more so on material composition through chemical analysis. Thus, the present study intends to re-situate the Late Bronze Age metal artifacts within a contextual perspective through an extensive study of unpublished field notebooks, documents and final reports while also incorporating previous archeaeometric studies. Together with new evidence on metalworking and metal processing on site, the resulting picture demonstrates the overarching continuity in the use and production of metals notwithstanding changes in the layout of the revealed settlement plan throughout the examined periods.