Keramik des frühen zweiten Jahrtausends v. Chr. von Ikiztepe am Schwarzen Meer

Subject of the theses is the corps of finds from the excavations under the direction of U.B. Alkım in İkiztepe Hill I, layer I, from 1974 – 1980. Around 16,000 sherds of pottery, of which almost 5,000 were diagnostic pieces, were evaluated. So, for the first time such an extensive pottery complex of the early 2nd millennium BC from the Turkish Black Sea region could be documented and examined. The ceramics show a cultural unity with a clearly definable range of types. The cultural connections point without exception to Central Anatolia. The centres of Early Hittite Culture there, primarily Kültepe, Alişar, Boğazköy and Alacahöyük and now Kayalıpınar, provide the best comparative pieces to the forms documented in İkiztepe. Not only individual pieces or special types show the congruence, but also the spectrum of forms as a whole. This far-reaching congruence is clear evidence that not only intensive contacts existed between İkiztepe and the Early Hittite centers on the plateau, but this Pontic coastal region was rather part of the Early Hittite cultural area. Furthermore, some sherds suggest the use of the place until the Old Hittite or even Middle Hittite period (mid-2nd millennium BC) but remains of this period mostly eroded. Although the analysis of pottery material of a settlement site can not verify or falsify any localization of historical place names, however, as a result of the study it can be stated, that the archaeological record does not contradict the identification of the city "Zalpa" with İkiztepe, known from Old Assyrian and Hittite texts.