New Insight into the Early Iron Age Architecture in Northwestern Anatolia

Abstract

The cultures of great civilizations were disrupted by the large-scale migrations in the Late Bronze Age in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. The corresponding period has been named the “Dark Age” due to the exiguous research on the resultant new cultures. This period is also called the Early Iron Age, and little is known about how it unfolded in Northwestern Anatolia, as in the Aegean World and Asia Minor. It began with the migration of Thracian tribes to the region in the 1200s BC and continued up to ca. 950-800 BC, i.e., Late Proto-Geometric Period to the Early Geometric Period, during which the effects of the Thracian tribes were still present. Because they remained settled at any one location only briefly, there is limited information about the cultural aspects, particularly architecture, of this era during their dominance. The available information concerning this region in the period derives solely from one excavated site, namely Troia, and this body of evidence guides the research both in and beyond the area surrounding Troia. New data concerning the period in question were retrieved from the Maydos Kilisetepe Mound settlement, presently located on the European side of the Dardanelles. These new findings offer further insight into the architecture of the Early Iron Age, previously known only from Troia, and reveal notably different results specific to the Maydos settlement. Drawing upon this new evidence, the present study aims to shed more light on the so-called “Dark Age,” about which little information is currently available.

It is declared that scientific and ethical principles were complied with during the preparation of this study and all the works referred are mentioned in the bibliography.