A coin hoard from Ayasuluk and the arrival of silver gigliati from Mediterranean Europe in early 14th-century western Anatolia

In 1972 a hoard of eight fine silver coins was discovered in or near the baptistery of the basilica of St John in Ayasuluk. It is now conserved at the Ephesus Archaeological Museum in Selçuk. The coins were minted in southern France, southern Italy and on the island of Rhodes, between ca AD 1303 and 1319 or perhaps a little later. Accordingly, a concealment date of ca 1320 or a bit later is proposed. While the currency which they represent (the gigliato) is well known from other finds of the area, the present hoard is relatively early and from a particularly significant location. This currency found great success in commercial contexts in the eastern Aegean and western Anatolia during the period ca 1325 to ca 1370. By contrast, this study reveals two initial phases in the establishment and further dissemination of the gigliato in a concentrated part of western Anatolia, one in 1304 and another before and after ca 1317. On both occasions the Catalans were instrumental in shaping these processes: initially as conquerors on behalf of the Byzantine emperors and then, from their new base in Greece, as allies of the Aydinogullari rulers of Ayasuluk. Additionally, it is proposed that this new gigliato currency might have been minted at Rhodes from the summer of 1319, after which it rapidly reached the Ephesus area in a military context.

Factoids of Assyrian presence in Anatolia: towards a historiography of archaeological interpretation at Kültepe-Kaneš

This article offers a historiographical examination of how 20th-century ideas of assimilation and cultural purity have shaped our understanding of Bronze Age Anatolia, focusing on the canonical narrative of Assyrian presence at the site of Kültepe-Kaneš. According to this narrative, Old Assyrian merchants who lived and conducted business at Kaneš from the early 20th to the late 18th century BC left no trace in the archaeological record except for cuneiform tablets and cylinder seals, assimilating to local culture to such a degree that Kültepe’s archaeological record is entirely of Anatolian character. The accuracy of this view has met increasing circumspection in recent years. What remains to be articulated is why it remained unchallenged for so long, from its initial formulation in 1948 until the late 2000s, during which time it was widely repeated and reiterated. It is proposed here that the persistence and longevity of what is essentially a misconstrued notion of foreign (in)visibility in Kültepe’s material record can be explained by treating it as a ‘factoid’. The article first historicises the factoid’s formulation and subsequent development. This is followed by a critical evaluation of the evidentiary bases of the factoid to show how disciplinary tendencies to privilege certain categories of evidence over others have created artificial gaps in the data. Ultimately, the article seeks to highlight the epistemological implications of how one of the key sites of Bronze Age Anatolia came to represent a perceived rather than an observed case of indigenous cultural purity.

The Great Mosque of Diyarbakir: a contribution to understanding the monumental development of a site from antiquity to the Arab conquest

Located in a central position of both the ancient and the contemporary city, the site of the Great Mosque of Diyarbakir has been a unique stage for the expression of power over the centuries. As a result of restoration work carried out in the complex between 2012 and 2017, a number of elements have emerged that may shed new light on what has so far been suggested about this site by literary sources and field observations alone. This article offers a new study of the monumental development of this space and seeks to identify the main stages of its history from antiquity to the Arab conquest and the conversion of the area into a mosque complex.

The rock inscriptions, graffiti and crosses from Quarry GO3C at Göktepe, Muğla district (Turkey)

This paper discusses some of the results of a geo-archaeological survey conducted in 2014 in the marble quarries at Göktepe near Muğla (the ancient region of Caria). During the survey we examined a dossier of both already known and newly recorded rock inscriptions and textual and pictorial graffiti (prominently including crosses) from District 3, Quarry C (= Quarry GO3C). Here, we aim to explore the contents and spatial contexts of these texts and images, and consider them in relation to the pottery finds and literary sources, in order to throw new light on the history of the quarry. The texts and images suggest that at some point the site was abandoned as a quarry and, probably already in late antiquity, resettled by hermits.

On the Roman-Byzantine adoption of the stirrup once more: a new find from seventh-century Aphrodisias

Archaeological evidence and the text of the Strategikon show that it was only in the late sixth century AD that the Roman-Byzantine military adopted the stirrup. It is now widely argued that the Avars, who settled in the Carpathian basin in the sixth century, played a key role in introducing iron stirrups to the Roman-Byzantine world. However, the evidence to support this assertion is limited. Although hundreds of stirrups have been found in Avar graves in the Carpathian basin, very few stirrups of sixth- or seventh-century date are known from the Roman-Byzantine empire - no more than seven - and only two of these are of definitively Avar type. The text of the Strategikon, sometimes argued to support this Avar source, can be interpreted differently, as indeed can the archaeological evidence. While the debate about the Roman-Byzantine adoption of the stirrup has focused mostly on finds from the Balkans, two early stirrups are known from Asia Minor, from Pergamon and Sardis. This paper presents a third, previously unpublished stirrup, from a seventh-century deposit at Aphrodisias in Caria; this is the first stirrup found in Asia Minor from a datable context. Here we present this find and its context, and use it to reconsider the model of solely Avar stirrup transmission that has dominated scholarship to date. So varied are the early stirrups that multiple sources of influence, Avar and other, and even a degree of experimentation, seem more likely to underpin the Roman-Byzantine adoption of this technology.

Anatolian-Persian grave stelae from Bozüyük in Phrygia: a contribution to understanding Persian presence and organisation in the region

This paper provides an assessment of four grave stelae that were found recently in the area surrounding Bozüyük, on the Anatolian plateau in the south of the Bilecik province. The plateau was part of the core of the kingdom of Phrygia during the Early and Middle Iron Ages, and part of the satrapy of Phrygia during the Achaemenid period of the Late Iron Age in Anatolia. The main focus is to examine the place of such stelae among Anatolian-Persian examples and to explore elements of Persian presence and organisation in the region. The precise archaeological contexts of these stelae are unknown, but are likely to have been tumuli. They are examples of an Anatolian-Persian style from the Achaemenid period, but can also be considered to be part of a somewhat rustic 'rural' sub-style, compared with more elaborate stelae that have been found around Dascylium, the satrapal capital of Hellespontine Phrygia. The Bozüyük stelae feature banquet, hunting and ritual scenes, and also battle scenes that distinguish them from other Anatolian-Persian stelae. Despite similarities, particularly with the Vezirhan stele, there are also discrepancies that make precise analogies with reliefs on other stelae difficult, though not impossible. It is likely that they were created by a connected group of sculptors, and might therefore be evidence of a workshop that sculpted local materials in a unique rural style.

The closing formula of the Old Phrygian epitaph B-07 in the light of the Aramaic KAI 318: a case of textual convergence in Daskyleion

After an overview of the multilingual epigraphy of Daskyleion during the Achaemenid period, this paper focuses on the closing formula shared by the Aramaic KAI 318 and the Old Phrygian B-07 epitaphs, which consists of a warning not to harm the funerary monument. Comparison of the two inscriptions sheds light on the cryptic Old Phrygian B-07, the sole Old Phrygian epitaph known. As a result, the paper provides new Phrygian forms, like the possible first-person singular umno=tan, ‘I adjure you’, and a new occurrence of the Phrygian god Ti-, ‘Zeus’, together with a second possible occurrence of Devos, ‘God’, equated to Bel and Nabu of the Aramaic inscription.

Four Frankish gravestones from medieval Ephesus

This paper presents and discusses four Latin tombstones relating to Italian residents of medieval Ephesus that have been recovered from properties on the terrace of Ayasuluk (Selçuk), near the Byzantine Church of St John the Evangelist. Two of them, dating from the late 14th century, were originally published in 1937, while the other two, from the mid- 15th century, came to light more recently in January 2017.

Breaking continuity? Site formation and temporal depth at Çatalhöyük and Tell Sabi Abyad

Spatial continuity of the house is often seen as crucial in providing temporal depth for the Neolithic societies of southwest Asia. While an emphasis on the creation of such continuities is evinced at densely agglomerated sites, other sites are characterised by dispersal and frequent relocation of habitation. Çatalhöyük (Turkey) and Tell Sabi Abyad (Syria) appear to be at either end of this spectrum. However, recently found evidence and reinterpretation of older evidence call into question the apparently stark distinction between the two sites. The purpose of this paper is to compare aspects of the archaeological evidence from Tell Sabi Abyad and Çatalhöyük, and in doing so to understand the different ways in which site formation and social continuity were achieved. In particular, the presence of breaks in spatial continuities – an often overlooked aspect of site formation – and its implications are discussed. It appears that at these two sites both continuity and breaks gave form and meaning to the settlements and to the societies that inhabited them. We argue that social continuities and anchors to the past can be constructed in many variable ways, and that direct spatial continuity of the house is but one.