Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
TÜBA-AR : TÜRKIYE BILIMLER AKADEMISI ARKEOLOJI DERGISI = TURKISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY, cilt.32, ss.35-46, 2023 (Hakemli Dergi)
The end of the 3rd millennium BCE, known as the Early Bronze Age (EBA) III in Anatolia, is the period when the first urban societies developed and the inter-regional exchange networks that extended from Northern Syria to the Aegean region and the Balkans increased. The spread of new technologies such as the potter’s wheel, the weight systems, metallurgy, and the practice of sealing, as well as the circulation of small prestige objects such as the Syrian bottles, drinking vessels such as depas and tankard, bone tubes that were used to carry pigments, or semi-precious stones can be counted as indications of these relations. One of the most characteristic practices of the 3rd millennium BCE is the votive pits seen in many of the period’s settlements.
Although this practice, which was observed in a wide geographical area extending from Northern Syria in the east to Thrace and the Balkans in the west, has been discussed in various publications so far, they were generally just about artefacts such as pottery and small finds.
In this study, the pit that was discovered during the 2022 excavations in Eskişehir-Küllüoba and identified as a votive pit, as well as the pottery and the small finds found inside it, are discussed as a case analysis, using archaeozoological and archaeobotanical data. The layer of clay covering the above-mentioned pit distinguishes it from the previously evaluated pits. This study in general aims to evaluate, through the data gathered on the said pit, the differences particularly between the domestic refuse pits to which remains such as ash or rubbish are deposited and the ritual pits.
Keywords: Pit, Ritual, Küllüoba, Early Bronze Age, Clay