Public buildings in Early Bronze Age Anatolia

This study examines public buildings in 18 centres of the Early Bronze Age in Anatolia. The main aim of the thesis is to identify the emergence and rise of public buildings in Anatolia during the Early Bronze Age, the main dynamics that brought about this rise, and to determine their regional, temporal, qualitative and quantitative similarities and differences in Anatolia. While in the early phases of the Early Bronze Age public buildings were observed in only a few centres, the number of settlements where these structures were observed increased from the second half of the Early Bronze Age onwards, and they are represented by one or more examples in almost every region of Anatolia. As is well known, the second half of the Early Bronze Age is a very dynamic period with many changes and movements. During this period, social complexity increased with the growing need for raw materials, especially mineral resources, and local and regional ruling elites emerged to control access, accumulation and distribution of these raw materials in order to increase their power. These ruling elites and the emergence of public structures appear to be related. It is assumed that these ruling elites engaged in long–distance interactions to consolidate their status; it is assumed that they carried out their administrative, ritual, communal, feasting and ceremonial practices from public buildings. It is assumed that Anatolian public buildings showed a hybrid structure, influenced both by their own internal dynamics and by the surrounding cultural regions during the period of global interactions that were particularly active in the second half of the Early Bronze Age; in some centres architectural ideas were transferred, but local features were also preserved. Key Words Early Bronze Age, Anatolia, Public Building, Monumental Architecture