Central Anatolian pottery of end of third millenium- the beginning of second millenium BC in the light of recent developments

As a result of the transformation of the societies in the Central Anatolian Region from the second half of the Early Bronze Age onwards, city-states, symbolizing a complex social order, gradually began to emerge. This transformation, which paved the cultural basis of the Central Anatolian Middle Bronze Age societies, has been completed gradually in a period covering the last centuries of the 3rd millennium BC and the beginning phase of the 2nd millennium BC. In this period, which also defines end of the Early Bronze Age, crucial changes were observed in the pottery assemblage. Although the emergence of wheel-made pottery in Anatolia coincides with the beginning of the second half of the 3rd millennium BC, the increase in wheel-made forms and the emergence of new types coincide with the end of the 3rd millennium BC. These developments are not noticeably clear for the Central Anatolia. The archaeological data obtained from the new excavations in the region show that this period started earlier than the previously assumed time range. In order to update the data about this period and to present a general view of the end of the Early Bronze Age in Central Anatolia, 32 settlements with layers dating to the end of the 3rd millennium BC and the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, which have been excavated or are still being excavated in the region, were evaluated. A typological chart was created from the pottery forms of these settlements and fourteen different pottery groups were identified. Each form was divided into sub-types and the centers where the same types were found were marked on the map. The form chart revealed that the developments in the pottery production could be analyzed in five different regions in Central Anatolia during the last phase of the 3rd Millennium BC. Data from new research and radiocarbon results show that this process started earlier in the south and east of Central Anatolia, while the northwest was involved in this process later. While the first steps towards standardization coincide with 2300 BC, the process in which cultures converged and borders merged was determined as 2200 BC.