Western Anatolian Early Bronze Age disc-faced figurines

No doubt, potteries are the most important archaeological materials to understand the prehistorical periods and an other important material groups named small finds comes second row after ceramics for obtaining cultural and chronological information of the ancient societies and their settlements. Small finds usually explains daily life styles, habits, traditions, trade relationship, decorating and adornment etc... The figurines and idols that are grouped under named of small find mostly associated with religious belief. Known as "Disc-Faced Figurines" or "Chubby-Faced Figurines", which constituent the subject of this thesis, are a specific figurine type of inner western Anatolia and they found only in the two sub-regions defined as Frygian Cultural Region and Great Menderes Upper Sakarya Cultural Region. These figurines emerged at the beginning of the Early Bronze Age and uncovered intensely in many settlement during the EB I-II but these figurines at issue didn't caught nowhere during EB III. There are some well known cultural regions in Western Anatolia. These region as known determined by studies on some ceramics groups and limits of these zones are depending on features and distributions of material culture found around the from the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods onwards recent periods of Western Anatolia. Likewise it is possible to observe some regional similarities and differences for disc-faced figurines. There are some symbolic and decorative elements on this figures which is very important in terms of reflecting the life and tradition of ancient societies, their belief shapes and artistic aspects etc... This study is trying to obtain the specific and original data on the disc-faced figurines with technical examining and classifying according to their contexts and region in which they occur. The datas comes from 17 settlement within boundaries of western Anatolia has been examined in chronological plane and has been discussed with their regional developments and changes. Based on this method, the figurines found at sites Demircihüyük, Seyitömer, Kusura, Kaklık Mevkii and Küllüoba classified to cultural region in their chronological plane and the figurines come from mixed layer of sites and surveys on the sites of Şarhöyük, Yukarı Söğütönü I, Bolvadin/Üçhöyük, Bavurdu, Banaz, Manahoz, Akhisar, Çıkrık and Nudra were tried dating according to this classification results.