Discussing the anatolian archaeomusicology in the context of ancient Mesopotamian music theory texts and instruments

It was discovered in 1960 that some cuneiform tablets found in ancient Mesopotamia was containing data about music theory. As a result of these discoveries, which re-directed the history of music theory, information on the theoretical and melodic data of Ancient Near Eastern music has been reached. These cuneiform tablets, which can be examined in four different categories as classified according to their content, explain music theory through lyre or harp instruments. The scope of this thesis study is to open a discussion whether the musical elements conveyed by the music theory data in question were used by the Ancient Anatolian civilizations too by supplying necessary data acquired from the related literature that could support this discussion. Information about lyre and harp instruments in Ancient Mesopotamia are discussed in the first part of the thesis in which also cuneiform tablets regarding Ancient Mesopotamian music theory are examined in details. In the second part of the study, the similar Archaeomusicological data obtained from the Ancient Anatolia regarding the same instruments were used to make comparisons between the two geographies. Thereby, it is questioned whether the structures seen in the aforementioned theoretical texts have been adopted by the Ancient Anatolian societies or not. Also at the conclusion, the continuation of these musical cultures were discussed benefiting from the information gathered through the musical traditions such as "Traditional Turkish Music" that have been continuing in Anatolian peninsula for thousands of years.