In AS XXXVII (1987) 23–35 J. M. Wagstaff writes interestingly of “Colonel Leake and the Classical Topography of Asia Minor”.

Leake succeeded in identifying a large number of ancient sites in Asia Minor. Dr. Wagstaff is well aware of this and naturally enough does not make it his business to list them all. However, in view of current B.I.A.A. work at Oenoanda and Balbura in the Cibyratis, it seems worth pointing out, as a footnote to his article, that Leake was the first to identify both cities, although he never visited either of them. He identified them on the basis of epigraphical evidence collected in October 1841 by Richard Hoskyn, Master of H.M.S. Beacon, and the naturalist Edward Forbes, and his “Remarks on Mr. Hoskyn's Paper”, Journal of the Royal Geographical Society XII (1842) 162–9, may be added to Dr. Wagstaff's list of publications of the man whom Louis Robert justly described as “l'incarnation de la géographie du monde hellénique pendant la première partie du XIXe siècle”.

Examination of a number of satellite and aerial images of the Milesian peninsula has allowed the mapping of a large number of apparently ancient linear features across the landscape. These are here interpreted, for the most part, as relicts of agro-economic field systems of unknown date, but most plausibly established during the Archaic, Hellenistic or late antique periods and perhaps used for centuries after, before the economic decline of the region in the second millennium AD. While earlier survey work has noted the existence of terracing and rural divisions at certain points in the landscape, the new remote-sensing data have provided an unprecedented large-scale insight into the extent and variety of forms of division, as well as documenting the stripping of macquis overgrowth by modern farming practices, which has, on the one hand, exposed these ancient landscapes but also, on the other, poses a threat to their preservation. The extent of the linear features suggests a high degree of land use on the peninsula at certain points in the past. Further investigation of these important features has the potential to provide critical insights into the economic history of rural and urban Miletos over the last 2,000 to 5,000 years.

In the summer of 2012 Oylum Höyük yielded its first Hittite cuneiform tablet and thus joined five other Hittite tabletyielding sites in southeastern Anatolia and northern Syria. The tablet was probably removed from a nearby Hittite imperial-period monumental building, which seems to have been the Hittites’ administrative centre at Oylum, and incorporated into Iron Age debris. The wording of the text, in its preserved parts, shares traits with Hittite state treaties. It also has striking similarities with Hittite instruction texts, due to the generic affinities between these two genres. However, on the basis of the overall structure of the Oylum tablet and, most significantly, the inclusion of a list of oath gods at the end of the text, it is proposed that we are dealing here with a treaty. This article clarifies the genre and comprehensible context of the tablet, provides a transliteration and, as far as it is possible, a translation of the text, provides some philological comments and ends with the suggestion that the ancient name of Oylum Höyük was Ḫaššu(wa).

Of the increasing number of Roman gemstones from Turkey published from museum and private collections, nearly all lack a secure archaeological context. Consequentially, it has been difficult to discuss the origin, production or dissemi¬nation of gemstones in Anatolia during the imperial period. Excavations in the cemeteries at Gordion have yielded over a dozen carved intaglios typical of the first to the fourth century AD. Three of the gems are cut in a relatively rare octagonal form, an eight-sided shape which achieved limited popularity during the late imperial period but has yet to receive scholarly treatment. The recent recovery of similar late Roman octagonals from other central Anatolian sites has indicated strongly that this particular gemstone type was popular and possibly produced locally in central Turkey. Examination of octagonals as a distinct group, via analyses of gem type, dimension, provenance, date and iconographic representation as evident in a newly-constructed corpus of 185 examples, appears to provide additional support for this theory. It is suggested here that the octagonal shape held numeric and symbolic significance among the military and early Christian communities of central Turkey, where a permanent workshop catering to that mixed clientele possibly existed in at least one of the principal urban centres, at Ancyra and/or Caesarea.

Statistical analysis of Carl Blegen's pottery sequence using Correspondence Analysis (CA) suggests a gap of 100–200 years between his Troy III and IV periods. From the Manfred Korfmann excavations three stratigraphic sequences hitherto assigned to Troy IV and V appear to bridge it. This allocation is based on stratigraphic/architectural grounds and on the observable development in ceramic shapes and wares. Heinrich Schliemann's pottery sequence from 1870–1873 is also analysed by CA and found to compare well with Blegen's (with limited exceptions probably due to the larger scope of his excavations), but it does not exhibit the same gap. This suggests that during the ‘bridge’ period occupation shrank to the summit on the western end of the citadel mound. This ‘bridge’ period of seven or more building phases has a distinctive ceramic assemblage and may be called the Proto-IV period. It is broadly contemporary with Middle Helladic I, Beycesultan VIII–VI, Küllüoba II and the Tarsus Early Bronze to Middle Bronze transitional period. Careful re-evaluation of the radiocarbon evidence dates it to ca 2150–1990 cal. BC. Botanical and faunal evidence from the strata in question attests significantly drier climatic conditions which, together with the smaller size of the settlement, probably reflect the 4.2ka cal. BP climatic deterioration.

A bowl with an incised heroic combat scene was found at the Hittite capital of Boğazköy and dates to the end of the 15th/beginning of the 14th century BC. This article reconsiders this previously published bowl, its production history and the message it conveys. The warrior is usually identified as Mycenaean, and in previous studies the bowl has been considered only for its incised decoration without evaluation of the bowl itself, its context and associated finds. This article argues that the bowl had a physical journey from Rough Cilicia to Hattusa and a non-physical journey from being a simple everyday object to a unique artwork through the secondary carving of an image, which reflects dualistic aspects.

Although research is currently impossible on the ground, satellite photographs allow some further information to be gleaned concerning the region of the Tur Abdin, of crucial importance during the wars between the late Roman Empire and Sassanian Persia in the fourth to seventh century AD. This article examines the ancient sources and the reports of visitors to the area in the light of what is now visible to all via Google Earth and other suppliers of free satellite imagery. Apart from describing the remains of the fortresses and their role in defending an important redoubt against Persian attacks, it draws attention to the urgent necessity for proper ground surveys of what remains of the fortifications of various periods before these are completely destroyed by looting and reuse of building materials. Dams also present a substantial risk to some of the monuments discussed here.

A new building inscription (no. 1) from Oinoanda, found beside the baths building Ml 1 in 2011, dedicates the building to the Roman emperor Vespasian and his sons Titus and Domitian in AD 73. This article places the new find in the setting of the whole building complex, including the adjacent building Ml 2, which is likely to be a palaistra (wrestling-school), though rebuilt over a century later. The inscription supplies new evidence for the date of the governor of Lycia-Pamphylia, Firmus. It also points to the existence of earlier baths, which is compared to other similar indications from elsewhere in Lycia. A second, but illegible, inscription was recorded in 2012, outside a doorway leading from building Ml 1 into the peristyle building Ml 2 (no. 2). A third inscription on a statue base in building Ml 2 was also recorded (no. 3), along with two other illegible statue-base inscriptions (nos 4 and 5). The article places them in the context of the inscribed monuments found earlier at the building complex (nos 6 and 7), which may have included the small building Ml 3, and discusses them in the light of the broader phenomenon of Julio-Claudian and Flavian baths buildings in the region, and the role of the provincial governors and procurators in overseeing such building projects. This allows us to draw some conclusions about the nature and impact of Roman rule in first-century Lycia, which brought within the reach of many Lycian cities piped water, Italian-style bathing and new, improved facilities for the regionally popular heavy athletic sports of boxing, wrestling and pankration (unarmed combat).

This paper examines the Aegean and Aegeanising ceramic wares of Geometric type that were recovered in excavations at the Cilician seaport of Kinet Höyük. Its Geometric pottery assemblage, published here for the first time, is among the largest found so far in the eastern Mediterranean and provides the starting point for a new reconstruction of Greek pottery consumption patterns in the eastern Mediterranean. With this aim, we first present the formal and archaeometric characteristics of the Kinet repertoire, the nature of its archaeological contexts, and how it compares with Geometric ceramic assemblages elsewhere. The second part of our paper assesses this popular Aegean ceramic type’s modes of production in order to define the conditions that sponsored the many dimensions of its distribution, exchange and consumption.*

“Das Hauptmerkmal der phrygischen Felsfassaden, das sie von allen anderen zeitgenössischen kleinasiatischen Felsdenkmaelern unterscheidet, ist der geometrische Dekor. Dieselbe Ornamentsprache haben die Schmuckelemente der gleichzeitigen phrygischen Terrakottafriese und auch die viel aelteren Vasen des schönen Stils”; so lautet die Ansicht von E. Akurgal über die motivische und zeitliche Identitaet der beiden bekannten architektonischen Schöpfungen von Phrygern, der Felsfassaden und der tönernen Verkleidungsplatten. Diese Beziehungen sind schon früher bemerkt und in der Forschung immer wieder zitiert.

Eine Gegenüberstellung des Kultdenkmals der Arezastis mit der—wenn auch phantasiereichen—Rekonstruktionszeichnung einer Gebaeudefassade von Pazarlı oder des “Tempels” von Gordion macht in der Gesamterscheinung tatsaechlich den gleichen dekorativen Eindruck.

Among the works of Professor John Garstang, The Land of the Hittites (1910), with its new version The Hittite Empire (1929), will remain a classic. What makes this book most valuable is the emphasis laid upon the setting of the Hittite monuments. It therefore seems appropriate to devote these pages, which are meant as a small token of gratitude to the master, to problems of this kind.

The scarabs found with the wreck at Cape Gelidonya are important for the dating of the ship. The group has been discussed in detail by Schulman in a chapter of the publication of the wreck. A new look at the scarab group after so many years may be worthwhile.

We have the following comments on Schulman's dating of these scarabs:

Scarab 1: “Late 18. or 19. Dynasty.”

In the discussion of this object “Gaza” is mentioned as the site of origin of one of the parallel pieces. However “Ancient Gaza” is the name of the 5 volumes by Petrie dealing with the excavations at Tell el-Ajjul, seven kilometres south of modern Gaza. The closest parallel to Scarab 1 is, however, at Tell el-Far'a. It has two horizontal lines under the nb sign, showing that “Lord of the Two Countries” (= Egypt) is intended in all these cases.

Scarab 2: “New Kingdom” “Early New Kingdom, more specifically … 18. Dynasty.”

It should be noted that the “short apparently meaningless vertical lines” are a duplication of the sign which usually follows an ideogram Z.1 in Gardiner's sign list. It is often duplicated thus, or appears as sign V.20 or Q.3.

This paper aims to reappraise and evaluate central Anatolian connections with the Black Sea region and the Caucasus focusing mainly on the third millennium BC. In its first part, a ceremonial item, the knobbed or ‘mushroom’ macehead, in its various appearances, is discussed in order to reconstruct a possible pattern of circulation and exchange of shapes and values over a longer period of time in the regions of Anatolia, southeast Europe and the Caucasus in the third and late second to early first millennium BC. The second part is devoted to the archaeometrical study of selected metal and mineral artefacts from the Early Bronze Age necropolis of Resuloğlu, which together with the contemporary settlement and graveyard at Kalınkaya-Toptaştepe represent two typical later Early Bronze Age sites in the Anatolian heartland. The high values of tin and arsenic used for most of the smaller jewellery items are suggestive of an attempt to imitate gold and silver, and the amounts of these alloying agents suggest a secure supply from arsenic sources located along the Black Sea littoral in the north and probably tin ores to the southeast of central Anatolia. This places these ‘Hattian’ sites within a trade network that ran from the Pontic mountain ridge to the Taurus foothills.

Dr. Richard Barnett has had a long-standing interest in Urartu, manifested most recently in his chapter in the new Cambridge Ancient History, and early represented by his article on “The Excavations of the British Museum at Toprak Kale near Van” over thirty years before, in 1950. Among the finds in the important Toprak Kale collection in the British Museum were parts of what Dr. Barnett described as a “bewigged garment of lead”, and this piece (BM. 123870) has become familiar from his illustration (Pl. XXXVa).

It was found during the excavations conducted on behalf of the British Museum at Toprak Kale in 1880 by Captain E. Clayton and Dr. G. C. Raynolds, who undertook the work at the request of Hormuzd Rassam, in whose name Sir Henry Layard had obtained an excavation permit. Clayton and Raynolds excavated two main areas on Toprak Kale, one representing the Temple of Haldi, and the other, some fifty feet to the south, where a “pavement” was uncovered and a number of ivory objects and fragments of ivory and bronze were found, in Clayton's words, “in this excavation near the level of the pavement …” Though he makes no mention of lead, the lead fragments under discussion were associated with the ivory, and were presumably mistaken by him for fragments of bronze. This group is probably to be dated in the later part of the ninth, or the eight century B.C.

The Church of St Mary is one of the most significant monuments of Ephesos, but also one of the most enigmatic. Its repeated modifications prior to its destruction created an amalgam of different phases that have proven difficult to decipher within the present remains. Written records and inscriptions suggest that this church was the venue of the riotous Ecumenical Council of AD 431, but the identification of the phase of the building that corresponds to this event is controversial. And, although the remains make it clear that at some point the church was transformed into a domed basilica, the latter’s form and date have not been established with certainty. The present article tries to fill these lacunae through a new survey of the remains of the church and a re-examination of the evidence from the archaeological excavations of the 20th century. This new investigation of wall structures and design patterns within the remains leads to new interpretations of the evidence, and sheds further light on the history of the Church of St Mary from its late antique origins to the Dark Ages.

The Maraş and Sakçagözü valley surveys on the east side of the Amanus mountains provide new data regarding patterns of Hittite territorial management and administration. Sites dating to the Late Bronze Age II period were identified by the presence of burnished pottery, drab ware and, occasionally, by animal-shaped ceramic vessel fragments. The standardised drab ware pottery is emblematic of mass production and rigid control of labour sources and raw materials through systems designed to support the economic and political strategies of the Hittite court and to serve its interests. The settlement pattern is linked to Hittite regional needs for agricultural production, raw materials and territorial security. The distinct site location pattern indicates a strategic, restrained use of space by the Hittites. This left room for beneficial integrative features that local élites might emphasise for their own purposes, which comprise a foundation for the prestige later accorded to the Hittite legacy.