Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T06:55:47.012Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The treasure deposits of Troy: rethinking crisis and agency on the Early Bronze Age citadel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2012

Christoph Bachhuber
Christoph Bachhuber
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The treasure deposits of Troy have been largely studied in isolation from both architectural developments and other depositional contexts in Troia II–III. The corpus has been perceived as little more than a catalogue of information that can be assessed to outline various trends related to metallurgical production, expanding networks of exchange and fluctuations in economic wealth. Considerations of agency have been few and limited. This study relates the content and context of the treasures to depositional and architectural patterns that begin in Troia II. Meaningful continuities and transformations between Troia II–III ultimately challenge the widely held reconstruction that the treasures were a concealment of wealth in anticipation of an attack. The study arrives at an alternative explanation with a consideration of the relationship between the destruction and abandonment of the Troia II central megaron complex and the deposition of treasure. The central megaron complex and the treasure deposits represent two distinct and divergent strategies of élite initiative on the citadel. The study concludes with a consideration of the inherently destabilising practices of treasures deposition, the final destruction of Troia III and the end of the Early Bronze Age in Anatolia.

Özet

Troya'daki hazine gömüleri büyük çoğunlukla hem mimari gelişmelerden hem de Troya II–III evreleri diğer gömülerinden bağımsız olarak incelenmiştir. Bu nedenle bu çalışmalar sonucu oluşturulmuş yazılı açıklamalar metalurjik üretim, iletişim ağlarındaki genişleme, ekonomik refahtaki dalgalanmalar gibi farklı çizgiler izlenerek oluşturulabilecek taslak niteliğindeki kataloklardan daha fazla bilgi vermemektedir. Dönemsel faaliyetleri göz önüne alan çalışma çok az sayıda ve kısıtlıdır. Bu çalışma Troya II ile başlamak üzere gömüleri ve mimari modelleri ilişkilendirerek gömünün hem içeriğini, hem de ortaya çıkarıldığı ortamı incelemektedir. Troya II ve III arasında gözlenen anlamlı süreklilik ve değişmeler, geniş bir kesim tarafından kabul gören -hazine gömülerinin tahmin edilen bir saldırı için refahın gizlenmesi- olduğu görüşüne karşı fikirler ortaya çıkarmıştır. Bu çalışma, Troya II merkezi megaron kompleksinde meydana gelen yıkım ve terk edilmiş olma ile hazine gömüleri arasındaki ilişkiyi değerlendirerek alternatif bir açıklamaya ulaşmıştır. Merkezi megaron kompleksi ile hazine gömüleri kale durumundaki bu kentte elit inisiatifinin birbirinden farklı ve zıt iki stratejisini temsil eder. Çalışma yöre halkına miras kalmış olan düzensiz gömü uygulaması, Troya III deki nihai yıkım ve Anadolu'da Erken Bronz Çağ'ın bitimini dikkate alarak bir sonuca ulaşmaktadır.

Type
Research Article
Information
Anatolian Studies , Volume 59 , December 2009 , pp. 1 - 18
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute at Ankara 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Antonova, I., Tolstikov, V., Treister, M., Easton, D. 1996: The Gold of Troy: Searching for Homer's Fabled City. LondonGoogle Scholar
Appadurai, A. 1986: ‘Introduction: commodities and the politics of value’ in Appadurai, A. (ed.), The Social Life of Things. Cambridge: 3–63CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bachhuber, C. 2008: Sumptuary Behaviour in Early Bronze Age Anatolia: The Royal Tombs of Alacahöyük and the Treasure Deposits of Troy. DPhil thesis, University of OxfordGoogle Scholar
Bachhuber, C. forthcoming: ‘Negotiating metal and the metal form in the Royal Tombs of Alacahöyük in north-central Anatolia’ in Wilkinson, T., Sherratt, S., Bennet, J. (eds), Interweaving Worlds: Systemic Interactions in Eurasia, 7th to 1st Millennia BC. OxfordGoogle Scholar
Bass, G.F. 1970: ‘A hoard of Trojan and Sumerian jewelry’ American Journal of Archaeology 74: 335–41Google Scholar
Bendall, L. 2007: Economics of Religion in the Mycenaean World: Resources Dedicated to Religion in the Mycenaean Palace Economy. OxfordGoogle Scholar
Bernabò-Brea, L. 1964: Poliochni, cittá preistorica nell'isola di Lemnos I, II. RomeGoogle Scholar
Bittel, K. 1959: ‘Beitrag zur Kenntnis anatolischer Metallgefässe der zweiten Hälfte des dritten Jahrtausends v. Chr.’ Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 74: 1–34Google Scholar
Blegen, C., Caskey, J., Rawson, M., Sperling, J. 1950: Troy: The First and Second Settlements. PrincetonGoogle Scholar
Bradley, R. 1984: The Social Foundations of Prehistoiric Britain: Themes and Variations in the Archaeology of Power. LondonGoogle Scholar
Bradley, R. 1985: Consumption, Change and the Archaeological Record: The Archaeology of Monuments and the Archaeology of Deliberate Deposits (University of Edinburgh Department of Archaeology Occasional Paper 13). EdinburghGoogle Scholar
Bradley, R. 1998: The Passage of Arms: An Archaeological Analysis of Prehistoric and Votive Deposits (second edition). OxfordGoogle Scholar
Branigan, K. 1974: Aegean Metalwork of the Early and Middle Bronze Age. OxfordGoogle Scholar
Broodbank, C. 2000: An Island Archaeology of the Early Cyclades. CambridgeGoogle Scholar
Bryce, T. 2006: The Trojans and Their Neighbours. LondonGoogle Scholar
Canby, J.V. 1965: ‘Early Bronze Age “trinket moulds”’ Iraq 27: 42–61CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chapman, J. 2000: ‘Pit-digging and structured deposition in the Neolithic and Copper Age’ Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 66: 61–87CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dabney, M., Halstead, P., Thomas, P. 2004: ‘Mycenaean feasting on Tsoungiza at ancient Nemea’ in Wright, J. (ed.), The Mycenaean Feast. Athens: 77–95Google Scholar
Day, P., Wilson, D.E. 2004: ‘Ceramic change and the practice of eating and drinking in Early Bronze Age Crete’ in Halstead, P., Barrett, J.C. (eds), Food, Cuisine and Society in Prehistoric Greece. Oxford: 45–62Google Scholar
Dörpfeld, W. (ed.) 1902: Troja und Ilion: Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen in den vorhistorischen und historischen Schichten von Ilion. AthensGoogle Scholar
Driessen, J. 1995: ‘Crisis architecture: some observations on architectural adaptations as immediate responses to changing socio-cultural conditions’ Topoi 5: 63–88CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Easton, D.F. 1984: ‘Priam's Treasure’ Anatolian Studies 34:141–69Google Scholar
Easton, D.F. 1997: ‘The excavation of the Trojan treasures, and their history up to the death of Schliemann in 1890’ in Allison, E.C. (ed.), The Spoils of War: The Loss, Reappearance, and Recovery of Cultural Property. New York: 194–206Google Scholar
Easton, D.F. 2002: Schliemann's Excavations at Troia. Mainz am RheinGoogle Scholar
Easton, D.E., Hawkins, J.D., Sherratt, A.G., Sherratt, E.S. 2002: ‘Troy in recent perspective’ Anatolian Studies 52: 75–110Google Scholar
Efe, T. 2002: ‘The interaction between cultural/political entities and metalworking in western Anatolia during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Ages’ in Yalçın, U. (ed.), Anatolian Metal I (Die Anschnitt, Beiheft 13). Bochum: 49–65Google Scholar
Efe, T. 2003: ‘Küllüoba and the initial stages of urbanism in western Anatolia’ in Özdoğan, M., Başgelen, H.H. Nezih (eds), Studies Presented to Uruk Esin: From Village to Cities: Early Villages in the Near East. Istanbul: 265–82Google Scholar
Efe, T. 2007: ‘The theories of a “Great Caravan Route” between Cilicia and Troy: the Early Bronze Age III period in inland western Anatolia’ Anatolian Studies 57: 47–64Google Scholar
Ellis, R. 1968: Foundation Deposits in Ancient Mesopotamia. New HavenGoogle Scholar
Emre, K., Çınaroğlu, A. 1993: ‘A group of metal Hittite vessels from Kınık-Kastamonu’ in Mellink, M.J., Porada, E., Özgüç, T. (eds), Aspects of Art and Iconography: Anatolia and its Neighbors. Ankara: 675–713Google Scholar
Fontijn, D. 2002: Sacrificial Landscapes: Cultural Biographies of Persons, Objects and ‘Natural Places’ in the Bronze Age of the Southern Netherlands, c. 2300–600 BC. LeidenGoogle Scholar
Gates, M.H. 1997: ‘Archaeology in Turkey’ American Journal of Archaeology 101: 241–305CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Götze, A. 1902: ‘Die Kleingeräte aus Metall, Stein, Thon und ähnliche Stoffen’ in Dörpfeld, W. (ed.), Troia und Ilion: Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen in den vorhistorischen und historischen Schichten von Ilion. Athens: 320–423Google Scholar
Greaves, A.M., Helwing, B. 2001: ‘Archaeology in Turkey: the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages’ American Journal of Archaeology 105: 463–597CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregory, C. 1980: ‘Gifts to men and gifts to gods: gift exchange and capital accumulation in contemporary Papua’ Man 15: 628–52CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregory, C. 1982: Gifts and Commodities. LondonGoogle Scholar
Halstead, P., Barrett, J. (eds) 2004: Food, Cuisine and Society in Prehistoric Greece. OxfordGoogle Scholar
Hayden, B. 2001: ‘Fabulous feasts: a prolegomenon to the importance of feasting’ in Dietler, M., Hayden, B. (eds), Feasts: Archaeological and Ethnographic Perspectives on Food, Politics, and Power. Washington DC: 23–64Google Scholar
Junker, L.L. 2001: ‘Ritual feasting systems in prehispanic Philippine chiefdoms’ in Dietler, M., Hayden, B. (eds), Feasts: Archaeological and Ethnographic Perspectives on Food, Politics, and Power. Washington DC: 267–310Google Scholar
Knapp, A.B. 2008: Prehistoric and Protohistoric Cyprus: Identity, Insularity and Connectivity. OxfordGoogle Scholar
Kolb, M.J. 1994: ‘Monumentality and the rise of religious authority on precontact Hawai'i’ Current Anthropology 34: 521–47CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kolb, M.J. 2005: ‘The genesis of monuments among the Mediterranean islands’ in Blake, E., Knapp, A.B. (eds), The Archaeology of Mediterranean Prehistory. Oxford: 77–106Google Scholar
Korfmann, M. 1996: ‘Troia – Ausgrabungen 1995’ Studia Troica 6: 1–64Google Scholar
Korfmann, M. 2001a: ‘Troia als Drehschiebe des Handels im 2. und 3. vorchristlichen Jahrtausend’ in Planck, D., Biegel, G., Luckhardt, J., Jacob, W. (eds), Troia: Traum und Wirklichkeit. Baden-Württemberg: 355–72Google Scholar
Korfmann, M. 2001b: ‘Neue Aspekte zum “Schatz des Priamos”: Der Schatz A von Troia, sein Auffindungsort und seine Datierung’ in Planck, D., Biegel, G., Luckhardt, J., Jacob, W. (eds), Troia: Traum und Wirklichkeit. Baden-Württemberg: 373–83Google Scholar
Korfmann, M. 2001c: ‘Der prähistorische Siedlungshügel Hisarlık: Die “zehn Städte Troias” – von unten nach oben’ in Planck, D., Biegel, G., Luckhardt, J., Jacob, W. (eds), Troia: Traum und Wirklichkeit. Baden-Württemberg: 347–72Google Scholar
Koşay, H. 1951: Les Fouilles d'Alaca Höyük: Enterprises par la Societe d'histoire Turque: Rapport Preliminaire sur les Traveux en 1937–39. AnkaraGoogle Scholar
Kristiansen, K. 1978: ‘The consumption of wealth in Bronze Age Denmark. A study in the dynamics of economic processes in tribal societies’ in Kristiansen, K., Paludan-Müller, C. (eds), New Directions in Scandinavian Archaeology. Copenhagen: 158–90Google Scholar
La Barre, W. 1971: ‘Materials for a history of studies of crisis cults: a bibliographic essay’ Current Anthropology 12: 3–44CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levy, J. 1982: Social and Religious Organization in Bronze Age Denmark: An Analysis of Ritual Hoard Finds. OxfordGoogle Scholar
Mansfeld, G. 2001: ‘Die Kontroll-Ausgrabungen des Pinnacle E4/5 im Zentrum der Burg von Troia’ Studia Troica 11: 51–308Google Scholar
Matthews, R., Glatz, C. 2009: ‘The historical geography of north-central Anatolia in the Hittite period: texts and archaeology in concert’ Anatolian Studies 59: 51–72CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maxwell-Hyslop, K.R. 1971: Western Asiatic Jewellery c. 3000–612 BC. LondonGoogle Scholar
Mellaart, J. 1970: Excavations at Hacılar. EdinburghGoogle Scholar
Mellink, M.J. 1986: ‘The Early Bronze Age in west Anatolia’ in Cadogan, G. (ed.), Symposium on the End of the Early Bronze Age in the Aegean, University of Cincinatti. Leiden: 139–52Google Scholar
Mellaart, J. 1989: ‘Anatolian and foreign relations of Tarsus in the Early Bronze Age’ in Emre, K., Hrouda, B., Mellink, M.J., Özgüç, N. (eds), Anatolia and the Ancient Near East. Ankara: 319–32Google Scholar
Mellaart, J. 1998: ‘Anatolia and the bridge from east to west in the Early Bronze Age’ Türkiye Bilimler Akademisi Arkeoloji Dergisi 1: 1–8Google Scholar
Musche, B. 1992: Vorderasiatischer Schmuck von den Anfängen bis zur Zeit Achaemeniden (ca. 10000–220 v. Chr.). LeidenGoogle Scholar
Özgüç, T., Temizer, R. 1993: ‘The Eskiyapar Treasure’ in Mellink, M., Porada, E., Porada, T.E., Özgüç, T. (eds), Aspects of Art and Iconography: Anatolia and its Neighbors: Studies in Honour of Nimet Özgüc. Ankara: 613–28Google Scholar
Peltenburg, E. 2000: ‘From nucleation to dispersal. Late third millennium BC settlement pattern transformations in the Near East and the Aegean’ in Rouault, O., Wäfler, M. (eds), La Djéziré et l'Euphrate Syriens de la Protohistoire à la Fin du IIe Millénaire av. J.-C. Tendances dans l'Interprétation Historique des Donneés Nouvelles. Turnhout: 183–206Google Scholar
Pernicka, E. 2001: ‘Metalle machen Epoche’ in Planck, D., Biegel, G., Luckhardt, J., Jacob, W. (eds), Troia: Traum und Wirklichkeit. Baden-Württemberg: 369–72Google Scholar
Pernicka, E., Eibner, C., Öztunalı, Ö., Wagner, G.A. 2003: ‘Early Bronze Age metallurgy in the northeast Aegean’ in Wagner, G., Pernicka, E., Uerpmann, H.-P. (eds), Troia and the Troad: Scientific Approaches. Berlin: 143–72CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pettinato, G. 1991: Ebla: A New Look at History. BaltimoreGoogle Scholar
Richards, C. 1996: ‘Monuments as landscape: creating the centre of the world in Late Neolithic Orkney’ World Archaeology 28: 190–208CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rowlands, M.J. 1980: ‘Kinship, alliance and exchange in the European Bronze Age’ in Barrett, J., Bradley, R. (eds), The British Later Bronze Age. Oxford: 15–56Google Scholar
Rutter, J. 1979: Ceramic Change in the Early Bronze Age. The Kastri Group, Lefkandi I, and Lerna IV: A Theory Concerning the Origin of Early Helladic III Ceramics. Los AngelesGoogle Scholar
Sazcı, G. 2005: ‘Troia I–III, die Maritime Troia-Kultur und Troia IV–V, die Anatolische Troia-Kultur: eine Untersuchung der Funde und Befunde im Mittleren Schliemanngraben’ Studia Troica 15: 35–98Google Scholar
Sazcı, G., Korfmann, M. 2000: ‘Metallfunde des 3.Jahrtausends v.u.Z aus Troia – Eine Studie in Verbindung mit den Ergebnissen der neuen Ausgrabungen’ in Yalçın, U. (ed.), Anatolian Metal I (Die Anschnitt, Beiheft 13). Bochum: 93–100Google Scholar
Schirmer, W. 1971: ‘Überlegungen zu einigen Baufragen der Schichten I und II in Troja’ Istanbuler Mitteilungen 21: 1–43Google Scholar
Schliemann, H. 1880: Ilios: The City and Country of the Trojans. LondonGoogle Scholar
Sherratt, A.G. 1993: ‘What would a Bronze Age world system look like? Relations between temperate Europe and the Mediterranean in later prehistory’ Journal of European Archaeology 1/2: 1–58CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sherratt, A.G. 1997: ‘Troy, Maikop, Altyn Depe: Early Bronze Age urbanism and its periphery’ in Sherratt, A.G. (ed.), Economy and Society in Prehistoric Europe. Edinburgh: 457–70CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sherratt, A.G., Sherratt, E.S. 1991: ‘From luxuries to commodities: the nature of Mediterranean Bronze Age trading systems’ in Gale, N.H. (ed.), Bronze Age Trade in the Mediterranean. Jonsered: 351–86Google Scholar
Şahoğlu, V. 2005: ‘The Anatolian trade network during the Early Bronze Age’ Oxford Journal of Archaeology 24/4: 339–61CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tiné, S., Traverso, A. 2001: Poliochni: The Earliest Town in Europe. AthensGoogle Scholar
Traill, D. 1993: Excavating Schliemann: Collected Papers on Schliemann. AtlantaGoogle Scholar
Traill, D. 1995 Schliemann of Troy: Treasure and Deceit. LondonGoogle Scholar
Trigger, B. 1990: ‘Monumental architecture: a thermodynamic explanation of symbolic behaviour’ World Archaeology 22: 119–31Google Scholar
Voutsaki, S. 1997: ‘The creation of value and prestige in the Aegean Late Bronze Age’ Journal of European Archaeology 5: 34–52Google Scholar
Weinstein, J.M. 1973: Foundation Deposits in Ancient Egypt. PhD thesis, University of PennsylvaniaGoogle Scholar
Weiss, H., Courty, M.A. 1993: ‘The genesis and collapse of the Akkadian empire’ in Liverani, M. (ed.), The First World Empire: Structure, Ideology, Traditions. Padova: 131–56Google Scholar
Wilkinson, T.J. 1997: ‘Environmental fluctuations, agricultural production and collapse’ in Dalfes, H., Kukla, G., Weiss, H. (eds), Third Millennium BC Climate Change and Old World Collapse. Berlin: 67–106Google Scholar
Wright, J. 1994: ‘The spatial configuration of belief: the archaeology of Mycenaean religion’ in Alcock, S.Osborne, R. (eds), Placing the Gods: Sanctuaries and Sacred Space in Ancient Greece. Oxford: 37–78CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, J. (ed.) 2004: The Mycenaean Feast. PrincetonGoogle Scholar
Yakar, J. 1985: The Later Prehistory of Anatolia. OxfordGoogle Scholar
Yakar, J. 2000: Ethnoarchaeology of Anatolia: Rural Socio-Economy in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Tel AvivGoogle Scholar
Yalçın, Ü. 2000: ‘Anfänge der Metallverwendung in Anatolien’ in Yalçın, U. (ed.), Anatolian Metal I (Die Anschnitt, Beiheft 13). Bochum: 17–30Google Scholar
Yener, K.A. 2000: The Domestication of Metals: The Rise of Complex Metal Industries in Anatolia. LeidenCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yoffee, N. 1988: ‘The collapse of ancient Mesopotamian states and civilization’ in Yoffee, N., Cowgill, G.L. (eds), The Collapse of Ancient States and Civilizations. Tucson: 44–68Google Scholar
Zimmermann, T. 2002: ‘Eine “Syrische” Flasche der Troiasammlung des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums’ Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 32: 51–57Google Scholar
Zuckerman, S. 2009: ‘The last days of a Canaanite kingdom: a view from Hazor’ in Bachhuber, C.Roberts, R.G. (eds), Forces of Transformation: The End of the Bronze Age in the Mediterranean. Oxford: 100–07Google Scholar