An insight into Old Hittite metallurgy: alloying practices at Hüseyindede (Çorum, Turkey)

Abstract

This paper presents archaeological and analytical data on metal artefacts from Hüseyindede (Çorum, Turkey), dated to the Old Hittite period (ca 16th century BC). Hüseyindede, which is set in a rural landscape, demonstrates continuity in alloying traditions from the Early Bronze Age III (ca 26th/25th–22nd/21st century BC) and the Assyrian Trading Colonies period (20th–18th century BC) to the emergence of the Hittites. In addition to known alloying practices of the period, the site presents, for the first time, evidence of the existence of copper-nickel alloys, namely cupronickels, which so far have been documented only at the Late Bronze Age capital of the Hittites, Boğazköy/Hattuša. The Hüseyindede cupronickel objects now pinpoint the presence of this technology to regions spreading out from the Halys basin from the Old Kingdom Hittite period.

Why did the use of antimony-bearing alloys in Bronze Age Anatolia fall dormant after the Early Bronze Age?: A Case from Resuloğlu (Çorum, Turkey)

“…For some artefacts such as pins, we selected at least two different points for analysis; one from the shaft and one from the head in order to examine any possible variation in the alloy type and/or composition between different parts of the same object. This protocol is in concordance with previous research [ 97 : p.83–84].…”