Hittite Pottery and Potters: The View from Late Bronze Age Gordion

Ceramic production and provenience at Gordion, Central Anatolia

“…The most recent phase of excavation included systematic study of local ceramic production from the Late Bronze Age through to the Hellenistic period (Henrickson, 1993(Henrickson, , 1994(Henrickson, , 1995Henrickson and Blackman, 1996;Henrickson, Vandiver, et al, 2002). An important component of that work was the comparison of large scale ceramic production at the site for the Late Bronze Age (YHSS 9-8, c. 1400-1200 BC) and the Early Phrygian period (YHSS 6B, 950-800 BC).…”

Geochemical Analysis of the Hittite‐Period Pottery from Tarsus‐Gözlükule, Turkey

“…However, similar tool marks can be found on open vessels from the Hittite heartland (Müller‐Karpe , 95–6, 127; Mielke , 108, 131–3) as well as from other sites that fell under the rule of the Hittite Empire (Griffin , pl. 28; Henrickson , 84–7). Besides these tool marks, there are incised symbols, what Gates () and others have called potters ' marks , on the exterior of some of the open vessels.…”

Formation of the Phrygian state: the Early Iron Age at Gordion

“…This goal was accomplished through the excavation of two soundings that together document a range of time that extends from Medieval to Middle Bronze Age (fig 1, table 1; see also Voigt 1994;Sams, Voigt 1990;. For each phase in the resulting Yassihoyiik Stratigraphic Sequence (YHSS) we obtained a sample of architecture, quantitative ceramic data, a broad range of other artefact types, and much needed samples of floral and faunal remains (Henrickson 1993;Miller in press;Zeder, Arter 1994). Using stratigraphy and ceramics, we were able to propose a new chronology for the site; excavation since 1993 has expanded our archaeological sample for YHSS phases 6B to 1 (Voigt et al 1997).…”

“…Other minor wares include redslipped buff (3-4%) and cooking (5%). Neutron activation analysis of 107 YHSS 9-8 pottery samples, together with fired samples of local clays, has shown that much of the Late Bronze pottery at Gordion was made using the calcareous clays readily available from the Sakarya river which runs by the site (Henrickson, Blackman 1996; in prep). The limited repertoire of vessel forms is simple, standardised in both shapes and sizes; each form was produced using characteristic sequences of forming and finishing methods.…”

“…The overall standardisation and simplicity of the shapes, sizes, production sequences and finishes suggest large-scale production by specialist potters who favored vessel forms and ceramic technology characteristic of Imperial Hittite sites (Voigt, Henrickson in (YHSS) 11; see also Henrickson 1993;Gunter 1991). Since the regional settlement system around Gordion seems to have consisted of small sites, the volume of production seems disproportionate, suggesting a regional distribution network for pottery centred at or near Gordion, and an economy based on specialisation and exchange.…”