The Early Bronze Age on the Plateau

This article presents data on the Early Bronze Age (EBA) of the Anatolian plateau. The EBA on the plateau has been identified as a period of “urbanization,” or at least the age in which complex society emerged, including the rise of an extensive trade network, established by the second half of the third millennium BCE. Chalcolithic period interregional trade with regions as far afield as Transcaucasia and possibly southeastern Europe was strengthened by connections ranging across the plateau, stretching into the Aegean, and southeastward to northern Mesopotamia and beyond. Monumental architecture appears, and metallurgy not only serves to change the utilitarian household assemblage but also becomes an important indicator of wealth and social position.