Bottle Shaped Vessels in Anatolia and the Syrian Bottle

Authors : Esra ALP

Pages : 56-75

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Publication Date : 2018-12-20

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :3rd millennium BC is a very important period in which relations between Anatolia and Syria-Mesopotamia intensified and impacted the development of civilizations directly. With these relations, trade activities increased and new pottery vessel types resulting from intercultural interaction appeared. One of these vessel types consists of `Bottle` shaped vessels used for keeping and transporting liquid materials. In this period Syrian Bottles, which are distinguished from these vessel types by their form and labeling, have been a noteworthy group and in this context the issue of their import from N. Syria to Anatolia and why they were labeled as such has often been discussed. However, what is essentially thought-provoking about the Anatolian bottle shape repertoire is that relevant publications discuss these vessels using general definitions such as `Bottle`, `Syrian bottle` or `Alabastron` without establishing a typology within the group; that is, whether Anatolia had a bottle form of its own. A secondary question about these vessel forms that are generally considered to be imported is whether Anatolia was familiar with bottle shaped vessels before Syrian bottles, or whether it also had original forms within its own vessel repertoire that were used together with the aforementioned imported forms.
Keywords : Anatolia, Syria, Bottle, Syrian Bottle