yielded a sophisticated repertoire of pottery that was often painted with bold red patterns on a cream background. Clay figurines found at these sites may have been part of the accoutrements of domestic cult practices. Though hunted animals supplemented the diet, these communities had by that point developed an economy based on agriculture and stock breeding (Özdogan and Başgelen 1999).

The Chalcolithic

In terms of lifestyle, the transition from the Neolithic to the early stages of the subsequent cultural period, the Chalcolithic, was virtually seamless (Yakar 1985, 1991). But by the end of the Chalcolithic (ca. 3200 b.c.) there was an upsurge in technological innovations and cultural interaction. Although new sites were established in many parts of Anatolia, several large cultural zones can be discerned, largely on the basis of geography and contacts.

The Euphrates Valley and southeastern regions were much influenced by Mesopotamian and Syrian traditions, with the Taurus Mountains, mostly an obstacle to easy communication, determining the degree and nature of interaction with the northern districts (Joukowsky 1996). Although southern interconnections in these districts were pervasive throughout the Chalcolithic and subsequent early Bronze Age, they were more directional than uniform. Initial contact from the south, suggested by the presence of Halaf pottery at several sites, was followed by an expansion into the Middle Euphrates to exploit natural resources, where a late-Ubaid tradition is well documented at Degirmentepe. By the late Chalcolithic period the area below the Taurus Mountains, the northern reaches of mesopotamia, experienced intensive contact with southern merchant-venturers. Contact between indigenous communities and Uruk Mesopotamia is indicated at several places, especially at Hacınebi, whereas at Hassek Höyük there is evidence of an actual colony of late-Uruk type. Repercussions of this activity were felt north of the mountain range, especially in the Malatya and Elazıg regions, where local cultures adopted Mesopotamian forms of administration. At Arslantepe (Level VIA) centralized economic activity is reflected in a well-preserved complex that contained many bullae (seal impressions) and wheelmade pottery. Emerging connections with different cultural environments farther east, most notably with Transcaucasia, are also clearly indicated by the presence of handmade red-and-black burnished pottery.

West, north, and central Anatolia formed an independent culture province in the Chalcolithic period, with strong links to the Balkans and beyond to the Hungarian plains (Joukowsky 1996). Connections between the Karanova VI and Vinça D traditions of southeastern Europe and Anatolia are best seen at Ilıpinar, Alişar Höyük, Çadır Höyük, and I·kiztepe, where curvilinear-decorated and graphite-slipped pottery have been found. In the southwest, Beycsultan and sites in the Elamlı plain demonstrate continuity of late-Neolithic traditions. Architecture varied according to geography and climate. Mud brick was a ubiquitous building medium, though timber and wattle-and-daub houses, usually freestanding, were also common along the wet Pontic zone.

The Bronze Age

In the early Bronze Age (ca. 3200–2000 b.c.) sites displayed distinctive regional traits in every aspect of material culture (Yakar 1985). A unifying thread within this diversity was the impact of innovative metal technologies, especially in the third and final phase of the period, when even pottery imitated metallic vessels through highly burnished surfaces and angular shapes. Anatolian smiths made full use of their land’s extensive mineral and polymetallic ore resources. Copper was the metal most widely used at the turn of the third millennium b.c., but attempts to combine it with tin (and in some cases with arsenic) were under way by early Bronze Age II. Despite an ever increasing amount of bronze production, actual sources of tin, perhaps the most highly prized metal at that time, have remained elusive, though crucibles at Göltepe have traces of tin claimed by its excavators to have been mined at Kestel.

Bronze was not the only metal that was worked. Ceremonial artifacts and jewelry of silver,