Browsing by Author "Zimmermann, Thomas"

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    Among the so-called "mushroom knob joint" of the Anatolian early bronze age-Ceremonial unit between Halysbogen and Cubans
    (2006) Zimmermann, Thomas
    The following contribution focuses upon a group of metal objects of idiosyncratic form, which are known from the Early Bronze Age in Anatolia (3rd millennium BC). These so-called Pilzknaufkeulen or maces with knobbed heads possess a tubular or spherical body which has several rotund or rounded-conical protuberances. Also found in miniature form on jewellery and ceremonial items, the objects likely had a primarily representative or aggrandising function for the bearer, but without were not used as a striking weapon in battle. A glance at pertinent archaeological inventories from the Caucasus shows that earlier forerunners made of stone were as common as later metal Buckelkeule or knobbed maces made of metal. This observation serves as the basis for the renewed discussion of Eurasian and Anatolian interactions during the 4th to 2nd millennia BC.
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    Der hafen von Kapanca: eın neuer vorschlag zur lokalısatıon der stadt Caesarea Germanıca
    (Mersin University, Research Center for Cilician Acchaeology, 2011) Şahin, M.; Polat, Y.; Zimmermann, Thomas
    Folgender Beitrag behandelt Funde und Befunde aus der unmittelbaren Umgebung eines Wellenbrechers, welcher nahe der Gemarkung Kapanca (Gemeinde Zeytinbağı, Verwaltungsbezirk Mudanya, Provinz Bursa) aufgefunden wurde. Die dort zahlreich aufgelesenen Keramikfragmente sowie ein Steinpoller belegen fraglos, dass es sich bei der Anlage um ein Hafengelände gehandelt haben muss. Kernproblem dieses Aufsatzes ist die Frage, welcher Stadt dieser Hafen, dessen Nutzung anhand der datierbaren Keramik vom 3. Jh. n. Chr. bis in spätosmanische Zeit belegt werden kann, angegliedert war. Caesarea Germanica ist nun eine durch Münzfunde und antike Quellen hinlänglich bekannte antike Metropole, die jedoch bislang nicht zweifelsfrei lokalisiert werden konnte. Das auf der Rückseite einschlägiger Caesarea-Münzen eingeprägte Hafenmotiv zeigt, aus der Vogelperspektive wahrgenommen, eine erstaunliche Übereinstimmung mit unserer Hafenanlage von Kapanca. Unserer Meinung nach besteht somit ein unmittelbarer Zusammenhang zwischen den Bildzeugnissen sowie der in diversen antiken Quellen angegebenen geographischen Lage von Caesarea Germanica und der Gemarkung Kapanca, die als mögliche Verortung der “verschollenen Stadt” ins Feld geführt wird.
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    Ein Untergang im Morgenland? – Göbeklitepe als Fallstudie für die Vollendung und das Verlöschen einer späteiszeitlichen Jäger- und Sammlerkultur
    (The Oswald Spengler Society, 2020) Zimmermann, Thomas
    The following contribution attempts to reconcile aspects of Cultural Morphology as outlined by Oswald Spengler in his seminal Decline of the West and Man & Technics with archaeological observations dating to the transitional period from the Epipalaeolithic to the Early Holocene in the so-called Fertile Crescent (ca. 10.000 BC). The finds and features of Göbeklitepe and related sites of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) in Upper Mesopotamia are reevaluated, to allow a different reading of the emergence of monumental architecture as the cultural climax of a then declining hunter-and-gatherer tradition, and not the prelude for a new era shaped by animal husbandry and agriculture.
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    The first casting mould for a ‘Syrian Bottle’ from Lipnik, Bulgaria
    (Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2021-08-25) Leschtakov, L.; Zimmermann, Thomas
    The following article presents the first mould ever discovered for casting a so-called “Syrian Bottle”, a distinctive vessel type that originated in Mesopotamia around the mid 3rd millennium BC and soon after spread to Anatolia, the Aegean and Southeast Europe, as imports and local derivatives. A few examples were made from precious metals and lead, the most notable one being a golden globular bottle, part of “Priam’s” Treasure A” from Early Bronze Age Troy. The mould from Lipnik seems to have been intended for the production of small metal bottles of ‘Syrian’ shape, and supportive agents like a green sand core applied for the production of such a complex item. The mould, however, was obviously never used. A review of associated manufacturing details like pegholes, riser and vent show that although these fea-tures were particularly prominent in the 2nd millennium BC, moulds from earlier (Anatolian) contexts do possess such characteristics as well. This currently unique, locally produced example is therefore dated to the latest 3rd or ear-liest second millennium BC, coinciding with ever-growing interaction between distant cultural entities stretching from Mesopotamia to Southeast Europe and beyond, and allowing for the exchange of ideas, fashions and technol-ogies.
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    Lapanu–let (it) glow!–recent archaeometric analyses of Hattian and Hittite metalwork
    (Harrassowitz Verlag, 2010-04) Zimmermann, Thomas
    In this paper, I will discuss recent quantitative X-Ray Fluorescence analyses on 3rd and 2nd millennium BC metal objects from central Anatolia. I will discuss phenomena such as high tin values attested in some copper-based artefacts and a growing corpus of copper-silver alloys, which represent a still exotic but persistently growing facet of Early Bronze Age alloying techniques. Finally, the archaeometric data retrieved from the ‘Bronze tablet’ of Hattusa is here added to the still meagre collection of scientifically analysed Hittite metalwork.
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    Master and apprentice some thoughts on Anatolian Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age metalwork and the many dimensions of communicating skills and expertise
    (Trnavska Univerzita * Filozoficka Fakulta, 2021) Zimmermann, Thomas
    This contribution first challenges the traditional view of a linear, gradually advancing, and unbroken development of metalwork in Anatolia, with the simple mechanical treatment of solid copper as an indispensable precursor for complex extractive metallurgy. The present evidence rather testifies to a “second coming” of metalwork in the second half of the 4th millennium BC, after metallurgical activities remained largely idle after their inception around 5.000 BC. In the second part, phenomena like the absence of founder’s burials in Bronze Age Anatolia are reviewed, to deliberate about the communication of skill and knowledge for smelting, casting and refining metal.
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    Priesterkönigs-schmiedemeister? Zur (un)sichtbarkeit von metallhandwerkern im grabritus der anatolischen frühbronzezeit
    (Slovak Academy of Sciences, Archaeological Institute, 2021) Zimmermann, Thomas
    This article discusses the visibility of founders or metal craftsmen in the graves of Early Bronze Age Anatolia (ca. 3000–1950 BC). The examination of relevant burials from the 3rd millennium BC cemeteries in Central and Western Turkey did not produce any assemblages containing diagnostic items like crucibles, cushion stones or other casting equipment, which is noteworthy given the abundance of metalworking features from domestic Early Bronze Age contexts. ‘Showcase’ inventories from Troia or Alaca Höyük, although said to contain metallurgical items, in fact do not support this peculiar type of burial group, which at present seems not to occur in Anatolia.
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    Snakes in the plain! Contextualizing prehistoric near Eastern snake symbolism and early human behaviour
    (Peeters Publishers, 2019) Zimmermann, Thomas
    The article attempts an alternative and anthropological-based hypothesis to explain the abundance of snake motives in the Earliest Near Eastern Neolithic, contrasted with their relative scarcity in later times. The focus is mainly, but not exclusively, on the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) of Southeast Turkey, with sites like Göbekli Tepe and Körtik Tepe having produced a huge number of snake motives applied to a variety of materials and items. The predominance of the snake motive is then related to venomous serpents being a cardinal thread to hominids and humans throughout their evolutionary history, and particularly to early farmers, where snakes were a notorious hidden danger for semisedentary, crop-cultivating communities.
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    Verbogen, zerschlagen, zerhackt-Spuren ekstatischer Inszenierungen in frühbronzezeitlichen Gräbern Anatoliens
    (Türk Eskiçağ Bilimleri Enstitüsü, 2010) Zimmermann, Thomas
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