Archaeological Evidence for the Achaemenid Period in Eastern Turkey

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to highlight the evidence for Achaemenid settlement in eastern Turkey and to publish the sherds from two sites, Altıntepe (Cimin Tepe I, CAB Site 112) and Cimin Tepe II (CAB Site 113) collected by C. A. Burney during his survey in 1955 and now housed in the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara. An Achaemenid date for Altıntepe level II has often been proposed (e.g. Burney and Lang 1971, 158–9; Forbes 1983, 59) and the site is often now included in studies of the Achaemenid Empire without comment (e.g. Tuplin 1987, 201 n. 118 and map I p. 241; Cook 1983, 198), but the large amount of evidence for extensive and wealthy Achaemenid settlement at the closely related sites of Altıntepe and Cimin Tepe II has not been considered in detail.Three recent papers concerned with the administration of the Achaemenid Empire in general (Tuplin 1987) and Achaemenid garrisons (Tuplin 1987 B and 1988) have highlighted the sparsity of sites in eastern Anatolia which are known to have been occupied in the Persian period. For the preceding era of the Median Empire, which stretched as far westwards as the Halys river (the modern Kızılırmak), archaeological evidence has been so thin that the very existence of a Median Empire has been seriously, if not convincingly, questioned (SancisiWeerdenburg 1988).

Distribution of Achaemenid Period Settlements on the Southwest Iran-Khuzestan Ramhormoz Plain with Survey Data

“…The location of the region, the nature of the settlements between the plains and the mountains, their cultural communication with each other, and their continuity also provide a model for us to understand the settlement policy of the Achaemenid World (Meadows, 2005). In addition, its location is of great importance in terms of the relations between Iran and Anatolia during the Achaemenid period (Summers, 1993;Bocchieriyan, 2016).…”

Erzurum-Çiğdemli Höyük’te (Kuzeydoğu Anadolu Bölgesi) Tespit Edilen Demir Çağ Seramik Malzemesinin Değerlendirilmesi

“…35.339) ve Güllüdere (Şenyurt ve İbiş 2005, Res. 86.8) ODÇ tabakalarında, 1990-1993 yılları arasındaki Bayburt yüzey araştırmasında araştırılan Hoburnu Tepe'de (Sagona ve Sagona 2004, s. 183, Fig. 153.8) ODÇ'na tarihlenen benzerleri vardır.…”

A Persianizing Cup from Lydia

“…Zimansky 1995, emphasises the fact that the pottery most often published as characteristically Urartian (red-burnished) forms only a minute part of the total of the pottery finds on Urartian sites. 25 Summers 1993, 88. 26 Kroll 1976 characterises the form as 'urartäisch-medisch-achämenidisch'.…”