5 )
Bronze Age
As west and east of Asia Minor did not
reach the same level of civilization at the same time,
Anatolian Greek, Hatti and Hittite cultures will be
discussed in a separate section. After a long period of decline, Asia
Minor has reached a bright period again in the middle
bronze age. It was one of the important centers in Art,
Urban Planning, Sculpture and Pottery. Also, the ancient
sites of this period shows us that many of the towns were
fortified for defence purposes, an evidence that there
was a big struggle for power between states and tribes.
During the Bronze Age, Asia Minor has undergone a heavy
colonization by Assyrians from Mesopotamia and Greeks
from the other side of the Aegean Sea.
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Early Bronze Age ( 3,000 - 2,500 BC. )
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Middle Bronze Age ( 2,500 - 2,000 BC. )
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Late Bronze Age ( 2,000 - 1,200 BC. )
The humankind in search of new inventions
that would make their lives easier has learned to alloy
copper with tin that makes a harder and stronger metal
than both copper and tin, we call this metal bronze and
this period of time, Bronze Age. This period falls almost
within the same period of time when the writing was
invented in Mesopotamia. What they have invented for the
industrial development was pottery wheel that had
increased the production significantly. The invention of
bronze has led to the development of new skills in
processing and refining gold, silver and other metals.
The artifacts made out of a mixture of gold and silver
have decorated the palaces of Kings and Princes. The
significant increase in production and surplus of metal
products has necessitated the export of such items to
other communities in the area or even to other kingdoms
in remote areas. Another important invention of this
period was that of carts of four wheels drawn by oxen
which has provided significant assistance for the
transportation.
Some notable sites of this period :
Troy, the legendary city of Homer,
Kultepe, Horoztepe, Polatli, Ahlatlibel, Alacahoyuk,
Bogazkoy, Alisar, Eskiyapar.
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