Late Bronze Age Painted Pottery Traditions at the Margins of the Hittite State. Papers Presented at a Workshop Held at the 11th ICAANE (Munich 4 April 2018) and Additional Contributions

Late Bronze Age Painted Pottery Traditions at the Margins of the Hittite State is the result of a workshoporganized by the editors at the 11th ICAANE held in Munich in 2018 with additional contributionspresented by renowned scholars working on this topic. The Late Bronze Age in the Ancient Near East isgenerally marked by a massive decline in the occurrence of painted pottery and a clear dominance of plainceramics. This is especially evident when looking at Anatolia. Here, the presence of simple undecoratedceramics is considered as the main distinguishing trait of the dominance of the Hittite State and itsmaterial culture. Nevertheless, at the margins of the empire, especially in Southern and South-Easternas well as Northern Anatolia, painted ceramics are frequently attested and, during recent years, newfindings have come to light from a number of excavations. However, a comprehensive analysis of thismaterial has not yet been accomplished. The intent of this volume is to break through the boundariesusually imposed by the study of 2nd millennium BC pottery production in Anatolia and to reconstruct acomprehensive scenario concerning the appearance, evolution, and related historical meanings of thesepainted pottery traditions. To this end, 12 papers of leading specialists working on relevant material havebeen collected in this book offering, for the first time, the possibility of a deeper understanding of thephenomenon of painted pottery in the 2nd millennium BC.