Upload
osibeka
View
32
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Anthropology of a Frontier Zone: Hittite-Kaska Relations in Late Bronze Age North-CentralAnatoliaAuthor(s): Claudia Glatz and Roger MatthewsSource: Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 339 (Aug., 2005), pp. 47-65Published by: The American Schools of Oriental ResearchStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25066902 .
Accessed: 30/04/2013 01:27
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
.
The American Schools of Oriental Research is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extendaccess to Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 78.111.165.165 on Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:27:51 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Anthropology of a Frontier Zone:
Hittite-Kaska Relations in Late Bronze Age North-Central Anatolia
Claudia Glatz
Institute of Archaeology
University College London
31-34 Gordon Square London WC1H OPY
United Kingdom
Roger Matthews
Institute of Archaeology
University College London
31-34 Gordon Square London WC1H OPY
United Kingdom
The northern and northeastern borders of the Hittite Empire of Late Bronze Age Ana
tolia hosted a loosely federated group of peoples known as the Kaska. Hittite texts tell
us much about the persistent state of hostility between the Hittites and the Kaska, but
there have been few serious attempts to understand the Kaska on their own terms. Here
we employ a flexible interpretive framework, rooted in frontier studies, in order to re
view the textual evidence for Hittite-Kaska relations before treating the Kaska as an
thropologically approachable subjects. Issues such as ceramics, diet, and subsistence
are explored by means of Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age evidence from a range
of archaeological sites. Finally, survey evidence from the Paphlagonia region is con
sidered in the light of Hittite-Kaska relations, and the importance of natural features as
frontiers, especially rivers, is underlined.
introduction:
looking north from hattusa
If we stand today on top of Yerkapi, the great
rampart that dominates the southern end of Hat
tusa, the capital of the Hittites, a sweeping view
unfolds below as we face north across the city (fig. 1). The entire town is laid out at our feet, the land
dropping dramatically some 300 m in height over a
distance of almost 2 km to the northern limit of the
city and the modern village of Bogazkale. Beyond the steep contours of the Hittite city lie banks of roll
ing hills and broad plains, today a patchwork of fer
tile fields traversed by streams, while beyond them
more rugged terrain dominates the horizon. From
this viewpoint, we are facing what for the Hittites
was a combustible and contested frontier zone, for
not far northward beyond these rolling hills lay the
territory of a group of peoples who caused more
trouble for the Hittites than any other through their
entire history?the Kaska. The loosely defined groups of peoples called the Kaska feature prominently in
political developments of the Late Bronze Age, es
pecially in its later centuries. Their significance for
the Hittites is indicated by the fact that they are men
tioned, as enemies, in every major historical work of
the Hittites, as well as in many treaties, religious in
vocations and prayers, oracle queries, letters, and in
structions to border commanders (von Sch?ler 1965:
10-11). The episode of imperial formation, consolidation,
and collapse that takes the form of the Hittite state is
the dominant political event of Anatolia in the sec
ond millennium b.c. From existing texts, principally from Hattusa but also from Ma?at H?y?k/Tapikka (Alp 1991), and from scattered archaeological in
formation, we already knew something of the nature
and scope of relations between the Hittites and their
northern neighbors, but no previous fieldwork had
been conducted specifically in order to investigate the archaeological evidence for these interactions.
Between 1997 and 2001, five seasons of extensive
and intensive archaeological survey, under the title
Project Paphlagonia (taking its name from the Ro
man province that covered this region), were con
ducted in the modern Turkish provinces of ?ankin and Karab?k with the aim of investigating long-term
47
This content downloaded from 78.111.165.165 on Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:27:51 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
48 GLATZ AND MATTHEWS BASOR 339
"H?9PK??S.W
*-\*A
Fig. 1. View of Hattusa looking north from Yerkapi
human settlement patterns in this distinctive array of
landscapes in north-central Turkey (Matthews, Pol
lard, and Ramage 1998; Matthews 2000) (fig. 2). A
major contribution of Project Paphlagonia has been to shed new light on Hittite-Kaska relations and to
generate and explore an important case study within a contested imperial frontier zone. Across the entire
survey region, covering some 8,500 km2, about 30
sites of Late Bronze Age date were located, identi
fied as such by the presence on their surfaces of ce
ramics known from excavated sites in central Tbrkey to date to that period (definitive dating of these sites
within the second millennium is in progress and will
be featured in the forthcoming final publication of
the fieldwork).
Output from these researches, as regards the Late
Bronze Age, will be tripartite: (1) a full presentation of archaeological data and interpretations in the final
report on the field project, currently being compiled and completed by a range of contributors, and to be
published as a monograph by the British Institute of
Archaeology at Ankara; (2) a study of the historical
geography of north-central Anatolia in the Hittite pe riod with reference to possible localization of known
toponyms, currently in preparation by the authors; and (3) a historical and anthropological approach to
the Hittite-Kaska frontier zone in the Late Bronze
Age. The present article addresses the third of these areas of research and has the following aims:
to construct a conceptual framework for ap
proaching north-central Anatolia in the Late
Bronze Age, to review the historical evidence for Hittite
Kaska interactions, to employ an anthropological approach to the
Kaska peoples, and to review the nature of Hittite-Kaska relations in
the light of archaeological results from Project
Paphlagonia.
This content downloaded from 78.111.165.165 on Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:27:51 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
2005 ANTHROPOLOGY OF A FRONTIER ZONE 49
Fig. 2. Map of Anatolia, showing extent of Project Paph
lagonia survey region.
CONCEPTUAL AND PHYSICAL
frameworks: FRONTIER STUDIES
AND NORTH-CENTRAL ANATOLIA
Concomitant with a burgeoning interest in empire studies, frontiers and borders have received increas
ing archaeological and historical attention in recent
years, as researchers have recognized that processes of cultural definition and hybridization occurring in
such regions can shed light on broad issues of so
ciocultural practice and identity. The region of Inner
Paphlagonia, encompassed by the modern provinces of ?ankin and Karab?k, is an ideal arena for the ex
ploration and application of approaches to the study of frontier issues. At the tectonic level, the region is
traversed by still-active faults, in particular the North
Anatolian Fault Zone, which shape the associated
geology and geomorphology. Geographically, Inner
Paphlagonia spans the transition from the rolling
steppe of the Anatolian Plateau, stretching far to the
south, to the severe mountain ranges of the Pontic
region to the north (fig. 3). Several major rivers, in
cluding the Kizihrmak (Hittite Marassantiya) and
the Devrez ?ay (probably Hittite Dahara) (fig. 4), cut
through the region, further strengthening its capacity to function as a border zone. Through many periods of its past, there is ample evidence that the region fulfilled its role as a contested frontier zone. But it
is especially during the Late Bronze Age, with the
Hittite Empire at the height of its powers, that it is
possible to track the intricacies of a complex relation
ship between an imperial power and one of its imme
diate neighbors, the Kaska peoples. How best might we conceptualize and research this relationship?
Border and frontier studies have become increas
ingly sophisticated in recent years and now encompass a broad range of approaches (De Atley and Findlow
1984; Kimes, Haselgrove, and Hodder 1982). A recent
review article by Lightfoot and Martinez encourages a view of frontiers not so much as clear-cut bound
aries between neighboring communities, but rather as "zones of cross-cutting social networks" (Light foot and Martinez 1995: 471). Prominent traits of
such a framework, as identified by Lightfoot and
Martinez, include a merging and blurring of material
culture traits at boundary zones, the existence of so
cial and political networks spanning communities on
both sides of borders, and the development of seg mentai and factional groups within such communi
ties. The aim here is to demonstrate that such a model, characterized by fluidity, overlap, and persistent com
promise, most accurately encompasses the situation
of Inner Paphlagonia in the Late Bronze Age. In sub
sequent sections of this article, we consider how the
historical and archaeological evidence sits within
such a framework.
The predominance of a colonialist perspective in
frontier studies, broadly identified by Lightfoot and
Martinez (1995: 473), has hitherto been unquestioned in the case of relations between the Hittites and their
neighbors, the Kaska. One reason for this is that all
the textual, and almost all the archaeological, evi
dence originates from the Hittite side of the relation
ship. Not only are there no texts from the Kaska side, but there are almost no excavations that reveal the
nature of their settlements, cemeteries, and material
culture. It is hardly surprising, then, that terms such as "aggressive," "wild," "barbarian," and, more origi
nally, "nemesis from the north" (Gorny 1995: 80) are
routinely used to describe the Kaska in the light of
Hittite history. It is because the Kaska can only be seen through the lens of Hittite history, using Hittite
primary sources, that such terms seem appropriate. Were it possible to write a Kaska history independent of Hittite sources, doubtless the Hittites would seem
to be the aggressors, destroyers, and intruders on the
Kaska stage. Our inability to compose such a history, and to compare it with the familiar Hittite version, should not prevent us from attempting to construct a
more balanced and nuanced view of the intricacies of
the Hittite-Kaska relationship.
This content downloaded from 78.111.165.165 on Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:27:51 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
50 GLATZ AND MATTHEWS BASOR 339
<mmusmwy&
. .. jpm^BpuiaiaBiii???itaEkjaKiiJ?mHL '
Fig. 3. Paphlagonian landscape.
The Hittite historical sources make clear the spe cial nature of their frontier with the Kaska peoples,
differing in many respects from other Hittite borders
with great powers such as Egypt and Mittani. With
the Kaska, there was no possibility for the Hittites
to deal with a single, all-powerful leader for, as we
shall see, Kaska society was not structured in that
way. Furthermore, there is no indication in the Hittite sources that the Kaska ever accepted an imperial way of life dominated by Hattusa, unlike regions and
polities to the south and east. In territorial terms, the
Hittite-Kaska frontier was essentially static, a no
man's-land of constant mistrust and mutual misun
derstanding at the most basic levels. Coping with
such a frontier made exiguous demands on the po litical and military structures of the Hittite state.
THE HISTORICAL EVIDENCE
FOR HITTITE-KASKA INTERACTIONS
The Hittite state is characterized throughout its
existence by dramatic swings in its fortunes, with the
total territory under its control fluctuating wildly in
extent within sometimes brief time-spans. The em
pire appears to teeter on the brink of collapse at sev
eral points in its history before a total, irrevocable
collapse at the end of the Late Bronze Age, around
1200-1180 B.c. One undoubted factor in this impe rial fragility was the proximity of the Hittite's capi tal, Hattusa, to the vulnerable northern frontier of the
empire where the Kaska had their home, barely three
days' march away (Bittel 1970: 11). Rich textual evidence, principally from Hattusa,
supported by occasional archaeological evidence,
provides a detailed picture of the nature and range of interactions between the Hittites and the Kaska
over a period of several centuries. From the written
sources, whose appreciation is subject to the reser
vation that they originate exclusively from one party in a two-party dialectic, it is possible to reconstruct
several elements in the structure of this fraught re
lationship. First, it is clear that there was consider
able variability in the ways that the Hittites sought to
deal with the Kaska problem. Hittite approaches to
the Kaska veered from attempts at total domination,
including military conquest, to efforts to agree and
This content downloaded from 78.111.165.165 on Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:27:51 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
2005 ANTHROPOLOGY OF A FRONTIER ZONE 51
mm .i;:il"i; :':! "'*' n'^<***^^;^*^fi:fi
^{;?S^?
Fig. 4. View of Devrez ?ay-Dahara River.
sign treaties establishing mutual rights and obliga tions between the two parties. Second, the well
attested frequency of Hittite campaigns against the
Kaska throughout the duration of the empire indicates an overall failure of any Hittite policy ultimately to
eradicate the Kaska problem. Third, despite that fail
ure, the Hittites did largely succeed, through tireless
campaigning and other procedures, in establishing a
delicate balance of power in north-central Anatolia
that endured for several centuries, with some fluctu
ation around a fragile equilibrium. At the base of and permeating this relationship lay
a Hittite sense of self-identity. (We can say almost
nothing about Kaska sense of self-identity, due to
the Hittite origin of the textual sources.) While argu
ably seeing themselves as strangers in a strange land
(Van De Mieroop 2000: 138; contra Gurney 1979:
153), the Hittites defined their social identity not so
much in terms of shared language, culture, or his
torical experience, but more by their physical geo
graphic context, expressed in the term "people of the
land of Hatti" (Bryce 1998: 19). Gurney (1979: 153) has pointed out that the term "Land of Hatti" may
equally be rendered "Land of the city Hattusa" as
"Hatti appears to be nothing but an Akkadian allo
graph of the name Hattusa," unequivocal evidence
for the supreme role of the capital city as an emblem
of the Hittite state. This strong sense of geographical attachment lent a singular importance to the core
region of the Hittite state as a defining context and
motif for the state. The core area included not only the capital city and its hinterland, but a broad and
ill-defined (for us and perhaps also for the Hittites) swath of territory in central Anatolia, partly en
closed by the great Marassantiya River (today the
Kizilirmak). Conceptually attached to the core re
gion, and therefore of equal significance, were adja cent frontier zones and scattered holy cities, some of
which, such as Nerik, lay well beyond the physical borders of the core region (Haas 1970; Din?ol and
Yakar 1974; Houwink ten Cate 1979; Macqueen
1980). The location of Nerik within territory almost
always under Kaska control, along with its im
mense cultic importance to the Hittites as home of
the Storm-God of Nerik (frequently a divine witness
to Hittite treaties; Beckman 1999: 7), is a fundamen
tal structuring principle of the Hittite-Kaska relation
ship, at least as perceived in royal circles, and one
This content downloaded from 78.111.165.165 on Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:27:51 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
52 GLATZ AND MATTHEWS BASOR 339
Fig. 5. View of Kizihrmak-Marassantiya River.
that can only be appreciated by accepting the signif icance of cultic practice in Hittite daily life.
The Hittites' sense of belonging to a core region manifested itself in attitudes toward non-Hittite lands.
Such lands could be either friends or enemies: "neu
trality was not an option" (Beckman 1999: 1). The
land of Hatti, the Hittite core region, lacks sharply de
fined physical boundaries. The Marassantiya can be
forded without difficulty at almost any point (fig. 5), and challenging mountain ranges occur only well
to the north, beyond effective Hittite control during most periods. The openness of the land of Hatti was
particularly significant as regards the location of Hat
tusa, hundreds of kilometers away from the sophisti cated subject territories of the south and the associated
trade routes of north Syria, Upper Mesopotamia, and
the Levant. Cultic attachment to their capital city, home to a thousand gods, and its surrounding sacred
landscape, appears to have kept the Hittites pinned down in a region open to attack from several sides, and especially from the north, the home of the Kaska.
The intention here is not to itemize and address
every textual attestation of Hittite-Kaska interac
tion (for which see von Sch?ler 1965; Klengel 1999). The aim in this section is to provide an overview of
modes of interaction, which can serve as an inter
pretive device for approaching the archaeological evidence of Paphlagonia in the Late Bronze Age. Table 1 presents a synthesis of textually documented
Hittite strategies on the Kaska frontier. More or less
constant military campaigning and pursuit of appro
priate cultic practices, including animal sacrifice, is
attested for the entire period. These activities can be broadly grouped in three
overlapping categories:
1. Military/strategic
Campaigns led by the king or his proxy from
Hattusa into Kaska territory Foundation and maintenance of garrison towns, and system of routes, outposts, and watchtowers
in the frontier zone
Capture and fortification of Kaska-held towns in
the frontier zone
Forced exaction of agricultural and other tribute
from Kaska areas under Hittite control
Attempts to recapture, rebuild, and reoccupy the
holy city of Nerik (located within Kaska territory) Fortification of Hattusa and other towns in the
core region Relocation of the capital from Hattusa to a safer
region in the south (Tarhuntassa)
2. Diplomatic
Attempts to agree on political concessions and
treaties with Kaska leaders, including safe pas
sage to Nerik for Hittite cultic processions, the
banning of Kaska from entering border towns
such as Tiliura, the granting to the Kaska of spe cific grazing rights within the frontier zone, and
the occasional acceptance of Kaska settlement
within Hittite territory
This content downloaded from 78.111.165.165 on Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:27:51 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
2005 ANTHROPOLOGY OF A FRONTIER ZONE 53
Table 1. Chronological Overview of Hittite Attempts to Deal with the Kaska
King Strategy/Events Source
Old Hittite Kingdom, 1680-1450 B.c.
Hantili I (II?) Fortification of Hattusa; "Sammeltafel" (CTH 11), Empire-period copy
Building of garrisons; Treaty of Hattusili III and Tiliura (CTH 89)
Telipinu Last king to reach towns close to Nerik; Extensive Annals of Mursili II (CTH 61)
Middle Hittite Kingdom, 1450-1380 b.c.
Tudhaliya I (II) Arnuwanda I
Tudhaliya II (III) &
prince Suppiluliuma
Military campaign;
Oaths of Kaska leaders;
Agreements with Kaska;
Instructions for officials and
Grenzherrn (border chiefs);
Instructions about civil and
military measures against Kaska,
who steal cattle and wine and
threaten Hattusa and Upper Land;
Regular military campaigns;
Repopulation of fortified frontier
towns;
Annals of Tudhaliya (CTH 142)
Prayer of Arnuwanda and Asmunikkal (CTH 375)
Oracle (CTH 137) Treaties (CTH 138-40)
(CTH 257, 260-61)
Masat texts (Alp 1991)
Deeds of Suppiluliuma (CTH 40)
Deeds of Suppiluliuma (CTH 40, frg 13)
Empire period, 1380-1200 b.c.
Suppiluliuma I Fortification of Hattusa;
Resettlement of border regions;
Mursili II Garrisons;
Resettlement of Tiliura;
Muwatalli New capital at Tarhuntassa;
Hattusili, petty king of Hakpissa;
Hattusili III Fortification and repopulation of
frontier;
Regulation of interaction
with "friendly" Kaska;
Treaties regulating Kaska access to
Hittite towns;
Use of Kaska to usurp Hittite throne
Deeds of Suppiluliuma (CTH 40, frg 28)
Ten Year Annals of Mursili II (CTH 61)
Treaty of Hattusili III and Tiliura (CTH 89, Vs II 3)
Treaty of Hattusili III and Tiliura (CTH 89)
Apology of Hattusili III (CTH 81,11)
Attempts to maintain political and military agreements with potential allies in the north-cen
tral region
Appointment of governors in buffer regions of
Pala-Tumanna
Use of "friendly" Kaska to police the frontier
zone and for internal political ends, including re
cruitment of troops from Kaska regions
3. Demographic
Slaughter of Kaska population in captured areas
Shift of Kaska population to other regions
Repopulation of abandoned towns in the frontier zone with Hittite subjects or transport?es from
elsewhere in the empire
Hittite tactics in dealing with the Kaska are illu
minated by the archive of 200 texts of early 14th
century b.c. date from Ma?at/Tapikka (Alp 1991),
mainly letters from the Hittite king to officials and
commanders living at the site. These letters are strik
ing in demonstrating the involvement of the king in
the fine detail of guarding and securing a relatively small and remote border town against the constant
This content downloaded from 78.111.165.165 on Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:27:51 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
54 GLATZ AND MATTHEWS BASOR 339
threat of attack from the Kaska. Regular activities
undertaken by the garrison commander included post
ing sentries along roads, closing gates at night, main
taining the fortifications, and providing food, water, and firewood. The letters hint at the grim realities of
life in a frontier garrison town: a commander, using a hunting term, boasts of "bagging" 16 Kaska pris oners (Hoffner 2002: 67). Some captives are de
scribed as being blinded after capture and then set
to hard labor in mills, an indication of the often se
vere consequences for the Kaska of capture by the
Hittites. Others are listed along with the ransom re
quired for their release. Thus, a certain Tamiti of
Taggasta, "who can see" (i.e., has not been blinded), has a ransom price of two boys and one man (Hoffner 2002: 67). The ransoms include animals, usually oxen and goats, but interestingly never pigs (see be
low). There can be no doubt that Hittites captured by Kaska had an equally hard time of it, and there is evi
dence for temple personnel serving as slaves for the
Kaska (von Sch?ler 1965: 72). Within military and social contexts, there is con
siderable evidence for fluidity and mobility between the Hittite and Kaska sides. An individual called
Kassu appears to be a Kaska turncoat who rose to a
position of authority in the Hittite army (?nal 1998). Texts from the reign of Hattusili III (reigned 1267
1237 B.c.) indicate that Kaska men could serve as
troops in the Hittite standing army, although there were restrictions on their movements. In that capac
ity they might serve on campaigns or be put to labor
in military construction projects such as roads or
fortification work (Beal 1992: 42-43). Hittite tex tual references indicate that the Kaska maintained a
standing force of regular troops, which could be sup
plemented by levies when required (Beal 1992: 68
69). The Hittites themselves acquired Kaska troops for the Hittite army as contributions from conquered
provinces; provinces that failed to provide agreed quotas of men were punished (Beal 1992: 82). Such
Kaska conscripts could be deployed against other
Kaska forces. Other obligations imposed by the Hit
tites on subjugated Kaska territories included a re
quirement to fight any hostile force marching through their land and to assist the Hittites in repulsing en
emy forces (Beal 1992: 124). Some Hittites fled from
the Hittite state and lived with the Kaska (von Sch?ler
1965: 72). There they must have met with Hittites al
ready held prisoner or there of their own free will.
Texts make it clear that there were "relatively close
political, commercial and social dealings between
Hittites and Kaskans in the region as a whole" (Bryce 1986-87: 92), and in treaties there seems to have
been provision for some Kaska traders to enter Hit
tite towns to conduct their business.
Within Hittite society, the overriding significance of the great king of Hatti is indisputable, "the linch
pin of the universe, the point at which the sphere of
the gods met that of human beings," as he has been
aptly characterized (Beckman 2000: 135). It is this
linchpin role, incapable of delegation, that underlies the king's intimate and exhaustive involvement in
every aspect of the attempt to keep the Kaska at bay, as the Ma?at/Tapikka letters show, and in almost
every military campaign into the harsh mountains to
the north and northeast of Hattusa on an almost an
nual basis.
It is important to stress the small window of op
portunity for military campaigning by the Hittites
(Houwink ten Cate 1984: 63). The severe weather of
the north restricted campaigns to a few months in the
late spring and summer, a season when manpower
was also in heavy demand for the annual harvest and
for mud-brick manufacture (with freshly available straw and sufficiently mild weather to dry the bricks).
Current efforts at reconstructing a section of the
city-wall at Hattusa, under the direction of Dr. J?r
gen Seeher, are shedding new light on the mechan
ics and exigencies of mud-brick manufacture and wall
construction. This annual concatenation of demands on human labor?campaigns, harvest, construction?
may help to explain the considerable evidence for a
Hittite concern with storage. The storage of large
quantities of commodities, such as water and cereal, as attested by silos and reservoirs at Hattusa and
elsewhere (Seeher 1997: 320-3), would provide an
element of flexibility in the distribution of human labor across the spectrum of tasks at any time.
Once on campaign, the Hittite army would carry with it bulk supplies of bread, flour, and other com
modities (Beal 1992: 130), which may have been
supplemented in some cases by supplies maintained
at so-called seal house cities of grain (Beal 1992:
131). Such supply centers, administered by an offi
cial (AGRIG) accountable directly to the king, ap
pear to have been restricted to the core provinces of the Hittite state, and their military, as opposed to
cultic, significance is not at all clear (Singer 1984). While hesitating to see any of the newly discovered
Late Bronze Age sites in Paphlagonia as "seal house
cities of grain," it is worth commenting on the fact
that all of them are located in close proximity to
This content downloaded from 78.111.165.165 on Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:27:51 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
2005 ANTHROPOLOGY OF A FRONTIER ZONE 55
natural sources of water, in the form of springs or
streams, with ample expanses of arable land adjacent to the site. Each town would have been capable of
producing food and water and perhaps of storing these commodities for the benefit of themselves but
also of an army passing through, which might num
ber several thousand strong (Beal 1992: 283). The
Hittite army marched with a considerable baggage train, including ox- and horse-drawn carts, donkeys
carrying fodder, water, supplies, and no doubt tents
and basic domestic equipment. It was precisely such
baggage that Mursili II left behind at Altanna when
he made his night march against one element of a
major Kaska force (von Sch?ler 1965: 48). An army on the move, and led by the king, would also be
carrying with it all the paraphernalia of the royal
camp, sufficient to maintain the dignity and sacred
aloofness of the king even while on campaign (Bryce 2002: 15).
The brevity of the campaigning season and the dif
ficulty of the terrain meant that objectives in the north
had to be limited. Most annual campaigns involved
attempts solely to recover territory lost in the months
since the previous campaign and to reopen routes of
communication and supply. Only Hattusili III and
Tudhaliya IV appear to have tried to expand their
campaigns into major incursions into enemy terri
tory, attempts doomed to failure by the inability of
the Hittites to maintain adequate supply lines over
such an inhospitable and extensive landscape (Yakar and Din?ol 1974: 98).
Two historical fragments appear to refer to watch
towers, and they are frequently mentioned in the In
structions for the Commander of the Border-Guards
(Houwink ten Cate 1984: 65). One text reads, "Let
the scouts [occupy] the look[-outs] on the main road.
[As they] scanned the forefield down from the town
?[after they occupy the look-outs] let them ca[re
fully scan] the forefield [from there likewise]"
(Goetze 1960: 69; KUB XIII 1 i 12-14). Another
states, "Then let the scouts who hold look-outs re
turn to the town, bolt the gates and exits and let down
the bars" (Goetze 1960: 70; KUB XIII 1 i 23-28), and "Whereas the roads are covered, the scouts will
bring word immediately they see a sign of the enemy" (Goetze 1960: 71; KUB XIII 2 i 5-6). These refer
ences demonstrate that a systematic and careful orga nization of guards and lookout posts was an integral feature of the Hittite defensive frontier against Kaska
attack and incursion. They also reveal that scouts
were deployed at dawn in the landscape around Hit
tite border settlements before farmers and their ani
mals were given the all-clear to proceed to their
agricultural holdings for the day's labor and grazing. We can assume that lookout posts or towers, proba
bly manned day and night (Beal 1992: 270), were
situated on high ground with maximum visibility over roads and approaches to and from frontier set
tlements. Not surprisingly, lookouts were also em
ployed by Kaska forces, as the following lines from
the Annals of Mursili II make clear: "Because their
[the enemy's] lookouts were standing [at their posts], and because, if I had tried to surround Pittagga talli, Pittaggatalli's lookouts would have seen me, and he would not have waited for me, but would have
slipped away before me . . ." (Beal 1992: 265). Hittite-Kaska interactions in military and diplo
matic contexts, as textually attested, seem well de
scribed by Lightfoot and Martinez's phrase (1995:
471), "zones of cross-cutting social networks." There
is evidence for mobility between the two sides as
well as for one party recruiting factions of the other
side for its own ends. It is highly probable that other
aspects of social fluidity between Hittites and Kas
ka, such as intermarriage and peaceful cohabitation, were commonplace and, for that very reason, failed
to find their way into the highly attenuated historical
record.
AN ANTHROPOLOGY
OF THE KASKA PEOPLES
As mentioned earlier, it is difficult to construct a sense of Kaska self-identity, or even to evaluate
whether such a concept has any meaning, largely due to the Hittite origin of the relevant texts that are the
only written source for the Kaska. The potential for
bias in such a one-sided source base need hardly be
stressed, but must be kept in mind (von Sch?ler
1965: 1). With due caution, however, it is possible to glean some hints concerning Kaska society from
those same sources. In the Annals of Mursili, for
example, we learn that "Pihhuniya did not rule in the
Kaskan manner. But suddenly, where in the Kaskan
town the rule of a single man was not (customary),
Pihhuniya ruled in the manner of a king" (Bryce 1998: 215). This text suggests that the norm for
Kaska rule was through loose consensus rather than
domination by a single leader. In the late 14th-cen
tury text, the Deeds of Suppiluliuma, Mursili II de
scribes how the Kaska were organized into 12 tribes
This content downloaded from 78.111.165.165 on Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:27:51 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
56 GLATZ AND MATTHEWS BASOR 339
(G?terbock 1956: 67). Additionally, in the Hittite
view, the Kaska were grouped into three distinct re
gions (von Sch?ler 1965: 61-62): western, central, and eastern (the focus of Project Paphlagonia coin
cides with the western Kaska zone). The Kaska were capable of putting a sizable
military force into action: 5,000 to 9,000 warriors, with up to 800 chariots, are typically mentioned in
Hittite texts. Larger armies were pulled together from several tribes (von Sch?ler 1965: 73). The so
cial and political structures necessary to bring these
forces together and coordinate their arming, training, and deployment should not be underestimated. The
tendency toward cohesion among scattered Kaska
groups was doubtless stimulated and developed by the very presence of Hittite armies on a regular basis.
According to the Hittite texts, Kaska sites were often
protected by fortifications but also took advantage of the natural defenses afforded by the largely moun
tainous terrain.
The social structure of the Kaska shaped the ways in which the Hittites could deal with them, in war
and peace. In war, it proved impossible for the Hit
tites to engage a significant proportion of the Kaska
forces in battle and thus to deal a fatal blow to their
total military capability. A defeat of one Kaska force
would be followed by attack from another Kaska
force. It is notable that the only Kaska leader known
to have engaged in open battle with the Hittites, the same Pihhuniya mentioned above, was also the only
Kaska leader to rule "in the manner of a king" (Bryce 1998: 215). He thus ruled like a Hittite king and
fought in battle like a Hittite king. Unsurprisingly, he lost the battle and his kingship at one and the
same time. But Pihhuniya was the exception, and
other Kaska rulers kept wise counsel and fought their
battles at places and times of their, not the Hittites',
choosing. While not at war, treaties agreed to by the
Hittites with one element of the Kaska tribal confed
eracy need have had little currency with other ele
ments. Hattusili Ill's attempt to accommodate and
exploit some Kaska as "friendly," using them in his
usurpation of the throne, was hardly a lasting solu
tion to the problem (von Sch?ler 1965: 58-59).
Many Kaska towns are mentioned in Hittite texts
using the designate URU (town) (von Sch?ler 1965:
75). Most of them are not likely to have been major urban centers, and none of them will have remotely
approached Hattusa in scale or complexity. Kaska
towns were frequently destroyed by the Hittites but
appear to have been rapidly resettled or rebuilt else
where. This considerable flexibility in settlement lo
cation and continuity makes Kaska settlements hard
to locate archaeologically, even apart from problems in identifying Kaska material culture, as discussed
below.
Historical ignorance of Kaska identity is well
matched by the state of our archaeological knowl
edge of the Kaska. Early explorations by Burney (1956) located possibly relevant sites in the north
central region, to some extent expanded on in Sam sun province and elsewhere by Yakar and Din?ol (1974); however, work specifically targeted at issues
of Kaska archaeology has been minimal. Excavations
at Kimk-Kastamonu (Emre and ?inaroglu 1993; Gates 1997; Bilgen 1999) have revealed an inten
sive level of metal production, including metalwork
ing kilns, that may tentatively be associated with a
Kaska presence, but without publication of associ
ated pottery it is not possible to date or situate this
site precisely within a broader cultural milieu. The
famous hoard of silver items from this site (Emre and
?inaroglu 1993) need not indicate a Hittite presence, as we know from texts that the Kaska frequently looted such items from Hittite temples and carried
them off to their mountain strongholds (Goetze in
Pritchard 1969: 399-400).
Apart from the possibility of Kimk-Kastamonu, no Kaska sites have been excavated, no cemeteries
have been found (Yakar 2000: 300), and there is little
clue as to what constitutes a Kaska material culture.
As Genz (2003: 189) has recently put it, "The prob lem is that we do not know what the Late Bronze
Age pottery in the Pontic mountains looked like, whether it looked like Hittite pottery, or whether it had a tradition of its own." In fact, the position is
even bleaker: we do not even know whether the
Kaska were using pottery at all. One suggestion is
that the Kaska assumed a material culture identity from the Hittites and are therefore archaeologically
indistinguishable from them (?zsait 2003: 203), but
this argument fails to account for the lack of typical Hittite pottery over much of the Pontic region in the
Late Bronze Age, in regions known from texts to
have been inhabited by Kaska.
The lack of excavation of Kaska sites dating to
the Late Bronze Age necessitates an indirect ap
proach to the archaeological question of Kaska iden
tity. It has been reasonably argued that the Kaska were involved in the final collapse of the Hittite
Empire around 1200-1180 B.c. (Bryce 1998: 379). It
remains unclear, however, whether or not we can as
sociate traces of Early Iron Age occupation among the ruins at Hattusa, on B?y?kkaya, with an ephem
This content downloaded from 78.111.165.165 on Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:27:51 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
2005 ANTHROPOLOGY OF A FRONTIER ZONE 57
eral Kaska presence at the site (Genz 2003: 189).
Perhaps the most rewarding means of approaching the Kaska of the Late Bronze Age is to accept as a
working hypothesis the interpretation that Early Iron
Age materials found at Hattusa might have some re
lation to a Kaska presence and could therefore in
form us on Kaska society. This hypothesis is at least
tentatively supported by the fact that the pottery typi cal of the Early Iron Age at Hattusa does occur in the
region to the north, in the area where we might ex
pect to find Kaska in that period (Yildinm and Sipahi 2004: 310). What might be learned about the Kaska
by approaching them through the material of the
Early Iron Age? The first concern is the pottery. Early Iron Age pot
tery at B?y?kkaya is handmade and crude. In many
respects, it is remarkably similar to pottery of a much
earlier era, the Early Bronze or even Chalcolithic
period. Either the inhabitants were reviving age-old traditions of pottery manufacture, and presumably use, after the collapse of the Hittite Empire, or those
traditions survived unchanged throughout the impe rial episode of the Late Bronze Age. In other words, a tradition of simple handmade pottery may have con
tinued in north-central Anatolia alongside the new
technology of fast wheel-made pottery introduced
and widely adopted during the Middle and Late
Bronze Ages. We may be mistaken in assigning all
simple handmade wares to the Early Bronze Age or
earlier, as the B?y?kkaya evidence clearly indicates.
It is possible that some of these wares belong to the
Middle and Late Bronze Ages and in particular that
elements of them may characterize a truly Kaska
assemblage of material culture. Without excavation
of a site deep in Kaska territory and independently datable to the Late Bronze Age, we cannot be sure
either way.
Apart from the pottery, the Early Iron Age evi
dence from B?y?kkaya has further points of inter
est. In their article on faunal remains from Late
Bronze Age and Early Iron Age levels at Hattusa, von den Driesch and P?llath (2003) delineate three
major areas of contrast between the faunal assem
blages of the two periods at the site: an increase in
the representation of pigs in the Early Iron Age lev
els; a new practice of eating equids in the Early Iron
Age; and a size reduction for both cattle and sheep in Early Iron Age levels. What might be the cultural
significance of these three developments? Let us
examine each in turn.
One of the few Hittite verbal characterizations of
the Kaska calls them "swineherds and weavers of
linen" (Plague Prayer of Mursili; see Goetze in Prit
chard 1969: 396). Other texts indicate that the Hit
tites tried to keep pigs away from cultic structures
and practices (?nal 1998: 26), and we have seen
above that pigs do not figure in the Kaska ransom
lists from Masat/Tapikka (Hoffner 2002: 67), which
suggests that the Hittites were not eager to receive
pigs as ransom. Nor are pigs listed as valued ani
mals in texts such as the Prayer of Arnuwanda and
Asmunikkal (Goetze in Pritchard 1969: 399), where
fattened oxen, cows, sheep, and goats are all men
tioned. The fact that the proportion of pig in the fau
nal assemblage at B?y?kkaya more than doubled
from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age? while admittedly still only a minor representation
(up from 2.4 to 5.4 percent)?suggests a shift in at
titude to this animal. We should keep in mind other
interpretations, however, such as the different scale
and extent of the Early Iron Age settlement as com
pared with the Late Bronze Age settlement. Perhaps the Hittites did keep as many pigs, proportionally, as
the Early Iron Age inhabitants but they disposed of
them elsewhere in areas not yet excavated. Further
more, Hittite texts indicate use of pig fat or lard in
a range of ways, including as offerings to the gods (Hoffner 1995). Nevertheless, evidence from Kinet
H?y?k appears to support the B?y?kkaya shift, with a comparable increase in the proportion of pigs from
the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age there
(Ikram 2003: 289). The evidence from Iron Age pits at Ma?at also indicates a high degree of pig con
sumption, second only to cattle. Neonatal pig bones
at Ma?at suggest that they were being raised on site
(V. Ioannidou, personal communication, 2004). If pigs were an important part of the Late Bronze
Age Kaska economy, as the epithet "swineherds"
may suggest (contra see von Sch?ler 1965: 77), it
tells us something about their economy and life
style. Pigs are not enormously mobile animals. They thrive in damp forested regions, as commonly found
throughout the Pontic zone, but do not generally take
to seasonal transhumance. Their husbandry by the
Kaska, if a fundamental element of their subsistence,
suggests that Kaska peoples were largely sedentary and did not engage in wholesale migratory move
ments. At the same time, there is no reason to sup
pose that elements of the Kaska population did not
follow the yayla pattern of high summer pastures for sheep and goat so well attested in the Pontic re
gion today and historically. Hittite texts also show
that Kaska groups were granted special grazing rights when submitting to Hittite control (von Sch?ler 1965:
This content downloaded from 78.111.165.165 on Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:27:51 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
58 GLATZ AND MATTHEWS BASOR 339
33). It is rather notable that centuries later, during the
Byzantine Empire, Paphlagonia was renowned for its
high-quality bacon and its local inhabitants relegated from Hittite "swineherds" to Byzantine "pigs' arses"
(Magdalino 1998: 141-42). The second element of the Late Bronze Age
Early Iron Age faunal shift at Hattusa is the intro
duction of an apparently new practice: the eating of
equids. The evidence for this practice at Early Iron
Age Hattusa takes the form of cut-marks on bones
of horses, mules, and donkeys (von den Driesch and
P?llath 2003: 297). There is no evidence?textual or
archaeological, from Hattusa or elsewhere?for a
Hittite pursuit of this practice, although equid bones of Middle Bronze Age date from Acemh?y?k do
indicate deliberate butchery of equids (Nicola and Glew 1999: 108). For the Hittites, like the English in modern times, the horse appears to have been a
high-status animal with associations of social and
military standing, including its use in cavalry and
chariot contexts (Beal 1992: 133-37). Surprisingly, human sexual relations with horses and mules were
permitted, while being severely punished, by death, if with pigs, dogs, or sheep (Bryce 2002: 48). With
the deflation of this value system at the fall of the
Hittite Empire, the introduction of horse-eating may indicate an incursion of newcomers with a different
value system, the adoption of new values by surviv
ing elements of the preexisting population (some of whom apparently continued to make Hittite-style pots at the same time?see Schoop 2003: 172), or a
combination of both of these. In any case, there is
sufficient reason here to specify the culturally spe cific practice of horse-eating as a possible Kaska trait.
Good supporting evidence comes from an analysis of
the animal bones from Iron Age pits at Ma?at, where
clear butchery marks on horse bones indicate their
consumption (V. Ioannidou, personal communication,
2004). The third aspect of the Late Bronze Age-Early
Iron Age faunal shift at Hattusa noted by Von den
Driesch and P?llath is a reduction in the size of
both sheep and cattle, a feature also notable across
the same chronological span at the site of Kaman
Kaleh?y?k (Hongo 2003: 265). The authors also note
that evidence of stress traumas on cattle bones from
Early Iron Age levels at Hattusa suggests that the ani
mals were being worked harder and were less well
tended than in the Late Bronze Age (von den Driesch and P?llath 2003: 299). With regard to cattle, there
is an alternative interpretation of the two attributes,
reduction in size and increased stress traumas. A
steadily growing body of evidence, principally in the form of figurines, suggests that zebu, or humped cattle, were of increased importance in the Near East
from the late second millennium B.c. onward, per
haps in association with an episode of climatic dry ing (Matthews 2002). Late Bronze Age evidence for zebu in Anatolia is relatively scant, but a collec tion of small clay figurines from Geven Gedigi, a
shrine nearby Ku?akli-Sarissa, is associated with
pottery of Iron Age and perhaps Late Bronze Age date (Miller 1999). Zebu cattle are slightly smaller and more gracile than their non-humped or taurine cousins. In archaeological collections of faunal re
mains, it is extremely difficult to distinguish zebu
bones from taurine cattle bones. High-probability identification of zebu requires recovery of intact
thoracic vertebrae with their distinctive bifurcated
spinous processes (Epstein 1971: 198; Matthews 2002: fig. 5). Other bones of zebu closely resemble
those of taurine cattle but are smaller. Without posi tive identification of the relevant vertebrae at Hat
tusa, we cannot be sure that zebu were present there
in the Early Iron Age, but there remains the possi
bility that what is seen as a reduction in cattle size
from Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age is in fact a
replacement of taurine by zebu cattle, their gracile skeletons more prone to stress trauma in the exercise
of hard labor.
With regard to linen, the Hittite description of the Kaska as "weavers of linen" is likely to be signifi cant. The history of flax cultivation in Anatolia is
long, reaching back into the Neolithic period (Ertug 2000). Linen production is one of many uses to which the ?ax/Linum plant may be put, others including the extraction of linseed oil from flax seeds for cooking, lighting, and lubrication of wooden-wheeled carts.
Linseed oil and flax seeds are also widely attested as elements in modern folk medicine, and the residue from oil extraction may be used as animal fodder,
particularly for draft animals (Ertug 2000: 171). Pro
duction of linseed oil by villagers in Turkey ceased as recently as 20-25 years ago, the end of a millen
nia-long tradition (Ertug 2000: 174). Flax is found at
Ku?akh-Sarissa but has not been recovered at Hat tusa (Riehl and Nesbitt 2003: 301) and generally ap pears to be less common at Late Bronze Age and
Iron Age sites than in earlier prehistory, hinting at
its increasing substitution by olive and sesame oils
(Riehl and Nesbitt 2003: 306-7). Studies of names
for assorted oils in Hittite texts suggest that linseed
This content downloaded from 78.111.165.165 on Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:27:51 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
2005 ANTHROPOLOGY OF A FRONTIER ZONE 59
oil may not have been significant in Hittite cuisine
and lighting, other oils and fats taking these roles
(G?terbock 1968; Hoffner 1995). Archaeobotanical studies at ?kiztepe, on the Black
Sea coast, indicate the cultivation of flax throughout the site's occupation, from the Chalcolithic to the
end of the Middle Bronze Age (Van Zeist 2003). Van
Zeist also points to a clear distinction between the
?kiztepe botanical evidence and that from contem
porary Early Bronze Age sites in north Syria, where
flax disappears from the archaeobotanical record after
a long representation from the Neolithic to the end of
the Ubaid period (Van Zeist 2003: 556). It may be
that the apparent cessation of flax cultivation at these
north Syrian sites at the start of the Late Chalcolithic, ca. 4000 b.c., correlates with a shift to wool and ol
ive production at the expense of linen and linseed
oil. In the case of rural Anatolia, the use of flax per sisted and may have become a sufficiently significant
distinguishing characteristic to be commented upon in one of the few epithets given by the Hittites to the
Kaska. Thus, differing social attitudes?conceivably rooted in an urban-rural opposition of wool/linen, olive oil/linseed oil?may have underlain the Hit
tites' characterization of the Kaska as "swineherds
and weavers of linen." It may be no coincidence
that up to modern times the Black Sea region has
been especially noted for its linen production (Ertug 2000: 176).
Apart from linen/flax, we have little idea of what
crops were grown by the Kaska. Hittite texts do not
say much even about their own crops, and archaeo
botanical investigation in Late Bronze Age Anatolia
is relatively young (Nesbitt 2002). When in control
of fertile plains in the border zone, the Hittites chan
neled agricultural produce into providing food for
troops, fodder for their animals, and cultic offerings to their deities. Kaska lands under Hittite control,
however temporarily, would also be expected to pay
agricultural tribute to Hittite temples, as the Prayer of Arnuwanda and Asmunikkal makes clear: "the
territories which were under obligation to present to
you, the gods of heaven, sacrificial loaves, libations
and tribute . . ." (Goetze in Pritchard 1969: 399). These scattered fragments of evidence allow us to
build a tentative picture of the Kaska of the Late
Bronze Age as a mobile highland people, growing an
array of crops in the fertile valleys and plains of their
land, raising cattle, sheep, goat, and pigs, and mov
ing their animals according to long-established sea
sonal patterns (see also Yakar 1980; 2000: 283-302).
Their architecture is likely to have comprised ele
ments of wood, mud-brick, and undressed stone, as
today in the region (fig. 6), and their settlements
were small and shifting. They may have used hand
made pottery and certainly would have made exten
sive use of wood and basketry for their containers.
They may have been distinguished from the Hittites
by a practice of using linen and linseed oil as against wool and olive oil. Above all, the Kaska have re
mained difficult to detect archaeologically.
THE NATURE OF HITTITE-KASKA
RELATIONS IN THE LIGHT OF
ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESULTS FROM
PROJECT PAPHLAGONIA
We have attempted to demonstrate that the rela
tionship between the Hittites and Kaska can best be
characterized as a complex, shifting web of interac
tions, maintained as a delicate balance over a period of several centuries. While the texts reveal the Hit
tites' desire to pacify and control a vulnerable fron
tier region, they also show how much flexibility was
exercised in their approach to the Kaska problem,
including being willing to identify "friendly" Kaska
elements, to recruit forces and labor from Kaska
tribes, and to make treaties with the enemy, in addi
tion to the well-tried military solutions. How might the archaeology of Paphlagonia in the Late Bronze
Age be brought to bear on this complex scenario?
This is not the place for a detailed and full presen tation of the Late Bronze Age material from the
Paphlagonia survey, but it may be useful to provide a summary of key attributes.
During the conduct of Project Paphlagonia, about
30 Late Bronze Age sites were detected, identified
by the presence of Hittite pottery on their surfaces
(fig. 7). In calling this pottery "Hittite," there is an
assumption that pottery similar to that found at Hat
tusa and other "Hittite" sites is likely to be Hittite, but it is possible that such pottery was made or used
by non-Hittite groups, including the Kaska. We still
know of no material culture items that can be col
lected from the surfaces of sites and identified as
exclusively Kaska, a situation that will remain until a Kaska site is excavated. We have referred above to
hints from Hattusa that a tradition of handmade pot
tery may have survived alongside the wheel-made
assemblages of the Late Bronze Age, and one day it
may prove possible to associate such material with
This content downloaded from 78.111.165.165 on Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:27:51 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
60 GLATZ AND MATTHEWS BASOR 339
>"? iV'-v*.
Fig. 6. Contemporary architecture in Paphlagonia.
a Kaska presence. There is also the possibility of a
rapid fluctuation of Hittites and Kaska living at the same site, with the ebb and flow of military action and treaty agreement, whereby a blurring occurs in
pottery and other aspects of material culture, as pre dicted in the Lightfoot and Martinez (1995) model
outlined above.
As regards chronology, there is a new willing ness in recent studies to accept that there are prob lems in the dating of Hittite ceramics, along with an
increased suspicion of previously accepted wisdom on the intricacies of Hittite chronology reliant on ce
ramic sequences. A new skepticism toward the glib association of scant historical records to excavated
"events," such as destruction levels, is rooted in a
healthy doubt and a determination to define and es
tablish "an archaeological chronology of Hittite culture" (Schoop 2003: 168, italics in original). The Late Bronze Age Paphlagonia pattern shows an in crease in density through the second millennium, with an increase of late Hittite over early Hittite
sites, a trend that supports a picture of increased Hit tite concern with controlling this frontier toward the end of the empire, as historically attested.
The newly located Late Bronze Age sites in Paph lagonia show attributes that strongly affirm the fron tier nature of the region. They are medium to large settlements, with no representation of sites that might be interpreted as small villages, hamlets, or isolated farmsteads. They are strategically located, normally on natural prominences at significant points in the
landscape, such as narrow passes or natural cross
roads, evincing a desire to control movement. Sites are located with ready access to fresh water, in the form of springs or streams, and to arable land, ensur
ing an ability to provide adequate supplies for the in
habitants, a garrison, and perhaps an army marching through, as mentioned above. Many of these sites have surviving traces of substantial fortifications as
well as ramps for the access of horses and perhaps chariots (fig. 8). Some of these planned and fortified sites appear to replace older traditional mounds, most
This content downloaded from 78.111.165.165 on Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:27:51 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
2005 ANTHROPOLOGY OF A FRONTIER ZONE 61
Fig. 7. Distribution of Late Bronze Age sites in Paphlagonia survey region.
I?I w*ir
Fig. 8. Fortified Hittite site at Dumanli.
This content downloaded from 78.111.165.165 on Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:27:51 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
62 GLATZ AND MATTHEWS BASOR 339
??&'p4 'i.ii^-Sw^-.?f^??
Fig. 9. View of Salman West mound.
strikingly in the case of Salman West and East (fig. 9). The lack of small village sites in Paphlagonia con
trasts sharply with patterns attested in other Near
Eastern imperial impact scenarios, such as the expan sion of Assyria into southeast T\irkey, which is ac
companied by a massive increase in rural settlement
(Parker 2003). The Hittite-Kaska frontier zone was
never peaceable enough for such an expansion of un
protected settlement, nor for an attempt at intensified
rural settlement as a means of maximizing the tribu
tary agricultural production of the land.
The distribution of Late Bronze Age sites in Pa
phlagonia agrees well with a definition of the Devrez
?ay (probably Hittite Dahara, as identified by For
lanini 1977: 202-3) as a major frontier through the
Hittite period. For much of its course the Devrez runs
through severe gorges, and it would not be difficult
for either side to control movement across the river
from one zone to another, at the few points where a
traverse is possible. One small remote site at Eldi van is clearly positioned to act as a lookout site, with
clear visibility for many kilometers around and sherds
from large storage vessels.
A notable feature of the Late Bronze Age land
scape of Paphlagonia is the complete absence, as it so far seems, of Hittite carved rock monuments, such as occur in the core region and in areas to the south
of Hattusa. The landscape of Paphlagonia is dotted
with countless rock outcrops suitable for the carving of highly visible relief scenes, and their absence in
the region is not likely to be an accident but rather an
indication of the unsettled nature of this volatile bor
der zone. It is also likely that the Hittites realized that the Kaska were not likely to be a receptive audience
for their rock-cut propagandistic scenes.
The physical nature of the landscape was un
doubtedly significant in structuring the relationships between the Hittites and Kaska during their centu
ries-long drama. As mentioned above, Inner Paphlag onia straddles a truly transitional zone between the
Anatolian Plateau to the south and the Pontic Moun
tains to the north, with major routes to some extent
determined, at least encouraged, by the topography of the region. We should not underestimate the im
portance of the rivers of Inner Paphlagonia. They feature prominently in Hittite texts even if, with the
exception of Kizihrmak/Marassantiya and probably Devrez/Dahara, there are serious problems in equat
ing ancient and modern names. The study by Kimes,
Haselgrove, and Hodder (1982) of the distribution of
coins in Iron Age Britain established a strong rela
tionship between cultural boundaries and the pres ence of major rivers. It is clear that for much of the
second millennium b.c. the Devrez/Dahara formed a
natural and cultural boundary between the Hittites
and the Kaska, with territory around it a fortified
military zone, especially through the imperial pe riod. Within this frontier, a second and inner line
of Hittite defense was focused on the Kizihrmak/
Marassantiya, generally not a difficult river to cross
but still a clear boundary marker.
Another cultural feature of borders noted in the
study by Kimes, Haselgrove, and Hodder (1982: 126) is their repeated association with wastelands, barren
This content downloaded from 78.111.165.165 on Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:27:51 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
2005 ANTHROPOLOGY OF A FRONTIER ZONE 63
territory often forcibly settled by outsiders. Again the
Kizilirmak/Marassantiya neatly fits this description,
especially for its passage through the Miocene salt
plateau that dominates this part of Inner Paphlagonia. The saline meadows of this region host only the most
salt-tolerant of plants, and provide little in the way of
sustenance for grazing animals and the people who
depend on them for food. And yet there are small
villages today strung along this barren terrain. They are inhabited principally by Kurdish villagers, settled
here during the 19th century a.D. by the Ottoman au
thorities. Similar settlements of peoples, sometimes
far from their homes, were made by the Hittite kings in their attempts to populate and control the other
wise barren wastelands that lay along much of this
frontier zone.
Finally, the extent to which the Kaska were in
volved in the final collapse of the Hittite Empire is
unknown, precisely because our written sources about
them cease at that very point. Assyrian references to
the Kaska as far east as the Upper Euphrates in the
early 11th century b.c. suggest that the Kaska had by then swept across the entirety of central and southern
Anatolia (Bryce 1998: 388). By that stage, the fron
tier zone of Inner Paphlagonia had dissipated, its for
tified and ramparted sites long abandoned and put to
the torch by the Kaska. In this respect we might call
them the silent victors of Late Bronze Age Anatolia.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Project Paphlagonia field work was generously funded
by the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, to whom
sincere thanks are extended. We also thank the Directorate
General of Monuments and Museums of the Republic of
Turkey for granting relevant permissions.
REFERENCES
Alp, S.
1991 Hethitische Briefe aus Masat-H?y?k. T?rk Tarin Kurumu, Series 6, no. 35. Ankara: T?rk
Tarih Kurumu.
Beal, R. H.
1992 The Organisation of the Hittite Military. Texte der Hethiter 20. Heidelberg: Winter.
Beckman, G.
1999 The City and the Country of Hatti. Pp. 161-69 in Landwirtschaft im alten Orient: Ausgew?hlte
Vortr?ge der XLI. Rencontre Assy ri?lo gique
Internationale, Berlin, 4.-8.7.1994, eds. H.
Klengel and J. Renger. Berliner Beitr?ge zum
Vorderen Orient 18. Berlin: Reimer.
2000 Hittite Chronology. Akkadica 119-120: 19-32.
Bilgen, A. N.
1999 Kastamonu Kimk Kazisi 1994-1995 Metal?rjik Buluntulan. Anadolu Arastirmalari 15: 269-93.
Bittel, K.
1970 Hattusha, the Capital of the Hittites. New
York: Oxford University.
Bryce, T. R.
1986- The Boundaries of Hatti and Hittite Border
1987 Policy. Tel Aviv 13-14: 85-102. 1998 The Kingdom of the Hittites. Oxford: Oxford
University.
2002 Life and Society in the Hittite World. Oxford: Oxford University.
Burney, C. A.
1956 Northern Anatolia before Classical Times. Anatolian Studies 6: 179-203.
CTH = Laroche, E.
1971 Catalogue des textes hittites. ?tudes et com
mentaires 75. Paris: Klincksieck.
De Atley, S. P., and Findlow, F. J.
1984 Exploring the Limits: Frontiers and Bound aries in Prehistory. BAR International Series
223. Oxford: B.A.R.
Din?ol, A. M., and Yakar, J.
1974 The Localization of Nerik Reconsidered. Belleten 37: 563-82.
Emre, K., and ?inaroglu, A.
1993 A Group of Metal Hittite Vessels from Kinik Kastamonu. Pp. 675-717 in Aspects of Art and
Iconography: Anatolia and Its Neighbors:
Studies in Honor of Nimet ?zg?c, eds. M. J.
Mellink, E. Porada, and T. ?zg?c. Ankara:
Turk Tarih Kurumu.
Epstein, H.
1971 Origin of the Domestic Animals of Africa. 2 vols. New York: Africana.
Ertug, F.
2000 Linseed Oil and Oil Mills in Central Turkey. Flax/Lmwra and Eruca, Important Oil Plants of
Anatolia. Anatolian Studies 50: 171-85.
Forlanini, M.
1977 L'Anatolia Nordoccidentale Nell'Impero Eteo. Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici 18: 197? 225.
Gates, M.-H.
1997 Archaeology in Turkey. American Journal of Archaeology 101: 241-305.
This content downloaded from 78.111.165.165 on Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:27:51 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
64 GLATZ AND MATTHEWS BASOR 339
Genz, H.
2003 The Early Iron Age in Central Anatolia. Pp. 179-91 in Identifying Changes: The Transition
from Bronze to Iron Ages in Anatolia and Its
Neighbouring Regions. Proceedings of the In
ternational Workshop, Istanbul, November 8
9, 2002, eds. B. Fischer, H. Genz, ?. Jean, and
K. K?roglu. Istanbul: Turk Eski?ag Bilimleri Enstit?s?.
Goetze, A.
1960 The Beginning of the Hittite Instructions for the Commander of the Border Guards. Journal
of Cuneiform Studies 14: 69-73.
Gorny, R. L.
1995 Hittite Imperialism and Anti-Imperial Resis tance as Viewed from Alishar H?y?k. Bulletin
of the American Schools of Oriental Research
299-300: 65-89.
Gurney, O. R.
1979 The Hittite Empire. Pp. 151-65 in Power and
Propaganda: A Symposium on Ancient Em
pires, ed. M. T. Larsen. Mesopotamia 7. Copen
hagen: Akademisk.
G?terbock, H. G.
1956 The Deeds of Suppiluliuma as Told by his Son, Mursili II. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 10:
41-68, 75-98, 107-30.
1968 Oil Plants in Hittite Anatolia. Journal of the American Oriental Society 88: 66-71.
Haas, V
1970 Der Kult von Nerik: Ein Beitrag zur hethiti schen Religionsgeschichte. Studia Pohl 4. Rome:
P?pstliches Bibelinstitut.
Hoffner, H. A., Jr.
1995 Oil in Hittite Texts. Biblical Archaeologist 58: 108-14.
2002 The Treatment and Long-Term Use of Persons
Captured in Battle according to the Ma?at Texts.
Pp. 61-72 m Recent Developments in Hittite Ar
chaeology and History: Papers in Memory of
Hans G. G?terbock, eds. K. A. Yener and H. A.
Hoffner Jr. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.
Hongo, H.
2003 Continuity or Changes: Faunal Remains from
Stratum lid at Kaman-Kaleh?y?k. Pp. 257-69
in Identifying Changes: The Transition from Bronze to Iron Ages in Anatolia and Its Neigh
bouring Regions. Proceedings of the Interna
tional Workshop, Istanbul, November 8-9,
2002, eds. B. Fischer, H. Genz, E. Jean, and
K. K?roglu. Istanbul: Turk Eski?ag Bilimleri Enstit?s?.
Houwink ten Cate, P. H. J.
1979 Mursilis' Northwestern Campaigns?Addi
tional Fragments of his Comprehensive Annals
Concerning the Nerik Region. Pp. 157-67 in
Florilegium Anatolicum: M?langes offerts ?
Emmanuel Laroche. Paris: De Boccard.
1984 The History of Warfare According to Hittite Sources: The Annals of Hattusilis I (Part II).
Anatolica 11: 47-83.
Ikram, S.
2003 A Preliminary Study of Zooarchaeological Changes between the Bronze and Iron Ages at
Kinet H?y?k, Hatay. Pp. 283-94 in Identifying Changes: The Transition from Bronze to Iron
Ages in Anatolia and Its Neighbouring Regions.
Proceedings of the International Workshop,
Istanbul, November 8-9, 2002, eds. B. Fischer,
H. Genz, E. Jean, and K. K?roglu. Istanbul:
Turk Eski?ag Bilimleri Enstit?s?.
Kimes, T.; Haselgrove, C; and Hodder, I.
1982 A Method for the Identification of the Location of Regional Cultural Boundaries. Journal of
Anthropological Archaeology 1:113-31.
Kiengel, H.
1999 Geschichte des Hethitischen Reiches. Hand
buch der Orientalistik. Erste Abteilung. Der Nahe und der Mittlere Osten 34. Leiden: Brill.
KUB XIII = Keilschrifturkunden aus Boghazk?i 1925 Berlin: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Vorder
asiatische Abteilung.
Lightfoot, K. G., and Martinez, A.
1995 Frontiers and Boundaries in Archaeological Perspective. Annual Review of Anthropology
24: 471-92.
Macqueen, J. G.
1980 Nerik and Its "Weather-God." Anatolian Stud
ies 30: 179-87.
Magdalino, P.
1998 Paphlagonians in Byzantine High Society. Pp.
141-50 in Byzantine Asia Minor, 6th-12th
Centuries. Speros Basil Vryonis Center for the
Study of Hellenism 27. Athens: Institute for
Byzantine Research.
Matthews, R.
2000 Time with the Past in Paphlagonia. Pp. 1013
27 in Proceedings of the First International
Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient
Near East, Rome May 18th-23rd 1998, eds. P.
Matthiae, A. Enea, L. Peyronel, and F. Pinnock.
2 vols. Rome: Uni ver sita degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza."
2002 Zebu: Harbingers of Doom in Bronze Age Western Asia? Antiquity 76: 438-46.
Matthews, R.; Pollard, T.; and Ramage, M.
1998 Project Paphlagonia: Regional Survey in North ern Anatolia. Pp. 195-206 in Ancient Anatolia:
Fifty Years' Work by the British Institute of Ar
This content downloaded from 78.111.165.165 on Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:27:51 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
2005 ANTHROPOLOGY OF A FRONTIER ZONE 65
chaeology at Ankara, ed. R. Matthews. London:
British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara.
Miller, J.
1999 A Collection of Zoomorphic Terracotta from Geven Gedigi. Mitteilungen der Deutschen
Orient-Gesellschaft 131: 91-96.
Nesbitt, M.
2002 Plants and People in Ancient Anatolia. Pp. 5
18 in Across the Anatolian Plateau: Read
ings in the Archaeology of Ancient Turkey,
?d. D. C. Hopkins. Annual of the American
Schools of Oriental Research 57. Boston:
American Schools of Oriental Research.
Nicola, J., and Glew, C.
1999 Assyrian Colony Period Fauna from Acem
h?y?k Level III: A Preliminary Analysis. Pp. 93-148 in Essays on Ancient Anatolia, ed. T.
Mikasa. Bulletin of the Middle Eastern Culture Center in Japan 11. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
?zsait, M.
2003 Les c?ramiques du fer ancien dans les r?gion
d'Amasya et de Samsun. Pp. 199-212 in Iden
tifying Changes: The Transition from Bronze to
Iron Ages in Anatolia and Its Neighbouring
Regions. Proceedings of the International
Workshop, Istanbul, November 8-9, 2002, eds.
B. Fischer, H. Genz, ?. Jean, and K. K?roglu.
Istanbul: Turk Eski?ag Bilimleri Enstit?s?.
Parker, B. J.
2003 Archaeological Manifestations of Empire: Assyria's Imprint on Southeastern Anatolia.
American Journal of Archaeology 107: 525-57.
Pritchard, J. B.
1969 Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the
Old Testament. 3rd ed. Princeton: Princeton
University.
Riehl, S., and Nesbitt, M.
2003 Crops and Cultivation in the Iron Age Near East: Change or Continuity? Pp. 301-12 in
Identifying Changes: The Transition from Bronze to Iron Ages in Anatolia and Its Neigh
bouring Regions. Proceedings of the Interna
tional Workshop, Istanbul, November 8-9,
2002, eds. B. Fischer, H. Genz, ?. Jean, and
K. K?roglu. Istanbul: Turk Eski?ag Bilimleri Enstit?s?.
Schoop, U.-D.
2003 Pottery Traditions of the Later Hittite Empire: Problems of Definition. Pp. 167-78 in Identi
fying Changes: The Transition from Bronze to
Iron Ages in Anatolia and Its Neighbouring
Regions. Proceedings of the International
Workshop, Istanbul, November 8-9, 2002, eds.
B. Fischer, H. Genz, ?. Jean, and K. K?roglu.
Istanbul: Turk Eski?ag Bilimleri Enstit?s?.
Seeher, J.
1997 Die Ausgrabungen in Bogazk?y-Hattusa 1996.
Arch?ologischer Anzeiger: 317-41.
Singer, I.
1984 The AGRIG in the Hittite Texts. Anatolian Studies 34: 97-127.
?nal, A.
1998 Hittite and Hurrian Cuneiform Tablets from Or
tak?y (?orum), Central Turkey. With Two Ex
cursuses on the "Man of the Storm God" and a
Full Edition ofKBo 23.27. Istanbul: Simurg. Van De Mieroop, M.
2000 Sargon of Agade and His Successors in Anato lia. Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici 42:133-59.
Van Zeist, W.
2003 An Archaeobotanical Study of Ikiztepe, North ern Turkey. Pp. 547-81 in From Village to Cit
ies: Early Villages in the Near East: Studies Presented to Ufuk Esin, eds. M. ?zdogan, H.
Hauptmann, and N. Bangelen. 2 vols. Istanbul:
Arkeoloji ve Sanat.
von den Driesch, A., and P?llath, N.
2003 Changes from Late Bronze Age to Early Iron
Age Animal Husbandry as Reflected in the
Faunal Remains from B?y?kkaya/Bogazk?y Hattusa. Pp. 295-99 in Identifying Changes:
The Transition from Bronze to Iron Ages in Ana
tolia and Its Neighbouring Regions. Proceed
ings of the International Workshop, Istanbul,
November 8-9, 2002, eds. B. Fischer, H. Genz,
?. Jean, and K. K?roglu. Istanbul: Turk Eski?ag
Bilimleri Enstit?s?. von Schuler, E.
1965 Die Kask?er: Ein Beitrag zur Ethnographie des alten Kleinasien. Untersuchungen zur Assyri
ologie und vorderasiatischen Arch?ologie 3.
Berlin: de Gruyter.
Yakar, J.
1980 Recent Contributions to the Historical Geogra
phy of the Hittite Empire. Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 112: 75-94.
2000 Ethnoarchaeology of Anatolia: Rural Socio
Economy in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Mono
graph Series 17. Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, Institute of Archaeology.
Yakar, J., and Din?ol, A. M.
1974 Remarks on the Historical Geography of North
Central Anatolia during the Pre-Hittite and Hit
tite Periods. Tel Aviv 1: 85-99.
Yildinm, T., and Sipahi, T
2004 2002 Yih ?orum ve ?ankin ?lleri Y?zey Ara?tirmalan. Arastirma Sonu?lari Toplantisi 21: 305-14.
This content downloaded from 78.111.165.165 on Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:27:51 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions