Drifting Southward? Tracing Aspects of Cultural Continuity and Change in the Late 2<sup>nd</sup> Millennium BC Syro-Anatolian Region

Abstract

This article analyses continuity and changes in the material culture at the site of Arslantepe during the last centuries of the 2nd millennium BC. The mound, located in the Malatya province (SE Turkey), has a thousand-year history of occupation characterised by the interaction of different cultural influences. During the Late Bronze Age, the impact of the Hittite expansion could be seen in the use of typically central Anatolian artifacts. At the fall of the Hittite Empire, Arslantepe showed aspects of continuity with the Hittite tradition along with the emergence of new trends connected with the western bank of the Euphrates valley and the inner Syrian territories. After a historical and chronological introduction, this paper will present Early Iron Age material from Arslantepe and compare it with assemblages from key contemporary sites in the Euphrates and northern Levant areas, revealing aspects of both local identity and extra-regional contacts. A diachronic perspective will also allow us to integrate the Late Bronze Age material into the historical picture in order to understand transformations in the relationship pattern between the site and its neighbouring regions. The analysis will also be contextualised within a wider theoretical frame by identifying elements of continuity, transformation and change in the material culture and discussing how these were influenced by the development of cross-cultural relationships.