Southeastern and Eastern Anatolia in the Middle Bronze Age

Abstract

This article presents data on the Middle Bronze Age (MBA) of southeastern and eastern Anatolia, which were more resilient than northern Mesopotamia and never endured the collapse suffered there at the end of the third millennium BCE. On the contrary, the mixed subsistence economy and the relatively lower levels of urbanism and reliance on intensive dry farming made these Anatolian societies more resilient and less prone to ecological disaster. Thus, the climatic catastrophe that devastated numerous urban centers of northern Mesopotamia did not affect the Anatolian regions, which instead show clear signs of continuity between the Early and the Middle Bronze Age periods. In addition, interregional exchange between these regions and northern Mesopotamia played an important part in the further development of these communities during the MBA and in creating the framework for the creation of important city-states, especially along the Upper Euphrates River Valley, and for strengthening local networks of chiefly estates, primarily in the Upper Tigris region.