The Early Iron Age Pottery Typology in Turkish Thrace

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Since the Early Iron Age in the Thracian Region is characterised by the existence of illiterate communities, the archaeological record represents the most important source of information for defining this period of the region’s history. The best represented category of archaeological finds is undoubtedly the pottery. The research on the pottery finds from Turkish Thrace, which constitutes a large part of Eastern Thrace, is generally based on short-term projects of the 1980s and 1990s, and the definitions and theories put forward during these periods have survived until today without much change. In recent years, increased research in the Balkans has led to a diversification of the documentation, information and interpretations regarding the Early Iron Age pottery repertoire. Within the scope of the doctoral thesis prepared by the author between 2021 and 2023, the pottery repertoire of the region has been classified and its cultural connections have been discussed based on revisiting the results of old excavations and surveys carried out in Turkish Thrace and evaluating the results of new surveys. The data reveal that the Early Iron Age pottery of Eastern Thrace was influenced by the pottery of the Middle and Late Bronze Age societies of the northern and north-western Balkan region, especially during the first phase of the period. In addition, it could be determined that the Early Iron Age communities from Eastern Thrace developed cultural relations both within the limits of this territory and with other parts of Thrace. With an Early Iron Age culture that is open to environmental interaction but also has strong internal dynamics, Eastern Thrace was a noteworthy transitional region for the transmission of Balkan cultural elements carried to Anatolia, the Aegean and the Mediterranean at the beginning of the period.