Article

An Attempt to identify the Late Bronze Age Cultural Provinces of the Carchemish-Haran Area

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Abstract

The Carchemish-Harran area, which is roughly the region in between the Euphrates and Balikh Rivers, was located at the border of the Late Bronze Age North Syrian and North Mesopotamian cultural regions. One would therefore expect to be able to detect the local cultural variations easier in this area because the effects of cultural trends in both cultural regions can be observed. Because of its location, the areas of political domination of the major regional powers also coincided in the area. The result of this is the finding of further interesting cultural influences such as the Hittite and Anatolian cultural impact throughout the area. In my opinion, the best way to understand cultural interactions is to try to determine the limits of cultural provinces. By cultural provinces, I refer to a set of identifiable local cultural areas, which together formed the cultural regions. As this area was extensively investigated during the past century, we have enough archaeological evidence to track local variations and to determine approximate cultural borders. The impact of political and military events on local cultures is also of prime importance; therefore textual sources should also be studied so as to reach more secure conclusions.

How to Cite:

Serifoglu, T., (2009) “An Attempt to identify the Late Bronze Age Cultural Provinces of the Carchemish-Haran Area”, Akkadica 130(2), 167–187. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/akkadica.99593

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