摘要: Description　　The site of Kltepe, which was the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Kanesh and centre of a complex network of Assyrian trade colonies in the 2nd millennium B.C., is located 20 km to

Description

　　The site of Kültepe, which was the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Kanesh and centre of a complex network of Assyrian trade colonies in the 2nd millennium B.C., is located 20 km to the northeast of the modern city of Kayseri. Situated just at the foot of Mount Erciyes (ancient Argeus) and on a fertile plain, Kültepe occupies a position at which historic and natural routes, leading from Sivas in the northeast and Malatya in the southeast, converge. This naturally advantageous position allowed Kültepe to emerge as a centre of importance in the world of ancient politics and trade. Kültepe thus became a key centre of culture and commerce between Anatolia, Syria, and Mesopotamia by the end of the 3rd millennium B.C. and especially during the first quarter of the 2nd millennium B.C. The site is composed of two parts, an upper mound and a lower town:

　　1. Upper Mound-Kanesh

　　Rising 21 m above the surrounding plain, the Kanesh mound measures approximately 550 x 500 m in diameter. It is nearly circular in appearance and is one of the largest among central Anatolian ancient mounds. Excavations revealed that the Upper Mound was inhabited from the earliest phase of the Early Bronze Age, to the end of the Roman Period.

　　2. Lower Town-Karum

　　The Lower Town, which the Assyrians called the Karum (literally, “quay”), surrounds the Mound. In certain parts, the occupation layers of the Karum rise up to 2 m above the surrounding plain. The diameter of the entire settlement including both the Mound and the Karum is at least 2.5 km. The Karum is the part of the site where foreign and native traders lived and conducted business. It was inhabited for approximately 300 years.

　　Assyrian Trading Colonies Period

　　Soon after the north Mesopotamian city of Ashur established itself as an independent state at the end of the 3rd millennium B.C., King Erishum I launched a series of trade reforms in order to secure the future of his kingdom. He lifted the state monopoly on trade, thereby allowing long-distance commerce to be carried out by private individuals operating within ‘family firms.’ This in turn led to the creation of a highly complex and wide-reaching trade network between north Mesopotamia and Anatolia during the first quarter of the 2nd millennium B.C. The centre of this network was the ancient city of Kanesh, from which incoming Assyrian goods were redistributed further into Anatolia. Archaeological excavations at the site have uncovered a series of highly important monumental administrative structures as well as residential neighbourhoods.

　　The cities of the Old Assyrian Trading colony Period comprised stone-paved streets (with subterranean drainage channels) and open spaces separating individual neighbourhoods. Houses with mud-brick walls rising on stone foundations and supported by timber beams ranged from small, two-roomed structures to larger complexes of six or more rooms; most houses had two storeys. Constructed in local Anatolian manner, the houses were closely built.

　　Archives of Kültepe-Kanesh

　　With a vast repertoire of tens of thousands of archaeological and textual finds unearthed in ongoing excavations since 1948, Kültepe is not only a site of utmost importance for Anatolian archaeology, but also for world archaeology. The private archives of the Karum residents have yielded 23,500 clay tablets and envelopes to date. These are the earliest written documents which illustrated the ancient Anatolian history. Life, society and economy at this site, even the family affairs and personal relationships of its inhabitants, were recorded on clay tablets in the Old Assyrian dialect of the Akkadian language using the cuneiform (wedge-shaped) script, the knowledge of which came into Anatolia with Assyrian merchants.

　　Unlike royal or temple archives discovered in other ancient centres, the cuneiform archives of Kültepe-Kanesh represent the single largest body of private texts in the ancient Near East. They were kept in archive rooms, neatly arranged inside clay vessels, wooden chests, wicker baskets or sacks. The fire which eventually destroyed the city must have started suddenly; as the excavations revealed many documents were still in their envelopes, before the merchants could dispatch their recently written letters or open those newly received.

　　Palaces at Kültepe-Kanesh

　　To date, five building levels (6-10) have been identified on the Upper Mound, which correspond to Levels I-IV in the Karum Lower Town, covering the period of international exchange centring on this site. Five kings whose names are known have reigned from the so-called Warshama Palace, which was constructed in Level 7. Eventually destroyed in an intense conflagration, the palace took its name from King Warshama of Kanesh, son of Inar. The palace later became the seat of the Kussaran kings Pithana and his son Anitta, who conquered Kanesh. Consisting of a large central stone-paved courtyard surrounded by multiple rooms on all sides, the palace resembles contemporary Old Babylonian architecture of Mesopotamia.

　　The large Warshama Palace was preceded by the earlier Old Palace of Level 8 and the South Terrace Palace, a well-equipped structure boasting long corridors and an open courtyard. Both of these earlier palaces played significant roles in the network of international trade; besides being used as royal residences, they also served as storage facilities for incoming trade goods until the payment of customs fees were completed. This additional function influenced their architectural plans.