Main Factors Affecting the Settlement of Eastern Anatolia from the Beginning to the End of the Bronze Age

Archaeological remains from the Paleolithic Age discovered during the studies conducted in Tunceli, Erzurum, and Malatya in Eastern Anatolia reveal that the region has been a hub of attention for communities since ancient times. The primary justification for such a deep-rooted history in the region can be attributed to the plenitude of caves and shelters under rocks, rich forests, flora, and the availability of animals for hunting. Especially, the Upper Euphrates-Malatya section of the region hosted permanent settlers during the Aceramic Period. However, very few of the architectural structures of these early settlers, including the Neolithic Period, have been reached. The main reason for this is the dense alluvial soil that covers the settlements. Because the existence of movable cultural assets detected in the region, which lapsed into silence regarding architecture in the Neolithic period, contradicts this situation. The archaeological records brought together as a whole with this study, support the existence of countless artifacts in the region in the Neolithic and prehistoric periods. In some of the settlements, which we reevaluated for another purpose, the existence of Neolithic architecture was confirmed, albeit weakly, when we reached the bedrock. Archaeological traces of the strong dynamics of Halaf, Obeyd, and Uruk cultures have been encountered in the Upper Euphrates-Malatya and Upper Murat-Van sections of the region, which have not been widely covered for the Neolithic Period in the literature. As a result, both the stratigraphic accessibility and the periodic progression of the great cultural transformations in Eastern Anatolia facilitated access to the settlement data of these cultures. Additionally, the questions concerning these transformations in the dwelling policies of the settlements along with the turmoil experienced throughout the region as of the beginning of the 3rd Millennium BC were discussed. Through this process, the Kura-Araxes culture, which radically changed the settlement order, dominated the region. The loss of the authority of the Uruk culture under the influence of Mesopotamia was much more effective in maintaining this dominance. It has been determined that even during the transition period to the 2nd Millennium BC when the settlers of Kura-Araxes lost their political hegemony, the traces of the powerful settled peoples in the Upper Euphrates-Malatya section continued, though they receded gradually. It was determined that almost all the established settlements in Erzurum-Kars and Upper Murat-Van section were abandoned and people migrated to high plateaus. The sizes of a few inhabited settlements diminished, and the architectural entities declined. This cycle which was experienced in Eastern Anatolia indicates that a colossal disaster occurred. All these records document that the settlers opted for an active life to adapt to the environment. To this end, the reasons for the transformation in the settlement policies of the peoples from the beginning to the end of the Bronze Ages were discussed along with the issues regarding the settlement models.