The organisation of pottery production and specialised handcraft (Topoi Z-Cofund-7)

The main purpose of this research project is to examine through an archaeometric approach the pottery production from Arslantepe in the Malatya Plain (Eastern Anatolia) and the Upper Euphrates Valley between the Late Chalcolithic 1 and the Early Bronze Age III (4250-2000 BCE) in order to define: the raw material procurement patterns, the complexity level of the production modes, the nature of interactions between the communities of the Malatya plain, the Euphrates valley and the surrounding Anatolian world. In more detail, the aim ist to assess the elements of continuity/discontinuity of such aspects in connection with the significant social, economic and political changes occurred during the two millennia under investigation.