Migration, Diffusion and Emulation: Petrographic Comparisons of Early Transcaucasian and Anatolian Pottery from Malatya-Elazığ, Turkey

The spread of Early Transcaucasian (ETC) pottery, portable hearths and architecture across a vast swath of the ancient Near East from northeast Anatolia to the southern Levant during the fourth and third millennia BC, has been an issue of intense research and debate. Recently scholars have suggested a combination of factors such as migration ofpopulations, diffusion, and local emulation offoreign styles to explain this cultural phenomenon. One productive way to examine this problem is with an analysis of the chemistry and mineralogy of ETC style pottery to address issues such as geological source, manufacturing techniques and regional differences. This paper presents the results of a petrographic analysis of pottery from Malatya-Elazig region of Turkey and suggests most ETC style pottery in Anatolia was manufactured locally while a small portion appears to have either been made of imported materials or technology.