Abstract:

Eastern Anatolia is a region of important gateways between east and west and north and south, because of its high and rough geography. Although settlements have been observed in this tough geography since Palaeolithic Age, main organized settlements are thought to start with Bronze Age. A new culture has been seen to rise up covering Eastern Anatolia during this period. From the ends of 4th century BC to the beginnings of 2nd century BC, this culture preserved its influence spreading from Caucasus to Euphrates, and it has been referred to with various names. Karaz Culture, Khirbet Kerak Culture, Kura-Araxes Culture, Old Trans-Caucasian Culture, Early Bronze Age Culture of Eastern Anatolia, Early Trans-Caucasian Culture, Stoneware Culture with Red-Black Polish, Yanık Culture, the Culture off the Fertile Crescent, Eneolitik Culture of Trans-Caucasus are some of these references. Erzurum, asserted as the origin of the culture, for which we prefer the name Karaz, has a particular importance. 83 centres, 9 of which have been located with excavation works and 75 of which have been located with surface explorations, are known in Erzurum dating back to this age. Although the mounds in the plain are generally dug, a large part of the centres is constituted by castles with strategic locations above 2000 m. Strategic location of these centres is the reason for them to be used in the following periods. Therefore, organized settlements in Erzurum starting with Late Chalcolithic / Early Bronze Age continued recurrently until the Middle Age with exceptions. In this article, we tried to evaluate the Bronze Age circumstances of the region, in which probably the first organized settlements were encountered.

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