İÇBATI ANADOLU’DA PREHİSTORİK DÖNEME AİT BİR MERMER ATÖLYESİ: KARAYAKUPLU HÖYÜK

Abstract

In the researches which we conducted in the province of Usak in 2017 and 2018, a marble workshop was found in the the village of Karayakuplu which belongs to the town of Karahalli, located south of Usak. Marble vessels have been known in Western Anatolia since the Neolithic Age and have been found in a great number of centres. However, the workshops in which marble vessels were produced have not been known. So far, Kulaksizlar marble workshop is the only known marble vessel production centre in Western Anatolia. Karayakuplu is a newly found workshop which is more inland from Kulaksizlar. Through the finds of Karayakuplu Mound now it can be proven that it was a workshop in the Prehistoric Period. Marble vessels, draft marble pieces, chipping, correction and scraping tools used in marble vessel production were found in Karayakuplu. 3 marble vessels and 4 marble vessel sketches are remarkable among the finds. This place has now been identified as the second marble vessel production centre in Western Anatolia besides Kulaksizlar. There are rich marble beds along the Banaz Creek, 2 km south of the workshop and the raw material the workshop needed was obtained from this site. The marble finds of the Karayakuplu workshop differ from those of Kulaksizlar. Kulaksizlar has sharp based vessels with handles whereas the Karayakuplu vessels do not have such. Kulaksizlar was used only as a workshop. Karayakuplu was both a settlement and a workshop. Karayakuplu is more inland, along the Banaz Creek, which is an important arm of Meander River. Since this place is close to Western Anatolia and the inner lands, it is an important centre. An excavation here will shed light on prehistoric humans' marble vessel production, raw material supply and a probable trade organization of these apart from agriculture and husbandry.