On long necks. The figurines are found usually in houses, also in buildings inter-

preted as shrines, e.g. at Beycesultan and in tbe megaron at Kültepe, often in as-

Semblages counting from a few to a dozen or so objects, which eould suggest their

Magie function or role in domestic cult. There is no evidence, however, to indicate

Timt they represented the mother goddess. The arras of some of the naturalistic statu-

Ettes could be interpreted as raised in adoration. Schematic figures were also in-

Eluded among the grave goods, perhaps as amulets. It is possible that the Cappado-

Cian idols with a number of heads were meant to replaee a number of figurines.

There is nothing to substantiate the claim that they represented family groups. On

The other hand, relief figural representations on the bodies of some of the idols, like

A man with a tarne lion, suggest that this category of finds represexits divine Imag

es. Bronze figurines from wealthy graves in Kültepe, Hasanoglan and Horoztepe are

Also believed to represent a goddess. The custom of placing anthropomorphic statu-

Ettes in graves ended in the first centuries of the second millennium BC.

Burial rites are significantly different between regions in the Early Bronze Age.

In central Anatolia the tradition of burying the dead beneath the iloors of houses

Lasted until the end of the discussed period even while cemeteries outside the towns

Sp rang up in other areas of the region. Burial forms also demonstrate considerable

differentiation. In the west and Southwest (Yortan, " Babaköy,' 33 Ba§pmar, Kusura, Gor-

dion, Demircihöyük'Sanket/ Karata§ Semayük"), as well as on the Upper Euphrates

(Korucutepe), the prevailing form of burial was a large storage vessel. In many cem

Eteries these vessel burials occurred together with eist graves, which dominated in

The estuary of the Kizilirmak (Ikiztepe 96) and on the Aegean coast of Karia (Iasos 97).

While disregarding the two earliest examples of cremation from Chalcolithic layers

At Mersin in Cilicia, which are explainable as influence of the Mesopotamian Halaf

I

culture, ' one should note numerous cremation burials in urns in the Early Bronze

Age cemetery of Gedikli in Gaziantep province where they occurred side by side with

92 Kami! 1982.

9.3 Bitte! 1939-1941.

Seeher - Jansen - Pernieka - Wittwer-Backofen 2000.

Wheeler 1974; cf. Sharp Joukowsky 1996: 163.

96 B. Alkim - H. Alktra — Bügi 1988; cf. also Mellink 1987: 4; 1988: 107.

Pecorella 1984.

Akkormans 1989: 81; cf Popko 1995a: 37.

23

99

Inhumation graves. In the second millennium BC, cremation spread throughout

Anatolia, never however superseding completely inhumation burials. In many eul-

Tures, cremation was understood as a way of moving the dead and Ms or her prop-

Erty to the other world. Even so, a difference in burial rites does not mean change

Of eschatological beliefs or forms of ancestor cult. Neither is it testimony for the

Coexistence of various ethnic groups. Gases of cremation burials be.ing added to earlier

Inhumation graves of the second millennium BC in the cemeteries of Panaztepe

near Izmir, Be§iktepe in Troas and Demircihöyük-Sanket near Eski§ehir make it

Clear that the dead were members of the same community, distinguished from other

Members by the ritual of cremation, thus ensuring a special, privileged Position also

After death. 100 Ethnographie parallels from different cultures and regions point to

Very different criteria existing in this case, most often, however, cremation was in-

Tended as a form of distinction for rulers, priest«, the rieh and the elders. In the

Light of this it comes as no surprise that cremation was the practice of choice for the

Hittite royal family of the Empire period (see 3.2.10).

A Late Chalcolithic chamber tomb from Arslantepe-Malatya with a rieh Collec