Techniques of Blue, Green, and White Faience Bead Production Used at the Early Bronze Age Central Anatolian Site of RESULOĞLU (Turkey)

Abstract

Modern‐day Çorum is the homeland of the Hatti people, the culture that went on to form the Hittite Empire. Resuloğlu, which dates back to the latter half of the Early Bronze Age (ca. 2,500/2400–2,100/2050 BC), is a unique Hatti site with its settlement and cemetery areas systematically excavated. Among thousands of beads found at Resuloğlu, various materials were identified such as ceramic, copper and its alloys, carnelian, shells, and blue, green, and white‐colored beads. The microstructure and chemical compositions of 26 morphologically similar, colored beads were analyzed by optical microscopy, ICP–MS, XRD, and EPMA and are the focus of this paper. The results demonstrate faience bead production with efflorescence and cementation glazing techniques. The abundance of the raw materials at the Halys Basin (Central Anatolia) signals a local production, and there is a suggestion of a relationship with copper metallurgy.