Lycia and the Hatay: Understanding Communication between Coast and Interior

The Iron Age of Anatolia’s Mediterranean coastline was a period of transformation, especially during the first half of the first millennium BCE. During this time there is increasing evidence of material similarities, especially in ceramic styles, which has given rise to arguments for an Iron Age Mediterraneanisation. The interactions that promoted these common styles were remarkably diverse, however. Comparing and contrasting coastal region of the Hatay, in the northeastern corner of the Mediterranean, with Lycia’s upland zone, in the southwestern landmass of Anatolia, this contribution examines the phenomenon of the development of common ceramic styles amid different networks of engagement. It assesses the complexity of the balance between shared and divergent practices and the mechanisms that underpin the social and cultural developments of the Mediterranean’s Iron Age as seen along its Anatolian shores.