Prehistoric Sites in Northwest Anatolia I. The İznİk Area

The Sea of Marmara straddles one of the greatest of the natural routes between Europe and Asia. Along this route, it might be expected, passed the movements of objects and materials, the trade, the transference of ideas, the migrations of peoples between Anatolia and the Aegean and Balkan worlds. One small part of this region is presented archaeologically in this article. This is not the first publication of the sites and pottery in this area but since the last presentation there have been new discoveries, both in this region and in other areas of Anatolia. At the same time it has become clear that the theories of Kulturtrift and the like can be evaluated only by an investigation of the areas and routes along which Kulturtrift may have moved. After the excavations at Nea Nikomedia in Central Macedonia, the problem of connections between Anatolia and the Aegean in the early pottery phases must be studied anew. In any assessment, Northwest Anatolia must be considered as a possible source or intermediary for ideas or developments that may have passed between these two areas.