Of networks and knives: a bronze knife with herringbone decoration from the citadel of Kaymakçı (Manisa İli/TR)

Abstract

During the first season of excavations in 2014 at the Late Bronze Age site of Kaymakci, a bronze knife with an unusually decorated handle was found. Kaymakci is a recently discovered citadel located c. 100 km east of the Aegean coast in the Gediz Valley and is one of the few excavated sites from interior western Anatolia. The knife was recovered in the tower-like structure attached to the fortifications at the northwestern extent of the citadel. It belongs to a small group of solid-hilted knives (Sandars Class 4) known until recently only from elite graves and ritual contexts in the Peloponnese, Crete, Psara, and Troy. The knife shares decorative ribbing, a solid bronze knob at the end of its handle, and some other features with its Aegean counterparts. However, the geometric style of its decoration, such as the central herringbone-pattern, is unparalleled among Minoan and Mycenaean art, corresponding instead with geometric designs known from other western Anatolian finds. Therefore, the herringbone knife from Kaymakci, most probably the property of a member of the western Anatolian elite, is an outcome of the fusion of Aegean and western Anatolian traditions. Simultaneously, it is one of the first known examples of a local ornamental style, still poorly known due to the state of research in interior western Anatolia.