The ancient town of Kültepe (Kultepe, Kanesh, Kaneš), where the earliest writing originates, rises to a prosperous trade city and kārum or karum in Bronze Age Anatolia. Kanesh is a hub of trade, travel and social interaction.
It's a land-bound region located in the center of Anatolia, modern day Turkey, connected by a network of ancient roads. Routes evolve from trade in such products as amber, obsidian, salt, metals, textiles, dyes and spices.
Many roads lead to Kültepe, sitting in the center of the ancient world like a Sun with earthly rays. In the lower city of Kültepe is an Assyrian kārum (pl. karu), or trading colony.
Kārum comes from the Old Assyrian. It applies to Anatolian trade posts of the 20 - 18th centuries BCE, with the main city for trade as Kültepe. It's also administrative and distribution center for Assyrian settlements in Anatolia.
The city is the source of the earliest record of a definitively Indo-European language, Hittite, going back to the 20th century BCE.
The kārum is part of the city decreed by local authorities to be given to early Assyrian merchants and tradespeople. As long as the goods stay in the kārum the merchants don't have to pay taxes.
Merchants establish rates of value of gold and silver. Gold is considered worth eight times as much as silver, and is used for wholesale trade, while silver is the preferred medium for retail.
From Kültepe, the kārum cities stretch west as far as Ankara and north to the Black Sea. Smaller towns and regions develop similar versions, mabartu (sing. mabartū), about the same time.
Trade includes copper, tin, fabrics, wool, amber, luxury items, food and spices and a strange new metal, amutum, considered an early example of iron.
During the Bronze Age Kültepe is beset by battle and conflict. An ancient cuneiform tablet tells of an uprising by seventeen kings against the dominant powers c. 2254 - 2218 BCE.
In the 18th century BCE the city is conquered by several different rulers, who wage war on each other for the crown. In the 17th century BCE, the descendants of King Annitta move their capital to Hattusa to found the line of Hittite kings.
The tablets above are a letter sent from a merchant in Assyria to another in Kültepe, discussing the trade of precious metals. The letter warns: "This is important; no dishonest man must cheat you! So do not succumb to drink!"
After the rise of the Hittite Empire, the kārum vanishes from Anatolian history. Today, remains of the kārum settlement form a large round mound 500 m in diameter and about 20 m high, also called a tumulus or tell.
A tumulus settlement is the result of several stratigraphic periods. New buildings are erected on remains of earlier periods. The result is a well-defined stratigraphy from prehistoric times to the early Hittite period.
At one point the city is burned and rebuilt, at another it's abandoned and rebuilt. A large quantity of cuneiform plaques and tablets, the first ancient writing, are found, most in the area of the kārum.
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