Calendar, Calculator, Record, or Game?: An Enigmatic Clay Object from Middle Bronze Age Western Anatolia

ABSTRACT

During the 2022 excavation season at Kaymakçı in western Türkiye, a roughly rectangular clay artifact was uncovered in a local Middle Bronze Age context. The object, which may have been intentionally fired, bears an array of circular impressions on one side, in an apparently deliberate layout. The original purpose of this object remains unclear, and it has no obvious parallels, either within Kaymakçı itself or Bronze Age western Anatolia more broadly. This article provides a detailed description of the object and its find context before considering possible interpretations of its function. Based on comparanda from the wider Mediterranean and southwest Asia, four different interpretative options are presented and evaluated: an administrative record, a counting device, a calendrical device, and a gaming device.