A "flame and frond" ivory plaque from the neo-hittite excavations at arslantepe/melid. Regionalisms and communities in iron age anatolia

This paper presents a new outstanding discovery from 2016 at the site of Arslantepe (Malatya, SE Turkey), a finely made ivory plaque found in an Iron Age context approximately dated at the beginning of the 8th century BCE. The object belongs to the well-known "Flame and Frond" ivory carving school and its discovery at Arslantepe suggests intriguing cross-cultural relationships with the Levantine and northern Mesopotamian worlds.