Gli Hittiti e Malitiya. Riflessioni e confronti sul materiale ceramico del periodo hittita imperiale di Arslantepe

The paper analyses the main characteristics of the pottery production ascribable to the so-called Hittite Imperial phase (period IV) of Arslantepe sequence, comparing the first results published in 1975 by P.E. Pecorella with the most up-to-dated studies and investigations carried out on the site. The aim of this contribution is to better understand the nature of the relationship established between the expanding Hittite political power and its eastern periphery, by analysing the degree of interaction of the local production with the Central Anatolian pottery inventories.