Bridging the frontiers. Pastoral groups in the Upper Euphrates region in the early third millennium BC.

The history of specialised pastoralism at Arslantepe seems to have originated in connection with the initial establishment of the economically centralised institutions in the second half of the fourth millennium. But while the destruction of Arslantepe public building (end of the 4th mill.) marked the collapse of these centralised institutions, the specialised pastoral sector not only survived this collapse, but it also began to play a new role in the EBA political and cultural dynamics in the Malatya region. In the following phase VIB1 at Arslantepe (very beginning of the 3rd mill.), there is evidence of repeated occupations by pastoral groups. Their ceramic repertoire has revealed that these groups combined both Kura-Araks and Central Anatolian traditions, suggesting not only the directions that their seasonal movements may have taken, but also the fact that these groups played a fundamental role in the expansion of the Kura-Araks culture to the west of the Euphrates river valley.