7100 Year Old Turkish Site Threatened by Dam

Güvercinkaya excavation site sheds light on Anatolian life

AKSARAY - Anatolia News Agency

The latest excavation at the 7,000 year old Güvercinkaya tumulus in Aksaray Province has discovered the fossilized remains of such animals as lions and panthers

An excavation at the 7,000 year old Güvercinkaya tumulus in Aksaray Province has discovered the fossilized remains of such animals as lions, panthers and two species of horses, indicating that these species once lived in Cappadocia. [When???]

Güvercinkaya tumulus was discovered near the planned site of the Mamasun Dam when surface research for the dam was underway in 1993, said Dr. Sevil Gülçur, who heads the Güvercinkaya excavation and is the head of the archaeology department at Istanbul University. Because the tumulus was located near the dam, the excavation was begun urgently. “In order to save the area, we started excavation work in 1996 and excavated the damaged areas firstly,” Gülçur said.

“We worked on an area 3,000 meters square, found some very significant structures at the peak of the tumulus. The use of the tumulus dates back approximately 5,220 to 4,750 B.C. We came across the gate of a castle, which is probably it is the oldest example of its kind in Anatolia,” Gülçur said, “The tumulus is divided into two fragments, an upper settlement and a lower settlement. The whole architecture was developed by design. It is not a random settlement; they designed the settlement to comply with the natural structure of the rocks. The one-roomed houses have storage and furnaces.
Their means of livelihood was based on agriculture and livestock.”

Food remains at the site have revealed a great deal of information about ancient Cappadocia, including the fact that two species of horses once existed there.

“Two [species of] horse existed; one of them is bigger than the other. When the Persians invaded Anatolia, they saw the great number of horses and called the land ‘Cappadocia’ which means ‘land of beautiful horses,’ and the Romans continued to use the name. In addition to horses, there were a lot of deer in the region. We also detected the presence of some predators, including lions and panthers. The Cappadocia region had the raw material prehistoric humans needed to survive. For example, we found a leg bone and claw that belonged to a lioness. It is hard to say whether people in those times ate lion meat, but they did benefit from lions’ bones and skins.”

Excavation site threatened by dam

The excavation work continues to try to save the area from possible damage created by the dam, Gülçur said. “A very frightening thing happened in Güvercinkaya when the level of the water in the dam rose and covered the whole area in 2011. The dam damaged the areas we had excavated, and now we are working to reach the old layer and clean the excavation site. This year we are determined to find older layers and document the layers and structures we have already excavated with photos, in order not lose the information if the water rises again,” she said.

August/13/2012

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I am interested in knowing exactly how old these horse fossils are.  Were the horses hunted for food?  Has any evidence been uncovered that might suggest domestication of the horses and if so, at what date?  Were these horses indigenous to Anatolia, different from other species of equine beyond the Caucasus Mountains in the steppe regions to the northeast and the regions to the south where, at an early date, the Sumerians had onagers pulling wagons? 

2800 Year Old Lion Statue Uncovered at Tell Tayinat (Turkey)

"Unreported News" at Heritage News.  Video of the statue being moved to the archaeological museum.

Here is a photo of the lion statue from the project website: Tayinat Archaeological Project (University of Toronto).

8,000 Year Old Seal from Western Turkey

From hurriyetdailynews.com

8,000-year-old seal unearthed in western Turkey
Monday, September 20, 2010
İZMİR - Anatolia News Agency



The seal shows that the settlement in İzmir began
some 8,500 year ago.

 Archaeologists have unearthed a seal believed to be 8,000 years old during excavations in the Yeşilova Tumulus, one of the oldest settlements in western Turkey.

Associate Professor Zafer Derin, who has been leading the excavations from Ege University’s Department of Archaeology, said they found a historical artifact that proved that settlement in the western province of Izmir began some 8,500 years ago.

"The seal is dated back to 6,200 B.C. It is evident that the seal belonged to an administrator. [How so???] This bull[a]-shaped seal is one of the oldest seals ever unearthed in Anatolia. We’ve unearthed many important findings during the excavations at this site since 2005. Some 700 pieces have been sent to museums for display. We give 150 pieces every year. This region is very important in terms of both tourism and science," he said.

Bornova Mayor Kamil Okyar Sındır recalled that the area was a third-degree archaeological-protected site. "We have organized an architectural project competition for this area and a jury is now evaluating projects. When the project is chosen, we will establish an exhibition and education center. This structure will be a model for the world. Education workshops and seminars will be given in the center and people will learn about the history of İzmir and Bornova."

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Well, darlings, when I saw this seal my first thought was - eight-pointed star = Inanna! Yeah, she was a Sumerian Goddess (who was later incarnated into various other forms throughout the Middle East and ancient Egypt), but she came from somewhere, didn't she, just like the people who eventually settled in the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers came from somewhere, too.

Turkish Environmental Minister to Archaeologists: The City You've Been Excavating Doesn't Exist

Yep, you read that right, in a case of doublespeak that would make even Karl Rove and the backers of the clueless teaparty constituents proud, the Environmental Minister told reporters that the ancient cit of Allianoi does not, in fact, that that it was created during the term of a former governor to promote a hot spring in the region.

This is, of course, to excuse the fact that despite losing 16 different court cases on various challenges to the government, it is going ahead with final phases of a damn construction which will flood the entire region, including the ancient city.

This guy makes Rove, Beck and Limbaugh look like truth-telling lambs by comparison. And we all know they are just pond scum who sold out to the highest bidders, telling outright filth and lies to their eager constitencies to advance the agenda of the corporate elite in this country. Such is life that such people now are considered "patriots." The founding fathers are rolling in their graves!

From the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review
Ancient city does not actually exist, says Turkish minister
Wednesday, September 1, 2010

INSTANBUL - Controversy over plans to bury an ancient city in western Turkey with sand ahead of a new dam project was overshadowed Wednesday by revelations from Turkey’s environment minister that the site did not, in fact, exist.

“There is no such place as Allianoi. It is just a hot spring that was recently restored called ‘Paşa Ilıcası,’” said Minister Veysel Eroğlu in response to a reporter’s question about the controversial plans to bury the ancient city, which is located near Bergama in the Aegean province of İzmir.

Eroğlu’s belief in the site’s non-existence, however, has been challenged by archaeologists and the Culture and Tourism Ministry, which describes Allianoi on its website as an ancient site that was noted for its health center.

“Veysel Eroğlu is not an archaeologist. What he said is really ridiculous,” Assistant Professor Ahmet Yaraş, head of the excavations, said Wednesday.

“Allianoi is the most protected hot spring in the world. Some 11,000 coins, around 400 metal artifacts, 400 bone artifacts, 800 ceramic artifacts and around 400 glass artifacts have been found during excavations,” said Yaraş, adding that only 20 percent of the city had been successfully excavated so far.

“We have found a sculpture of Asklepios, who was known as the god of health. Alliaoni has 400 surgical instruments, the highest number ever found, proving that the place was a hospital at the time,” he said.

Allianoi is just a fictional name, the minister said, adding that it had been restored by a former governor and constituted no more than an ordinary hot spring little different from other hot springs that can be observed throughout the country.

Rest of article.

Short-Sighted Policies: Ancient Tushan (Turkey) To Be Flooded Out by Dam

UA PROFESSOR DIGS ANCIENT HISTORY
Old secrets of lost city threatened
Archaeologist based in Akron working to finish work before site is inundated

By Carol Biliczky
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Monday, Mar 22, 2010

This is Tim Matney's 14th year at an archaeological dig in Southeast Turkey.  (Image: Conservators Yvonne Helmholz (left) and Charlotte Rerolle prepare a consolidant cuneiform tablet for lifting during an excavation at Ziyaret Tepe, Turkey on August 5, 2009. The tablet has been covered in wax to consolidate the fragments. (Photo courtesy Timothy Matney, Assoc. Prof. of Archaeology)


He keeps a close eye on the calendar. Time is not on his side.

He and fellow archaeologists are hurrying to find and preserve what they can of the ancient Assyrian city of Tushan before a hydroelectric dam floods the area.

''This is a pragmatic, conservationist rescue dig,'' said Matney, an associate professor of archaeology at the University of Akron. In the Turkish bureaucracy, he said, that means he has a ''slightly less cumbersome system to work with.''

Matney heads a team of archaeologists from Germany, Turkey and the United Kingdom who will return to the site in early April for 10 more weeks of work in 110-plus-degree heat.

While Matney, 46, has done archaeological work in Great Britain, Syria, Iraq, India, the United States and Israel, he gravitated to Turkey as a fresh doctoral graduate in 1994 because it enabled him to explore his first love: ancient urban centers, especially those that, once abandoned, had never been built on again.

From 1994 to 1999, he co-directed a dig at Titris Hoyuk, a thriving settlement from 2600 to 2100 B.C. on a tributary of the Euphrates River in Mesopotamia.

Then a colleague mentioned an untapped archaeological site about 110 miles away at Ziyaret Tepe, formerly Tushan, an outpost on the northern bor
der of the Assyrian empire from 900 to 600 B.C. The government was opening the area to excavations in the last years before a dam on the Tigris River flooded the area in 2003.

For three seasons, Matney worked on both projects. In 2000, he concentrated his field work at Ziyaret Tepe for what he thought would be three more years.

As project director, he oversees perhaps 25 archaeologists and other professionals and 30 to 100 local workers on each dig. This season's staff will include two of Matney's former students, Jim Sutter and Chelsea Jalbrzikowski. Their work is so painstaking that they have uncovered just 1 percent of the 80-acre settlement.

Digging for facts

As nothing above ground remains — the area has been agricultural fields for centuries — they base their work on topographical maps and subsurface geophysical surveys.

The team has uncovered a large mud brick building with the remnants of what Matney calls ''high status goods,'' such as ivory fragments and furniture fittings. The team calls this building the Bronze Palace, although its exact use is unknown.

Last summer, the team discovered clay tablets with cuneiform — or wedge-shaped — script in the palace. One tablet was a list of women's names. Because those were not Assyrian names, they might have been women from the local population subjugated by the conquering Assyrians or workers imported to the site.

The team has found several thousand artifacts — pottery, animal bones, tablets, bronze and iron vessels and more. Some artifacts are being cleaned, preserved and assembled into whole pieces for display in a museum 40 miles away in Diyarbakir.

One of the most fascinating discoveries reflects the collapse of Ziyaret Tepe when neighboring countries invaded the Assyrian capital of Ninevah.

As the supply chain in the sophisticated kingdom fell apart, so did the letter writer's ability to muster a unit of chariots. He complained he didn't have the coppersmiths, blacksmiths and others he needed to fulfill the request.

''Death will come out of it,'' he wrote ominously. ''No one [will escape]. I am done.''

Time running out

Matney's team has four work seasons to uncover more clues to life in Tushan and why it apparently was peacefully abandoned.

Delays in construction of the dam have postponed the final day of reckoning until 2013. It's even unclear now whether waters from the dam will completely submerge the site or if it will become, in essence, lakefront property. Regardless, the team's work will be done.

For a permanent work permit, Matney would have to guarantee 10 years of funding. Since it costs about $250,000 a year to fund the field work and related costs of the dig, that means Matney would have to cobble together $2.5 million.

That isn't out of the question, but the weak global economy makes fundraising more challenging. Plus the weak U.S. dollar and the rising costs of doing archaeological work in Turkey are driving expenses to new heights. In 2000, Matney paid local workers $5 a day; this work season, they will receive almost $30.

Matney hopes the team's work will show how everyday people lived in the frontiers of ancient Assyria — ''how they got their groceries, what they made and traded, what their relationships were like with the other Iron Age peoples they encountered.''

The goal: to make the ancient Assyrians more accessible to students and scholars alike, he said.

16,000 Year Old Goddess Figurine Discovered in Turkey

A very important find in Turkey Archaeologists Unearth 16,000-Year-Old Goddess Figurine in Turkey BalkanTravellers.com 20 August 2009 A 16,000-year-old clay figurine of a female was found by archaeologists during excavations in southern-eastern Turkey. The mother goddess sculpture was discovered in the Direklu Cave in the Kahramanmaraş Province, which archaeologists have been excavating since July 15, Gazi University Archaeology Department lecturer Cevdet Merih Erek told national media. The find suggests that women had a high social status in the region at the time the figurine was made, Erek explained. In addition, it challenged archaeologists’ previous knowledge by suggesting that the method of using fired clay to make figurines was much older than previously thought. Before this recent discovery, the oldest fired clay god or goddess figurines unearthed in Mesopotamia, Anatolia and other Near East regions were made in 5,000 BC. The information on the discovery appeared in Today's Zaman, August 17, 2009. I was not able to locate a photograph of the figurine - drat!

Treasure Trove in Turkey!

From Hurriyet.com: Jewelry of the Parion Princess unearthed July 12, 2009 ÇANAKKALE - Archaeologists in the Turkish Aegean town of Çanakkale are celebrating the new discovery of a 2,200-year-old sarcophagus in the ancient city of Parion, one of the most important centers of the Helenistic era. Golden earrings, rings and crown pieces have been found in the sarcophagus, which is believed to have belonged to a princess. An archeological team headed by Prof. Cevat Başaran unearthed the sarcophagus three days ago during excavations conducted in the village of Kemer near Biga, northeast of Çanakkale. "We have discovered an important finding at the necropolis, which is the cemetery of the ancient city," Başaran said. "This grave is most likely 2,200 years old. The golden jewelry shows this is the grave of a rich woman. We may call her the ’Princess of Parion.’" Başaran pointed out that the sarcophagus contained a golden crown adorned with many gems, two golden earrings bearing the symbol of Eros and two golden rings. One of the rings was still on the finger bone of the skeleton, the professor added, noting that most of the bones were ruined due to moisture caused by the grave’s proximity to the sea. Approximately 200 graves have been excavated at the ancient city of Parion. Other unearthed findings include "gifts for the dead," such as teardrop bottles, oil lamps and toys.Based on the findings, Başaran said he believes Parion was a glorious city ruled by the rich elite of the Hellenistic age. Excavations have been going on there for the past four years and have also unearthed jewelry believed to belong to the king and queen.