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New Publication
A new and extensive, peer-reviewed article authored by the senior members of Yalburt Project has been published in the second volume of Archaeology of Anatolia, edited by Sharon Steadman and Gregory McMahon and published by Cambridge Scholars Press.
Harmanşah, Ömür; Peri Johnson, Ben Marsh and Müge Durusu-Tanrıöver; 2017, “Lake-Places, Local Hydrology and the Hittite Imperial Projects in the Ilgın Plain: Yalburt Yaylası Archaeological Landscape Research Project 2015-2016 Seasons” In The Archaeology of Anatolia: Recent Discoveries (2015-2016) Volume II, SR. Steadman and G. McMahon, eds. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press, 302-320.
You can download the article here and purchase the whole book from the publisher here.
Yalburt Project Presents 2016 Survey Results at AIA Annual Meeting in Toronto
Archaeological Institute of America Annual Meeting in Toronto
SESSION 7H Bronze Age and Iron Age Anatolia 8:00 a.m.–11:00 a.m. Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel, Grand Ballroom Centre
Lake-places: Hittite imperial wetland projects and the local hydrology of Ilgın, Konya
Peri Johnson, University of Illinois Chicago, Ömür Harmanşah, University of Illinois Chicago, Ben Marsh, Bucknell University, and Müge Durusu-Tanrıöver, Bilkent University
To be presented by Peri Johnson.
Abstract
One of the most monumental second millennium earthwork projects in the Mediterranean world is the Köylütolu dam, which lies in the western borderlands of the Hittite Empire. A Hieroglyphic Luwian inscription found at the site in 1884 provisionally dates the monument to the time of Tudhaliya IV (1237-1209 BCE). The 750 m long and 18-20 m high earthen embankment at Köylütolu spans a local drainage beginning at an abundant spring, and has been investigated by the Yalburt Yaylası Archaeological Landscape Research Project since 2010. Fieldwork in 2015 demonstrated numerous problems with the design of the dam and earlier coring did not encounter any lake sediments. It is clear that the dam never held any water. Fieldwork in 2016 surveyed settlements in the undulating limestone lowlands around the dam, and found settlements at sites known as “gölyeri” (literally, “lake-place”). These are ubiquitous geological formations where north flowing groundwater emerges in depressions and creates localized wetlands. The Köylütolu embankment is built of the deep red and grey soils of the slopes and depressions themselves. This paper argues that the embankment, although designed as a dam to hold water as has long been assumed, was intended to create a lake-place. The Köylütolu depression is, however, a swallow hole and a lake-place never emerged nor did a settlement grow up around the depression. This paper situates the Köylütolu embankment within the context of a series of imperial projects in the borderlands of the Hittite Empire. Yalburt Project had previously documented another nearby project, the construction of a monumental fortress and lower walled settlement at Kale Tepesi 3.5 km northwest of the embankment. In the 2016 season, an associated settlement of the masons of the fortress was surveyed and the surface ceramics suggest a date a couple of centuries before the construction of the embankment. We thus suggest that the Köylütolu earthworks project must be understood in the light of long term investments facilitated by empire but imagined according to local hydrological phenomenon such as lake-places. The fraught relationship between the two produced a monument of much labor but no fruit.
The “Gölyeri” (Lake-place) phenomenon (Facebook post 23 July 2016)
Yalburt Yaylası Archaeological Landscape Research Project’s 2016 Season continues with the discovery of new archaeological sites in the field. The project team is working on the karst landscapes around the great Hittite dam, known in scholarly literature as Köylütolu Yayla dam with its Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscription. The dam is also known among the locals as Büyük Büvet. This is dated to the time of Tudhaliya IV (13th century BCE). Last year, Yalburt team documented a second and minor dam known as Küçük Büvet in the vicinity of the big dam. So the project is aiming to understand the great ambition of this agricultural investment by surveying sites in the close vicinity of the dam. The engaging research question is the relationship of ancient settlements with the fascinating karst depression-springs or resurgences in this landscape known as the “Gölyeri” (Lake-place) phenomenon. Some exciting places are revealing new stories of this watery agricultural landscape. (Most) Photographs by Dilcan Acer.
Start of the day at Küllük Mevkii, Karaköy Village, Ilgın. 23 July 2016
End of Field Season at Yalburt (August 8, 2016 Facebook Post)
We just walked and looked at the ground for a whole month! Have you ever looked at the ground for a whole month? We saw rocks, we saw plants, we saw dung beetles, found snake skins, we found Chalcolithic sherds, beautiful plants in the yaylas, learned to give space to turtles, challenged goats, we said hello to shepherds, we saw more sherds, sometimes it rained, we walked and looked at the ground, pokies poked our feet, Hittites, we saw little people, we saw large mountains, dipped our feet into the waters of a lake, ate black mulberries until our hands were bright red. The makers of this survey are those beautiful people in the last phtograph. Your gentle shadows are on the hillside!
Yalburt Team finishing up field season at Gelinugru site in the Bulasan valley.