Today, the ancient settlement, located approximately 7 km west of Aydın Province, Çine District, is located to the west of the Marsyas (Çine) Stream and is one of the most important cities of inner Caria. The first excavations in Alabanda, which is mentioned as Waliwanda in the Hittite texts regarding the earliest settlement, were carried out by Halil Edhem Bey in 1904-1905. Then, Emin YENER and continued by Asc. Prof. Dr. Suat ATEŞLİER. Since 2015, under the chairmanship of Prof. Dr. Ali Yalçın TAVUKÇU, The work was resumed by a team led by Asc. Prof. Dr. Akın TEMÜR as the vice president of excavations. In the ancient city, many sarcophagi have been found in the city walls, theatre, temples, agora, bouleuterion, baths, stadium, nymphaeum, aqueduct, churches, monumental tombs and necropolis areas. Work in the ancient city continues in the Agora, Turkish Bath and Bouleuterion.
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Aşıklı Höyük, the earliest sedentary community of Central Anatolia, lies at the bank of Melendiz River in Kızılkaya village about 25 km southeast of Aksaray Province, West Cappadocia. Rescue excavations at the site were initiated in 1989 by Prof. Ufuk Esin. Esin’s international research team continued their interdisciplinary work at Aşıklı until 2002. In 2006, a new excavation and research campaign started under the direction of Prof. Mihriban Özbaşaran and Assoc. Prof. Güneş Duru. Aşıklı Höyük Research Project is a multi-disciplinary and multi-national project conducted with the permission of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Directorate of Cultural Assets and Museums. Research team includes scholars and students from Istanbul University and specialists from several universities and countries.
Radiocarbon dates indicate that Aşıklı was founded around 8500/8350 cal BCE by mobile hunter gatherer groups and was abandoned around 7350 cal BCE. Throughout the continuous habitation of the site for generations, the Aşıklı community established a permanent settled life, domesticated plants and animals, and created social rules. The current research project at the site examines all steps of technological, social and economic transformations and continues to focus on the establishment of the Neolithic lifestyle, one of the most important breaking points in the history of human.
The firsts of many concepts and practices such as the emergence of public spaces, mechanisms of egalitarian societies, collective life and sharing can be followed at Aşıklı Höyük. These themes all constitute current topics of discussion in archaeology, as well as social history, anthropology, sociology, history of architecture, history of medicine, and technology. The data from Aşıklı creates a ground for interpretation and discussion that will contribute to the life models designed for the purpose of “a better of future” and develops ways of thinking.
Current results from years of interdisciplinary research at the site reveal that the inhabitants of Aşıklı are the earliest sedentary community of Central Anatolia. The community adopted a collective lifestyle throughout the settlement sequence, while maintaining a lifestyle organized according to age, experience and specialization. Aşıklı community domesticated sheep/goat by keeping them under control in areas next to their houses, and by feeding them, and then by herding them. Cereal cultivation, legumes, wild plants, nut and fruit harvesting continued throughout the settlement sequence, placing Aşıklı Höyük as one of the settlements where the earliest agricultural experiments were carried out. Agricultural activities gradually increased in the settlement over time.
The site witnessed some early innovations and "firsts" in terms of architectural history. The transition from oval, semi-subterranean to rectangular, freestanding, above-ground building plans, as well as the emergence of public buildings and complex settlement patterns can be tracked at Aşıklı Höyük. The increasing population size and changes in social organization have also been explored and documented. Although burial practices are diverse, the skull of a young female individual buried under the floor of one of the buildings at Aşıklı Höyük had evidently went through trepanation, which is considered one of the earliest brain surgeries in the world.
The primary raw material used in tool making is obsidian (volcanic glass). Obsidian was brought to the settlement in blocks from its sources and knapping and tool making were carried out in the settlement by the inhabitants. Technological changes and developments in tool types (e.g., scrapers, cutting and drilling tools, arrowheads) is slow and gradual. In the last 200 years of the thousand-year long settlement history in Aşıklı, pyrotechnological developments such as copper smelting and lime burning began to be practiced, and the residents began to interact more often with other communities. In this period, collective life began to evolve towards individuality in the Aşıklı community.
Sub-projects include Cultural Heritage Management, Cultural Collaboration and Social Network Projects, The Experimental Prehistoric Village Project, Protection and Exhibition Project, and Ethnographic Studies. “Friend of Aşıklı Society” was founded in November 2018 by a group of individuals from diverse backgrounds, who recognize and are interested in archaeology and cultural matters. The main aim of the Society is to develop international and national partnerships with public and private entities especially in the fields of art and education to promote interdisciplinary approach and support regional tourism and developmental activities in the vicinity of Aşıklı.
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Balıklı, an Aceramic Neolithic site located in the Gülpınar district of Aksaray, was discovered in 2015. In 2016, it was seen that the site was damaged by heavy construction equipment, which dug several pits at the site. Three of these pits reached in situ layers and the consequently revealed sections inside these pits enabled us to observe and start understanding some characteristics of the site. In 2017, a surface collection was conducted, and in 2018 rescue excavations started under the directorate of Aksaray Museum. The project is carried out under the scientific advisor of Assoc. Prof. Güneş Duru.
The upper level of the site is the period when the eastern walls of the buildings were used as graves after the settlement was abandoned. The lower layers, which represents Balıklı with its many sub-phases, is the layer that consists of oval shelters, where a group of at least 100-150 people led a hunter and gatherer life and continued agricultural activities at a limited scale.
Balıklı is the fourth excavation site along with other early Aceramic Neolithic sites (Aşıklı Höyük [Aksaray], Pınarbaşı [Karaman], Boncuklu [Konya]) excavated so far in Central Anatolia. The site is closer to the obsidian sources than other settlements. It is a distinctive settlement in the region in terms of building style, material culture and burial customs. In terms of these features, it has a key role in understanding early Neolithic communities in Central Anatolia.
Excavations in Niksar Castle have been started to reveal the cultural assets. 2021 Niksar Castle excavation was carried out under the scientific consultancy Dr. Turgay YAZAR of member Ondokuz Mayıs University Art History Department and instructor under the direction of Tokat Museum. In addition, Assoc. Dr. Davut YİĞİTPAŞA from the Archeology Department Ondokuz Mayıs University, Dr. Suayip CELEMOGLU from the Department of Art History, Dr. Bilge BAHAR from the Department of Art History, Prof. Dr. Fadime Suata ALPRASLAN from the Department of Anthropology at Istanbul University, Exp. Danişment Hüseyin ŞAHİN, Exp. Özgür DÜLGER, Exp. Didem GÜZEL, Mahmut GİRİŞEN, İremnur İSKENDER and 18 students from Samsun Ondokuz Mayıs University Art History Department, Archeology Department and Cumhuriyet University Art History Department attended.
Niksar Castle, located on the hill between Çanakçı Stream that joins Kelkit Stream and Maduru Stream that joins this creek in Niksar district center, was established during the Persian origin Pontus Kingdom, was enlarged during the Roman and Byzantine periods, and was repaired and used during the Danishmend, Seljuk and Ottoman periods. When it was built, the city walls that define the inner castle area formed three separate lines as inner, outer and middle city walls.
The city, which was probably captured by the Turks in 1076 after the Battle of Manzikert, became the first throne center (capital) of the Danishments. Niksar Castle is an important settlement in terms of being one of the first castles that Turks settled in Anatolia. In the second largest castle of Anatolia, which dominates the district center; There are ruins of a madrasa, two baths, two mosques, a church and a prison. Fetih Mosque, located at a point dominating the Inner Castle, is important for Turkish-Islamic architecture as it is one of the first Turkish mosques in Anatolia. The places built adjacent to the mosque are thought to belong to the palace of the Danişment.
The excavations carried out in the castle will enable to reveal the historical phases of the castle, the cultural assets such as the palace, the conquest mosque and the Turkish bath, which are thought to be in the castle and will also contribute to the castle studies in Turkey.
Asc. Prof. Dr. Davut YİĞİTPAŞA
It is approximately 1.6 km from the city of Giresun/Kerasous, one of the important settlements of the Pontus Region. Giresun Island, located off the coast, is the only island in the Eastern Black Sea Region that witnessed settlement in the Ancient Age and the Middle Ages. According to the information obtained from ancient sources, the island was named Aretias in the Classical Age and Chalkeritis Island in the Roman Imperial Period. On the island, which has a surface area of approximately 40,000 m² and a height of 30 meters from the sea, there are ruins dating back to the Middle Ages. The first excavations on the island were carried out in 2011 and 2012. Excavations were interrupted in 2013 and 2014, and since 2015, under the presidency of Giresun Museum Directorate, under the scientific consultancy of Asc. Prof. Dr.Gazanfer İLTAR, the studies were resumed by Asc. Prof. Dr. Akın TEMÜR and a team of Ondokuz Mayıs University Archeology Department students. Although many architectural remains were identified during the studies carried out during this period, excavations; It was carried out in three different regions, the Chapel and the Pitos Area. The ceramic finds obtained as a result of the excavations reveal that the history of the island dates back to the Classical periods, unlike the dense medieval finds seen on the surface.
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With the permissions of the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Salvage Excavations of the Sağlıksuyu Village, the Sağlıksuyu Village in Ağrı Province, Doğubayazıt District, under the presidency of the Ağrı Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism and the Museum Directorate, were started on 23.08.2022. Samsun Ondokuz Mayıs University Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Department of Archeology Lecturer Assoc. Dr. Davut YİĞİTPAŞA and Dr. from Kafkas University Sarıkamış Tourism Faculty, Tourism Guidance Department. Instructor In the excavation coordinated by its member Ayhan YARDIMCIEL; ram-headed tombstones scattered in the field and another half-buried ram-headed tombstone were brought together in the south of field 1. It was understood that the heads of 3 ram-head tombstones with horizontal profiles were broken and the cross motif was engraved on them and vertically spolia tombstones were made. Coins belonging to the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire were seized and the remains of a church with an apse were unearthed. In addition to the church, the architectural fieldwork with three spaces has been completed to a large extent. Tandoor, hearth and pipes were unearthed. It can be said that Area 2 is the church and Area 1 is the church's garden and cemetery.
Asc. Prof. Dr. Davut YİĞİTPAŞA
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The survey is carried out under the directorship of Kafkas University Faculty Member Ast. Prof. Dr. Ayhan YARDIMCIEL and from our department Asc. Prof. Dr. Davut YİĞİTPAŞA participates with his team. Aras River is a river whose name has not changed for thousands of years with a pronunciation close to today's (Herodotus-Araxes) mentioned in ancient sources. It reaches the Nakhchivan-Iran corridor by passing through the provinces of Erzurum, Kars and Iğdır with its source from the Bingöl Mountains. Afterwards, the river joins with Kura coming from the north and empties into the Caspian Sea around Baku. The region where the river enters the borders of Kars province and passes through Nakhchivan is defined as the Middle Aras Basin. This definition is related to the archaeological and historical association of the region. The Middle Aras Basin, including Mount Ararat and Aras Mountains, is at the forefront in terms of its historical role compared to the Upper and Lower Aras Basins, due to the intersection of roads and passages between the Caucasus, Anatolia and Iran. These road networks also organized east-west and north-south oriented migration and cultural exchanges. In a sense, the Middle Aras Basin acted as a catalyst between Anatolia, the Caucasus and Iran. The core of the important Bronze Age cultures, Kura-Aras I (Kura-Aras Culture, Early Transcaucasian Culture or locally named Karaz Culture) and Kura Aras II (Aras Painted Culture, II Millennium Culture etc.) and Early Iron Age Culture The fact that it is a region already reveals how important the region is. With the Middle Aras Basin researches, starting from the Chalcolithic Age, very important discoveries regarding the settlements, defense facilities, pottery culture and burial tradition belonging to the Early-Middle Late Bronze Age were made. However, the research has reached more specific information for the Early Iron Age. This information is related to the development of the Early Iron Age culture from the Ağrı Mountain region (Middle Aras Basin) east to the Van Lake Basin, and it should be noted that the settlement and defense facilities of the relevant period are much more concentrated in the Ağrı Mountain region. However, it was also an important finding that some of the settlements identified were archaeological centers that gave the appearance of cities.
Asc. Prof. Dr. Davut YİĞİTPAŞA
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