Kaman-Kalehöyük

Türkiye · Kırşehir

SettlementExcavation ongoing
Approximate period2,300 BCE — 1,700 CEEarly Bronze Age; Middle and Late Bronze Age; Iron Age; Byzantine; Ottoman See on the map ↓

In brief

Kaman-Kalehöyük near Çağırkan is a multilayered settlement where remains from different periods have accumulated on top of one another. Excavations contribute particularly to establishing the chronology of the Bronze Age and the Iron Age following the Hittite Empire.

What was found?

  • 1Early Iron Age settlement layers

    Successive settlement levels and material culture remains were uncovered in layer IId. They directly document life in the region after the Hittite Empire.

  • 2Bronze Age settlement sequence

    Layers from the Assyrian Trade Colonies, Old Hittite Kingdom, and Hittite Empire periods can be traced. This sequence is important for comparing changes between periods.

  • 3Ottoman-period remains

    The uppermost layer I belongs to the Ottoman period. It shows that the history of the mound's use was not limited to antiquity.

  • 4Seals and terracotta tablets

    The excavation finds include seals and terracotta tablets. These provide tangible material relating to written records and the use of seals at the settlement.

What does it point to?

The superimposed settlements allow life in different periods to be compared at the same location. The Early Iron Age layers challenge the earlier view that the period following the collapse of the Hittite state lacked settlement and production.

What did it teach us?

  1. It showed that settlement life continued in the Early Iron Age after the Hittite Empire.
  2. It provided a comparable sequence of layers for the Assyrian Trade Colonies and Hittite periods.
  3. It contributed to refining the chronology of antiquity in Anatolia.

Images

Kaman-Kalehöyük1
Hajo-Muc · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Record

Culture
Assyrian Trading Colonies; Hittite; Iron Age Anatolian communities; Byzantine; Ottoman
First modern dig
1986
Team / historical
Japanese Institute of Anatolian Archaeology
Coordinates
39.3628°, 33.7867°

Sources

  1. old.jiaa-kaman.org
  2. en.wikipedia.org
  3. kulturportali.gov.tr
  4. Kaman Kaymakamlığı

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