©The Archaeological Settlements of Turkey - TAY Project

Yassihöyük

For site maps and drawings please click on the picture...

maps

For photographs please click on the photo...

Yassıhöyük
Type:
 Mound
Altitude:
 m
Region:
 Central Anatolia
Province:
 Nevsehir
District:
 Gülsehir
Village:
 Ovaören
Investigation Method:
 Excavation
Period:

     

Location: It is situated 3 km south of the Ovaören Town in the Gülsehir District of Nevsehir.
Geography and Environment: It is located on the volcanic dome which is about 10 m above the valley bottom.
History:
Research and Excavation: It was surveyed by S. Omura in 1996, and revisited by S.Y. Senyurt in 1997. The excavations were started within the frame of "Ovaören Archaeological Area" under the directorship of Y. Senyurt in 2007.
Stratigraphy: During the studies, LBA and IA levels were found.
Small Finds: Architecture: Yassihöyük measures 500x350 m in dimension and it is an urban settlement which is surrounded by city walls with a length of 1250 m. The mudbrick sections on the city walls with stone masonry with a width of 4 m and a height of 5 m are preserved up to 3 m [Senyurt et al. 2013:24]. The stone arrangements discovered on the city wall were built in caisson technique. The excavations in the northwest section of Yassihöyük, which is called central excavation area, started in 2007 continued in 2011 as well. Late IA levels with 3 phases which represent the last occupational phases of the city were discovered in 6 trenches with a dimension of 10x10 m in previous years. The architecture of this level is represented by the buildings with large rooms erected with tuff-like stones using the dry wall technique. No mudbrick was used in these buildings. Some of the main walls of the buildings are preserved up to 0.75 m high. It was understood that these rectangular planned buildings were extended in case of need or divided into small rooms and furnished with hearth, oven and workshops. Finding a great number of iron and bronze chisels, knifes, arrowheads, stone and baked clay spindle whorls inside of the buildings suggest that this area was used as a workshop, especially in the last phase. During the 2011 studies in the central excavation area, the level dated to 2nd millennium BC. was reached. Although no remains of building were found, potsherds belonging to Assyrian Trade Colonial and Old Hittite periods were discovered. In the trenches located 110 m south of the central excavation area, architectural remains belonging to the first phase of Late IA were revealed. The buildings with stone foundation extend in NE-SW direction and they were built in dry wall technique and preserved up to 1.25 m high. A great number of large jar sherds and jars buried under the ground level up to their bodies were exposed in this area. A silo was found in Trench IZ-176. The rim diameter of the silo with a depth of 1 m is 1.5 m and its internal wall was built with fieldstones. A few carbonized wheat grains were recovered from this silo. Among the pottery found in this area, there are painted wares, a sherd with a painted sphinx figure and sherds with black painting geometric and bird motifs on a black wash and sherds with black painting with bird rows on red wash. The well preserved walls of the building, which was exposed in Trench JA-176 and the majority of it hasn't been excavated yet, are 2.25 in height. The building is entered through a stairs with 5 steps on its south. It was discovered that the building functioned as ground floor storage. Potsherds recovered from the ashy fill of the building are dated to Late IA. A finely made bronze fibula was found. The structures exposed in the trenches of IZ-176 and IY-176 belong to the last two phases of Late IA. As well as polychrome wares with figurative and geometric decorations, loom weights and fragments of spindle whorls were recovered from these rectangular planned structures. The walls were erected with dry wall technique. It was discovered that the floor of the room covered with large flagstones in Trench IZ-176 belong to the second phase of Late IA and during the first phase (the last phase) it was divided into two parts with a roughly made partition wall. During the city wall excavations, the section of the city wall with a length of 45 m was exposed on the northwest section of the city in 2010. In this area, a tower which was added to the outer wall was discovered as well. The 2011 city wall excavations were carried out on the east of the tower; the area where the city wall faces to the inner city. As a result of the studies, it was discovered that the stone city wall, which its external face preserved up to 5.10 m high, has the same height in the internal face. Also, the mudbrick city walls were discovered with a height of 2 m in the upper part of the stone city walls. The city wall, together with the mudbrick section, measures 7 m in height. The vast majority of the material recovered from the piled up soil are dated to Middle IA, Late IA and a few of them are dated to LBA. In the large area on the slope overlooking to the headwaters called Cingi Pinari on the south section of the city, the possible main gate of the city was exposed in Trench IJ 195. The west wing of the gate which looks like a high tower is in slightly square shape and it measures 6.15 m long in E-W and 7 m long in N-S. The stone foundation of the gate is 1.5 m in height and it measures about 3.25 m in height in the inner section. The width between the west wing joining to the external face of the city wall and the west wing is 5 m. The wings reaching towards the inner city join to the main gate with a length of 2.65, after extending 4.35 m long. The doorjamb holding possibly the wooden door was found in situ on the west wing. The front face of the door wing on the east was exposed. The gateway of Yassihöyük measures 18 m in height together with the towers on the sides. The 2012 studies carried out in the sounding opened to understand the stratigraphy. As a result of the excavations, 8 architectural layers were discovered: Late IA (3 phases), Middle IA (3 phases) and Hittite level (2 phases). In the late phase of the Hittite level, two rows of walls located parallel to each other were discovered. Potsherds recovered from the area represent the standard production specimens of Hittite Imperial Period. A room preserved at the foundation level and built in Pise technique, which can be dated to Old Hittite Period, was exposed in the early phase. During the city wall excavations, the east and west wings of the gate and the main entrance corridor were entirely unearthed. In the early phase, there is a corridor with a dimension of 7x10 m after passing the first gate with a width of 3.5 m. The second gate with a width of 2.5 m is also located on the same axis. The front face of the large corridor, which holds the first door and faces to the south, between two gates is preserved up to 4 m high and it looks like a stone city wall. During the last phase of Late IA, the stairhead between the outer and inner gates became smaller by a roughly made partition wall and the entrance doors were narrowed down [Senyurt et al. 2013:24-25]. The architectural remains belonging to the first building phase, which were exposed during the excavations carried out in Area C in 2012, are dated to the Late IA. The remains unearthed in this area have been severely damaged due to agricultural activities and therefore, only the foundations of which preserved. These long rectangular planned, adjacent structures have stone walls and extend in the northeast-southwest direction. The floors of some rooms were paved with medium sized flat limestone blocks. A second paved floor belonging to the second building phase was also exposed. The walls of these structures with two phases are 0.40-0.60 m wide. The walls reach up to 0.75 m high. The third building phase was characterized by 8 rubbish pits and 2 floor furnaces. During the studies, remains of a scattered wall belonging to the Middle IA were unearthed as well. This structure extends in the southwest-northeast by contract with the ones belonging to the Late IA. 2 rubbish pits and ashy areas exposed immediately below this phase belong to the early phase of Middle IA [Senyurt et al. 2014]. The first building level determined during the 2013 excavations conducted in Trench JF185 is dated to Middle IA. In this building level, no architectural remains showing regular plan were encountered. However, two rubbish pits belonging to the later phase of Middle IA were exposed. The depths of pits range from 45 cm to 50 cm. They are about 1.5 m in diameter. At the same elevation with these rubbish pits, remains of mudbrick walls were found. Common wares and sherds with monochrome paint decoration were found on the partially preserved floor of the structure. It is revealed that the large silo extending towards the south profile of the trench was built in the late phase of Middle IA. The silo measures 3.5 m in diameter and 1.5 m in depth. Three different floors were determined in the silo. The bottom phase has damaged the south section of the building dated to Hittite Imperial Period. It is suggested that this silo was used for storing grain. The potsherds found inside the silo are dated to the 9th and 8th century BC. At the northwest corner of the trench, Early IA level with two different building levels was encountered below Middle IA level. The architecture of Early IA consists of two hearths and a wall consisting of 4 or 5 rows of stone, in roundish plan. The city wall dated IA, which surrounds Yassihöyük, is about 4 m in thickness and 5 m in height. The wall was bonded with stone and the uppermost section was built with mudbricks with a height of 3-4 m. The stone masonry city wall underwent three renewal and alteration phases. The front and back sections of the city wall were built with regular stones. Large, rough and unworked stone blocks were used as filling material. The city gate, which is the part of IA defense system, is located in the southeast of the settlement. In previous years, two entrance towers, entrance corridor, door and stairhead sections of the city gate were exposed. In 2013, the excavations carried out in this area in order to find a possible city wall dated the period earlier than IA. The excavations yielded a structure measuring about 7x9 m. The potsherds recovered from the mixed fill in the structure are dated to Middle and Late IA. The plan of this structure and its relation to the gate is not yet explored. Behind the southeast tower of the door, the stone coating of the wing erected with mudbrick blocks was removed and the mudbrick wing was fully revealed. Some parts of the wing joining the front tower were also removed and the mudbrick wing belonging to the earlier period was exposed. These studies show that the city gate of IA had mudbrick wings with stone foundation in the earliest phases and these mudbrick wings were covered with irregular stones and the entrances were narrowed down in the late phase. During Hittite Imperial Period, the same area probably had a city gate as well [Senyurt et al. 2015]. In 2014, the studies carried out in Trench IK19 and IL194 on the door corridor in order to determine the door and building groups related to door. The western door wing located in the second door opening of the main gate was excavated until the foundation level. It is seen that this door wing has a similar plan with the eastern door wing exposed in 2012. It is determined that the stone masonry, which probably closes the opening between the door wings, leans on this wing. The existence of doorjambs at the same level as the doors and the irregular masonry of the wall and also large storage potsherds and animal bones point that a large-scaled and a rapid invasion have happened. The stone foundation of the workshops adjacent to each other and the mud brick bench-like installations in Trench IJ194 are well preserved. The city walls, extend along the northeast corner of Trench IJ194, meet in the door in the center of the trench. It is believed that the debris of 1 m high, located in the meeting point, formed as a result of the last invasion period. The outer façade of the screen wall dividing the landing into two sections was reinforced with a stone pavement that was built quickly and carelessly due to the invasions. It is seen that the weakest sections of the defense system were reinforced with these arrangements. In Trench IJ194, a structurethat doesn't lean on the city wall or door was exposed. This structure is located in the north section of the city and 1 m down from the city wall. There is a stair/step arrangement to the southeast wall inside the structure. While the upper fills of the structure contain Achaemenid pottery, the lower fills yielded potsherds dated to Middle IA. This suggests that the settlement lasted a long time of period. The buildings dated to the early phase of Late IA and the buildings of the later phase have different characters. The buildings with a width of 40-50 cm have stone foundation and compressed earth floors. The building level of Trench IK-IL/194 has been severely damaged due to the agricultural activities in Hellenistic Period. It is found out that the regular blocks used in the southwest wall of Trench IL197 were collected from the city wall belonging to Hittite Imperial Period. The pottery sherds recovered from the contexts related to the wall in caisson technique in Trench IL198 indicate that the IA city walls were built on the foundations of the Hittite city walls in caisson technique [Senyurt et al. 2016:117-122]. Pottery: The Late IA wares comprise common wares, coarse kitchen wares and large storage jars. These wares share similarity with the ones found in 2a and 2b phases of IA in Kaman-Kalehöyük. Among the Middle IA wares, craters are common. The Middle IA wares are similar with the ones found in Late IA Level in terms of typology. All of the painted wares are monochrome. S profiled vessels and vessels with simple rims bear incised decoration. Yassihöyük Middle IA wares are placed in Alishar-4 tradition. These wares share similarities with the ones found in Gordion-Yassihöyük Level 5, Bogazköy-Büyükkaya II and Masat Höyük Level 3 as well [Senyurt et al. 2014]. The potsherds belonging to Early IA are similar to those found in Bogazköy, Kaman-Kalehöyük, Kilisetepe and Çadirhöyük in Central Anatolia. Wheel made wares are common. Handmade, coarse, dark gray and plain vessels are in low quantity [Senyurt et al. 2015]. In 2014, the potsherds found at the level of the wall closing the door opening in Trench IK194 and on the shaft of the door show characteristics of Alisar-4 pottery. The majority of the potsherds are monochrome. The vessels with deer motifs and animal motifs, and the ones with geometric decoration are dated to the end of the 8th century BC to the beginning of the 7th century BC [Senyurt et al. 2016: 119].
Remains:
Interpretation and Dating: The earliest occupational phase is dated to the beginning of LBA. The excavations carried out so far show that this settlement was one of the important centers of Tabal State during Middle IA (Late Hittite Period). The occupation was continued during Late IA as well. Especially potsherds indicate that this period bears the influences of Achaemenid/Persian [Senyurt et al. 2013:24].


To List