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©The Archaeological Settlements of Turkey - TAY Project
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Anbar Kalesi |
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Type:
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Fortress |
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Altitude:
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m |
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Region:
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Eastern Anatolia |
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Province:
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Tunceli |
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District:
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Merkez |
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Village:
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Anbar |
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Investigation Method:
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Survey |
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Period:
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Middle Iron Age |
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| It rests on the western skirts of the Mount Mazgirt, 1 km east of the Birman Village, 15 km northwest of the Anbar Village in Tunceli. Referred to as the Birman Fortress by local people and sources, the fortress was founded on a rocky area, which reaches up to 30-40 m at some points. It was first referred in a publication in 1966 by C. Osmanoglu. Today no data is available about the inscription mentioned in this publication. According to Osmanoglu, the inscription stood above the first entrance gate on the fortification wall between the two towers to the east. Osmanoglu mentions a stone paved road near the fortress, however no traces of such a road were found as it was the case with the inscription. Probably the materials were removed to be used for the village houses in the neigbourhood. The road should have been one of the Urartian roads running from Mazgirt leading to the Sinan Fortress. O. Belli, who conducted surveys in the region related with the Urartu Period , points out to the rich ore beds, which were run during the reign of the Urartian King Rusa II while referring to the fortresses built near such mines or on the route of road. He refers to the Anbar Fortress, indicating that it was erected during the reign of Argishti II or his son Rusa II. However, he doesn't provide any architectural information about the fortress. Located on a rocky platform of 70x25 m in the east-west direction, it appears that the extant Medieval fortifications are partially observed on the eastern, and less on the western ends of the rock. With an entrance from the east, the northern and southern outer stones of the east wall have flaked away to a great extent, and the independent connection walls on the northeast and southwest line have been entirely destroyed. Although the material and construction technique of the fortifications bear medieval characteristics, a rock tomb from the Urartu Period with two inaccessible chambers, the gate facing east, located to the south of the entrance, and the rock steps and a sacred area on the western end of the rocks reduces the occupation of the fortress back to the Urartu Period. Two cisterns inside the platform of the fortress are again from this period, and they should have been used during the Middle Age, too. Ceramic finds from the Iron Age in the fortress and its vicinity provide further evidences indicating that the fortress was originally occupied during the Urartu Period. Less dense ceramic finds from the Greek-Roman Period indicate occupation between the Urartu Period and the Middle Age during the Greek-Roman Period, also later on during the Byzantine Period. |
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