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Basmaci

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Basmacı
Type:
 Tumulus
Altitude:
 m
Region:
 Aegean
Province:
 Usak
District:
 Merkez
Village:
 Güre
Investigation Method:
 Excavation
Period:
 Archaic

     

Location: It lies in a wide land remained between the Gediz (Hermus) River and the Usak-Izmir motorway, 3 km north of Güre (ancient name Bagis) Town of the Merkez District in Usak.
Geography and Environment: The Basmaci Tumulus rests on a high hill, the nearest point to the Gediz River, centrally located in the necropolis area at Güre.
History:
Research and Excavation: Although the aggregated cone was disturbed in 1968 and 1969 by illicit diggers to a great extent, the grave chamber was not accessed. It was systematically investigated by B. Tezcan, but the grave chamber was not found. The grave chamber was found in 1989 during the excavation conducted by K. Akbiyikoglu [Akbiyikoglu 1991:1-24; Özgen-Öztürk 1996:53].
Stratigraphy:
Small Finds: Architectural Material: The tumulus is situated on a natural elevation. With a two-level crepidoma, such levels are also observed on the walls strecthing vertical to them inside the tumulus pile. The grave chamber placed to the west of the tumulus pile stands in the west-east direction, with an entrance from the west. The grave chamber, which is 2 m long with a frontal width of 1.10 m, and entrance width of 1.33 m, has a dromos built using the dry wall technique. The grave chamber was built with rectangular andesite blocks in different sizes, with a total dimension of 2.98x2.40 m, and a height around 1.60 m. With an open top, the 0.95 m wide gate of the chamber was covered by a 0.25 m thick lidstone. A sarcophagus, carved into the floor, was found inside the chamber. In the north-south direction, the sarcophagus made of tufeki stone is in the form of an oval tub, measuring 2.32x1.04x0.50 m in dimensions. [Akbiyikoglu 1991:1-4; Dinç 1993:267-217]. Pottery: A bronze oinochoe was found as covered with a bronze plate to the left of the skeleton's head. The body, neck and handles were already broken away when it was found. It has a trefoil mouth, thick and wide neck, globular body and a high pedestal, and a height of 14.5 m and belly diameter of 11.3 cm. The pedestal, body, neck and handle of the oinochoe were produced separately, and then attached. The shoulder attaching the neck with the body is decorated with a pattern, which encloses the Ionic Cyme type of neck. The top of the vessel with a domed body is slightly flat. It has a hollow strap handle. The rim and combining parts of the body were attached by rivets. Some textile fragments were found on the oinochoe. The silver trefoil oinochoe, which was found in three parts as handle, body and base, has a thick neck enlarging from the rim to the body. The base of the neck is enclosed by a relief band. With a bulging globular body, the upper part is slightly squatted than the base. There is a ring-shaped foot. It has a strap handle, which was rivetted onto the rim and the body. A chain type of string extends through the handle in the middle. This string is identical of the handle wire found among the Ikiztepe finds, which were recovered during the illicit diggings in 1966, and smuggled to abroad. Aryballos: It is of terracotta. With a height of 5.6 cm and belly diameter of 5.9 cm, it has a buffy paste, a wide flat mouth, and short neck. The upper and lower parts of the body are depressed with a baggy belly. Pierced by a thick strip, the handle starts from the rim, and attaches to the shoulder with a vertical curve. The shoulder where the neck attaches to the body is enclosed by a punctuated border painted in brown. In the rim, there are also painted decorations, incised perpendicular to the mouth. Metal Plate With Double Handles: It is made of bronze. It was found in reverse position over the oinoche. It is 23.1 cm in diameter and 4 cm in depth, the exterior surface of the flat vessel entirely decorated with 12 spool motifs. Furthermore, the exterior surface of the vessel near the rim is decorated with a striped band similar to a string of bead. The section where the handles are attached to the body is made like an Ionic volute. Both handles get narrower towards the end, and their pointed tips are laterally attached to the volutes. The handles are dressed. A crack near the edge of the plate was interiorly repaired with a triangular bronze piece. There are remains of textile adhered to the exterior surface and handles. Plate With Double Handle: The body is of wood while the handles are of bronze. Although whole body of the plate, which was found over the right leg of the skeleton, was decayed, the handles are still extant. The only difference from the other plate is that the roller shaped patterns around the rim were covered by semi-spherical patterns in silver as appliques. The extant handles are identical to the handles of the bronze plate in form and decoration. Omphalos Bowl: It is of silver. It was found in situ next to the bones of the left leg. It is 15.6 cm in diameter, and 4.5 m in height, with a semi-spherical body. With a round and vertical rim, the bottom is protruding on the inside, and dimpled on the outside. There are 7 grooves parallel to each other in the interior part of the body. The outer part is plain. Adherent textile fragments are observed on the oxidized sections of the body. Mirror: It is of silver. Found at the lenght of the left hand in the sarchopagus, it is 14.9 m in diamater with a disc form. Two silver rivets are observed in the lower section. The surface used as a mirror is slightly convex. Lid: It is of silver. With a diameter of 21.6 cm, it has a ring attached to it with a piece of pin as movable on the semi-spherical lid. The pin was contoured like a rosette on the inside. The entire lid, in general, was covered with relief leaf-motifs resembling the pine cones, enlarging from center to the edges. Alabastron: With a height of 15.6 cm, this silver alabastron has an everted rim, which was contoured with a thin golden wire. The edges of the shoulder are also contoured with a golden band, decorated with vertical lines all around. The body is long and oval, with a rounded bottom. There are two duck head handles on the upper section of the body near the shoulder. Both heads are gilded except the beaks. The upper and lower sections of the body are decorated with ray patterns, which were filled in with thin lines. The upper ray patterns are more frequent, and smaller in size. The part remaining between these two motifs are again decorated with hatched zigzag and triangular bands. A hunting scene is depicted on the space between the two bands with triangular motifs. In thin lines, the scene portrays two rearing horses with riders, a tiger attacking a wild goat behind the horse on the right, and the horse on the left side attacking a wild ox (?). Stone Comb: It is of limestone. Found next to the belly of the skeleton, it may also be a buckle although it looks like a comb. Findspot also suggests that it may have been an inner filling material of a wooden artifact. However, its function is unclear. Cup: It is of hard limestone. It is 3.7 cm tall with a body diameter of 4.7 cm, and it is an open vessel with a horizontal rim, and spherical body. It has a thick wall and a small reservoir.
Remains:
Interpretation and Dating: Being uncovered after excavation activities lasting around 30 days, the Basmaci Tumulus is very interesting in terms of its architecture. The fact that the grave chamber, which covers an area of 8 squaremeters within a pile of 1000 squaremeters in average, has no ceiling and presence of a sarchophagus made with a coarse rubble work in the chamber is very interesting as it is not similar to the grave chambers found at Güre, and uncovered so far. Moreover, the finds bear local Phrygian characteristics as Güre is located within the Lydian territory, very close to the Phrygian border. Among the finds, aryballos and alabastron indicate that it is a Lydian tumulus dating to the first half of the 6th century BC as well as proving it again that the Lydian artifacts excavated and smuggled to the abroad in 1960s actually belonged to that region [Akbiyikoglu 1991:8; Özgen-Öztürk 1996:53].


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