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©The Archaeological Settlements of Turkey - TAY Project
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Bozkurt Kurgan Mezarligi |
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For site maps and drawings please click on the picture...  |
For photographs please click on the photo...  |
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Type:
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Mound |
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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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Agri |
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District:
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Dogubayazit |
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Village:
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Bozkurt |
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Investigation Method:
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Excavation |
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Period:
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| Location: Bozkurt Kurgan Cemetery is situated on the west skirts of Agri Mountain 16 km north of Dogubayazit District in Agri Province. |
| Geography and Environment: It is located on the north edge of Dogubayazit Plain, at the beginning of Mount Agri passage descending towards Igdir Plain, on the western slope of the mountain extending towards the plain. The cemetery covers an area approximately of 12 square km starting from Bozkurt Village towards north. |
| History: |
| Research and Excavation: The excavation studies were initiated by Aynur Özfirat from Mustafa Kemal University in 2007. |
| Stratigraphy: |
| Small Finds: Architecture: The 2011 campaign were carried out in two areas: the cemetery on the western slope of Mount Agri and topographical drawing studies in two different fortresses on the high hill in the east of the cemetery. Three kurgans located in the south of the cemetery and two graves that were damaged due to illicit diggings were excavated. Kurgan 10: It is located on the south section of the cemetery. The piled up mound of the grave was built with rough stones in different sizes. The diameter of its base is 7.9 m and the present height is 2.5 m. The burial chamber is in the type of shaft grave. The grave pit in quadrangle plan with rounded corners measures 1.70x1.00 m and it is 2.20 m in height. The grave pit were built with large and small rough stones and no capstone was found. Kurgan 11: It is located on the south section of the cemetery. The piled up mound of the grave was built with rough stones in different sizes. The diameter of its base is 11 m and the present height is 1.7 m. The burial chamber is in the type of shaft grave. The grave pit in quadrangle plan with rounded corners measures 2.90x2.20 m and it is 1.30 m in height. The grave pit were built with large and small rough stones and no capstone was found. Kurgan 35: It is located on the south section of the cemetery. The piled up mound of the grave was built with rough stones in different sizes. The diameter of its base is 5.50 m and the present height is 1.50 m. The burial chamber is in the type of cist grave. Like other kurgans, the grave pit is in quadrangle plan with rounded corners. and it is 1m in height. The grave pit were built with large and small regular stones and no capstone was found. Grave 3: It is located on the south section of the cemetery. It is in the form of pear-shaped cist grave. This rectangular planned grave extends in the east-west direction. It measures 1.40x1.18 m and 0.90 m in height. The walls were built in corbelling technique and erected with rough stones measuring 0.40x0.55 m. The floor plaster with a dimension of about 0.50x0.50 m was exposed in the east section of the grave. The plaster is greyish and it has an ashy appareance. No capstone was found. Grave 4: It is located on the southeast sectşon of the cemetery. It is a cist grave in round plan. It extends in the north-south direction and measures 2.53x1.73 m. Its height is 1.40 m. The wall was built with rough stones measuring 0.40x0.80 m. 4 capstones were found [Özfirat 2013]. Chamber grave 1: It is located on the south section of the cemetery. This rectangular planned grave is with dromos and it extends in the east-west direction. It is with a dimension of 5.40x1.80 and a height of 1.17 m. It was built with medium and large sized semi-worked stones. The walls with a thickness of 50 cm were erected with blocks measuring 0.40x0.50 m. The west wall and the west section of the south wall have been completely damaged due to illicit diggings. The capstone with a length of 2 m and a width of 0.50 m was found in situ. The other 4 capstones belonging to the grave scattered around it [http://www.ttk.gov.tr/templates/resimler/File/Kazilar/2012/18-2011-BozkurtKurganNekropolu.pdf, 02.12.15, 17:37]. The excavation in the Chamber grave 1 was fulfilled in 2012. It was determined that the floor of the grave was made of compacted soil. The architecture of the grave and the potsherds and beads recovered from it indicate the Urartian Period [Özfirat-Coskun 2014:147]. The fortresses located on the high hill are the sites belonging to the LBA and Early IA. In 2011, the plans of the fotresses were partially determined [Özfirat 2013:120]. The Fortress I is dated to the LBA and Early IA, while the Fortress II belongs to the Urartian Period-Middle IA. The Fortress I is located to the highest point of the hill. It is roughly in rectangular plan. It measures 150 m in width in the east-west direction and 210 m in length in the north-south direction. It has two entrances measuring 2 m wide. These entrances locate to the northeast and south sections. The walls encircling the fortress were built with rough, massive stones. The thickness of these walls ranges from 1.80 m to 2.10 m. There are quadrangle shaped rooms in the interior section of the fortress. The cemetery located immediately outside the walls of the fortress is contemporary with the Fortress I. The fortress II is in square plan. It measures 40x30 m. The only entrance should be on the east side of the fortress. The thickness of its walls is 2 m. The fortress extends in the east-west direction. There are four braces on the city walls. The traces belonging to various rooms were seen in the interior section of the fortress. Terrace walls are located to the slope in the north. The architectural features of the fortress and the potsherds collected from the surface indicate the period of the Urartian Kingdom [Özfirat-Coskun 2014:148; Özfirat 2015]. Pottery: Kurgan 10 and Grave 3 yielded wares belonging to LBA and Early IA. The potsherds found in Chamber grave 1 are dated to Middle IA [http://www.ttk.gov.tr/templates/resimler/File/Kazilar/2012/18-2011-BozkurtKurganNekropolu.pdf, 02.12.15, 17:37]. The potsherds collected from the surface of Fortress I are dated to LBA and Early IA, while the ones recovered from Fortress II belong to Urartian Period [Özfirat 2013:120]. Human Remains: Kurgan 10 and Kurgan 35 yielded human bones [http://www.ttk.gov.tr/templates/resimler/File/Kazilar/2012/18-2011-BozkurtKurganNekropolu.pdf, 02.12.15, 17:37]. In Grave 4, a skeleton, which was inhumed in semi-hocker position, was found. The skeleton lies in the north-south direction and faces to the west. The grave yielded 201 beads made of frit, glass and limestone. 5 frit beads and 1cornaline bead were exposed in Kurgan 35 [Özfirat 2013:120]. |
| Remains: |
| Interpretation and Dating: The fortress I shares similarity with the ones in South Caucasia and Northwest Iran and the other fortresses belonging to the LBA and Early IA found in the region in terms of architectural and topographical features. The relatively smaller fortress II, on the other hand, was probably built for surveillance. The location, which overlooks the entire Dogubayazit Valley and the roads in the region, and the size of this fortress indicate that it functioned as a station amongst the other large Urartian fortresses located on the skirts of Mount Agri [Özfirat-Coskun 2014:147-147]. |
