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©The Archaeological Settlements of Turkey - TAY Project
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Harmanören / Göndürle |
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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 and Cemetery |
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Altitude:
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890 m |
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Region:
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Mediterranean |
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Province:
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Isparta |
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District:
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Atabey |
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Village:
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Harmanören |
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Investigation Method:
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Excavation |
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Period:
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EBA II EBA III |
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| Location: It lies southeast of Harmanören Village; former name Göndürle; about 27 km northeast of Isparta Province. The cemetery claimed to be the cemetery of Göndürle I Höyügü by the researchers is located in the garden of almond trees at Tepecikalti or Tavsanlik Mevkii on the southern foothill of Tavsantepe with an altitude of 1014 m rising 1 km east of the village. The mound cited as Göndürle in the archaeological literature is situated 250-300 m southeast of this cemetery [Özsait 1994:29]. Therefore; the first mound was called Göndürle in order to prevent any confusion between these two mounds. The cemetery is called as the EBA cemetery of Göndürle. |
| Geography and Environment: The mound is located at the beginning of a plain on the south of the hills where the village of Göndürle is situated. The cemetery; 250-350 m northwest of the mound extends in the northwest- southeast direction on the southern foothill of Tavsantepe in parallel to the mountains. It is reported to cover an area of 1880 square meters and have a diameter of 300 m whereas the mound measures 100x150 m in dimensions. |
| History: |
| Research and Excavation: The mound of Göndürle 1 attracted the attention of many scientists since it can be easily seen from a distance in the plain. Scientists such as T. Özgüç; J. Mellaart; D.H. French introduced it under the names of Göndürlü; Göndürler [Özgüç 1943:408-415; Mellaart 1954:192]. It was not excavated until the recent years. Exposure of pithos graves on the surface of the cemetery during illicit diggings in 1989 resulted in salvage digs by the Museum of Isparta. The finds preserved at the Museum of Afyon are claimed to be collected from this mound in 1950 [Ünlüsoy 1993:291]. The excavations carried out by the museum in 1989 and 1991-1992 were followed by the excavations under M. Özsait from 1993. The excavations; except the year 1994; were carried out in the cemetery. The excavations have laid out that since the graves are very near the surface; they have been easily identified and plundered by the treasure hunters. Some of the graves have traces of natural damages as well. It is listed in the registered archaeological sites inventory prepared by Ministry of Culture and Tourism. |
| Stratigraphy: The stratification of the mound has been identified depending on the surface finds only. It is reported that the site had been more or less continuously inhabited from the Late Chalcolithic Age to the end of the first millennium BC. The stratification of the cemetery has not been identified yet. |
| Small Finds: Pottery: All of the 5 vessels claimed to come from Göndürle and preserved at the Public House of Isparta are spouted pitchers [Özgüç 1943:410-413; draw.1-5]. The findspot and how they were recovered are unknown. There are samples of the unburnished ware with exteriorly and interiorly red washed surfaces; the ware with red washed exterior surface and black interior and the grayish black washed ware. During the 2001 fieldwork; 9 spouted pitchers; one miniature vase and three bowls were found. The burial pithoi were dated to EBA II and EBA III [Özsait 2003:310]. Human Remains: The excavations carried out both by the museum and by M. Özsait suggested that we are dealing with an extramural cemetery consisting of pithos graves only. The excavations of M. Özsait yielded 119 pithos graves and 1 cist grave until the end of 1999 [Özsait 2000:150]. The pithos graves were placed into the pits in the east-west direction; the openings usually oriented toward the east; rarely toward the southeast or the northeast. M. Özsait associates this orientation with the sun rise [Özsait 2000c:150]. They are placed in the cemetery in an order; and some of them house more than one burial. This gives an impression that they were marked with a block of stones. The small pithoi buried without an order between the big ones. This suggests that they are either memorial pithoi or grave goods pithoi [Kaya 1994:134]. One of the recent suggestions is that the small pithoi are; probably; the markings of the big pithoi. As all the pithoi are in distinctive shapes; it can be thought that they were not produced for burials and the storage jars were also employed as graves. When a person died; the pithos was carried by its two or four handles to the cemetery and buried into a circular pit slightly leaning on one side. The dead were interred into the pithos in hocker position accompanied with the grave goods with his/her shroud on. The second burials were interred by displacing the skeletons of the first burial into one side. Sometimes; the grave goods were left next to the pithos. The mouth of the pithos was capped usually by flat stones or a small bell-shaped pithos tightly. Then; it was encircled by big stones and sherds followed by a cover in earth. The stones around the mouth are common field stones. One of the stones has traces of a retouch. The forms of the pithoi employed as graves are with an out-rolled and rounded rim; a cylindrical or bulbous body and a flat or rounded base. Their paste is tempered with big grit and plant. They are underfired. Groove decorated spouted pitchers are the most common group of goods left into the graves [Ünlüsoy 1993:draw.3a-b; 4a-b; 5a-b; 6a-b; 7a-b]. Some of them have twisted handles. They are produced by the red and black washed ware. Among the clay finds; spindle whorls undecorated or decorated with zigzag groove and curved incisions are interesting. New pottery types were recovered during the 1999 excavation. One of them is a depas amphikypellon and the other is a pilgrium-flask [Özsait 2000a:pic.5-6]. A violin-shaped idol recovered during the initial years of the excavation is compared with the Çaykenari idols in the vicinity [Ünlüsoy 1993:draw.5d]. The excavations carried out by M. Özsait yielded disc-headed idols. They are type of idols with circular or triangular head; circular body without any arms. An example of the stone finds is a shaft-holed axe. Metallic finds were also recovered as grave goods. Mace headed and conical pins; perforated pins are; probably; for shrouds. Copper/bronze bracelets were found in the arms of some skeletons. Also found are two pieces of a distinctive type of a very flat knife introduced as razorblade in the archaeological literature. A total of 13 burials were encuntered in 2001. In one of these burials were encountered two skeletons in hocker position. These burials probably belong to individuals of a high status and have yielded a bronze needle and a bronze earring. A red slipped and burnished bowl and a spouted pitcher body sherd were also found outside the grave [Özsait 2003:310]. In 2003 the researches took place in two different trenches and 13 burials were found. Only five (S9; S10; Ü7; Ü8; Ü11) of those were untouched but destructed by the nature and cracks or breaks were formed. The others were either destructed due to the construction of newer ones (Ü1) or due to burial search or agriculture. One of these burials (Ü4) is different in terms of its construction and type. The rest of the burials; which are ten pieces; are all pithos graves. The pithos graves were all placed in east-west direction and the openings that face the east were closed by a big; flat stone except for one(Ü9); the back of the closure stones; the top and body of the pithoi were protected by covering with crumbs or fragments of pithoi [Özsait 2004:21-26]. In 2005 campaign; trench Y was excavated and 9 pithos graves were uncovered. The cover stones of the graves Y1; Y2 and Y3 reached at -49 m; but none of them yielded any finds. Grave Y2 was found untouched. A little jar leaning right side of the pithos was found and this was the first grave gift found in such size and form. In grave Y5 a skeleton belonging to single person was found. It was lying in hocker position and its head was placed on a little flat limestone. The grave Y4 was found seriously damaged due to agricultural activities. The graves Y6; Y8 and Y9 also did not yield any finds [Özsait 2006:18]. Manmade destruction was observed along with the destruction caused by the nature inside the graves that were unearthed during the researches in 2005. All the pithos graves which were placed in east-west direction; were only revealed fractured or broken to pieces. Out of ten pithos graves; one's mouth was shut by another pithos; the other eight were shut with flat stones and surrounded by gathered stones for their safety [Özsait 2007:614]. Although some of the worked graves did not reveal any find (S11; Y1; Y3) some were found untouched (Y2); and some were destructed due to agricultural activities (Y4; Y5; Y7). A large pithos with an extraverted rim; short neck; flat bottom; a large body which narrows from up to bottom was found which was protected by pithos fragments at the upper half. A small cylindrical body pithos was found at the south of the pithos; with its shoulder at the same direction; and placed underneath the protection mass; bearing handles; and vertically made three adjacent nipples. The dead body was lied in Hocker position on its right. Besides that it was the only pithos revealed up to now; it is the only burial present which is this big [Özsait 2007:614-615]. |
| Remains: |
| Interpretation and Dating: T. Özgüç compares the vessels claimed to be unearthed from Göndürle with the ones recovered from the EBA settlements of Western Anatolia and Central Anatolia when examining the prehistoric periods of the Isparta Plain. It can be claimed that the finds came from the same cemetery and the cemetery was plundered since 1940's. The researchers of the Museum of Isparta evaluated the cemetery between 2800 - 2300 BC depending on the grave goods recovered. The excavations of M. Özsait which lasted 7 years yielded pithos graves dating between the Late EBA II to the Early EBA III and Early MBA in the cemetery. The graves of EBA III and Early MBA are in small quantities. The disc-headed idols were also found at the settlements of Troy III; Kusura; Beycesultan; Karatas Semayük and Küllüoba. This type of idols were made throughout the Mediterranean; Western Anatolia and Lakes regions staring with the Early EBA II. The pottery specific to the Isparta Plain is accompanied by Kusura-Yortan type of vessels. The grave pithoi encountered during the excavations until 2001 were dated to a wide period of time between EBA II and MBA. As the analysis on skeletons continues no information was provided about the age and sex of the burials yet. The trenchs opened in order to verify the limits of the cemetery revealed that it extended in the east-west direction on the foothill. M. Özsait proposed an excavation to be performed in the mound in order to match the stratification of the mound with the cemetery finds. The stones that were placed as separators between the pithos graves Y8 and Y9; which were arranged in back-to-back order as revealed during the 2005 excavations; show that those were burried in concomitant order [Özsait 2007:616]. |
