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©The Archaeological Settlements of Turkey - TAY Project
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Kaman Kalehöyük |
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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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1060 m |
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Region:
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Central Anatolia |
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Province:
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Kirsehir |
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District:
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Kaman |
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Village:
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Çagirkan |
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Investigation Method:
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Excavation |
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Period:
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EBA III |
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| Location: It lies next to the former Ankara-Kayseri motorway; 3 km east-northeast of the Kaman District; northwest of the Kirsehir Province. |
| Geography and Environment: To the eastern and western feet flow small streams running to the north. It is located in a fertile land. Being one of the biggest mounds in the region; it measures 16 m in height and 280 m in diameter. |
| History: |
| Research and Excavation: It is being excavated under the directorship of S. Omura in the name of the Japan Middle Eastern Cultural Center and Japan Archaeological Institute since 1986. The EBA settlement was only reached through the end of the excavation period. |
| Stratigraphy: Excavations yielded 4 layers and several building levels of those layers which are listed as below following the excavation of 2006; Layer I: Ottoman Period dated to 15th-17th century AD Layer II: Iron Age lasted from 12th century BC to the 4th century BC Layer III: Middle and Late Bronze Age lasted from 20th century BC to 12th century BC Layer IV: During the 2006 season 5 building layers belonging to EBA were determined. IVa represents the transition from EBA to MBA. |
| Small Finds: Architecture: 4th building level of Layer IV yielded remains of a structure or structures having small compartments; walled and foundations erected with single lined stones. 5th building level yielded wooden stakes lined adjacent to a poor single lined stone wall. It was determined that the 1st; 2nd and 3rd levels of IVa underwent fire. The 1st level was also destructed by garbage pits. The walls have a thick layer of plaster. In 2013, the wall remains belonging to Level IIIc were removed and a great number of rubbish pits and short wall remains dated to Level IVa were exposed in Trench IV. In the west of the wall in the north-south direction exposed in Trench V and VI, short walls and some pits were found. This area yielded Alishar III pottery dated to the latest phase of EBA. It is believed that these remains belonged to EBA-MBA transition period, Level IVa [Omura 2015]. In 2014, the fire layer discovered in Trench 4-2 in the previous season was removed. Well-preserved architectural remains were found immediately below this layer. Room R448 and its neighbor R326 underwent a heavy fire. The beams fallen from the roof, a round hearth (H356) with a diameter of about 1 m and foot fragments belonging to a mobile hearth were found on the floor. The radiocarbon analyses show that the rooms R326 and R448 are a bit earlier than the building level IVa and dated to the building level IVb, EBA [Omura 2016:383]. Pottery: S. Omura reports the presence of handmade painting decorated pottery industry; typical of Alisar III in the 4th building level of Layer IV as well as the presence of traces proving that the bottom of triangle shaped vessels were made by string-cut. 5th building level of Layer IV yielded both handmade and wheelmade pottery. In 2014, it is found out that the potsherds recovered near the hearth remains (H356) are handmade [Omura 2016:383]. Metal: Presence of bronze materials (?) was reported. Number of those bronze finds decreases through the lower levels. In the 1st layer of IVa was found golden jewelry. The 2014 studies yielded a bronze seal, a hair pin and a needle [Omura 2016:385]. |
| Remains: |
| Interpretation and Dating: Layer IV of Kaman Kalehöyük was; for now; dated by S. Omura depending on the similarity of pottery finds recovered at Kültepe Karum III-IV; lower city 5 of Bogazköy and 9th building level of Bogazköy on the northern slope [Omura 2000:219]; ie. it can be dated to the latest century of the third millennium BC and first century of the second millennium BC. As a typical Central Anatolian mound, Kaman-Kalehöyük gives important data about the period beginning from Neolithic to Ottoman Period [Omura 2009:201]. |
