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©The Archaeological Settlements of Turkey - TAY Project
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Sengertepe 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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Ardahan |
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District:
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Çildir |
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Village:
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Akçakale |
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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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| The fortress is situated 1.5 km north of the Akçakale Village, 16 km southeast of the Çildir District in Ardahan. It has an altitude of 2126 m. The Akçakale-Çildir motorway runs over the skirts of the fortress. The southern section overlooking the lake was used in terraces, 5 to 6 terraces built on top of each other. The fortress has a rectangular plan, covering a very large area, almost the entire hill. It measures 250x125 m in dimensions. The defense walls with a substructure of smaller andesite stones and a superstructure of large andesite stones can be easily traced. The fortress overlooks the Akçakale Village, the lake and the island city of Akçakale. To the north of the fortress is also an Urartian irrigation reservoir [Belli 1999]. It appears that the section on which the Sengertepe Fortress rises was separated by an artificial cliff from the rest of the hill to improve the defense. Sherds dating to the Middle and Late Chalcolithic Age, EBA sherds with Karaz decorations, and some Iron Age sherds were found. Adontz, reporting about presence of the Urartians in the region suggests that Ukhimeani may have been located to the north of the Çildir Lake [Adontz 1946]; on the other hand, Grousset identifies the center of Ukhimeani with Akçakale, and the royal city of Maqaltu with Tasköprü [Grousset 1947], which has been also supported by Kirzioglu [Kirzioglu 1953]. However, Köroglu suggests that the Sengertepe Fortress which is right above Akçakale overlooking it is the royal city of Maqaltu of the kingdom so called Iga(ne), which has been localized in this region during the Urartian Period [Köroglu 1999:147, Köroglu 2000:171]. But, Belli who studied the Urartian irrigation canals in the region reports that the fortress was built during the reign of the Urartian King Sarduri II (764-735 BC) when considered together with the Urartian dam located nearby [Belli 1999:267]. |
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