Proceedings 18 th International Symposium CIPA 2001
Potsdam (Germany), September 18 - 21, 2001
THE SURVEY AND DOCUMENTATION OF THE CITY WALLS AND CAPPADOCIA GATE
OF THE IRON AGE SETTLEMENT ON KERKENES DAG IN CENTRAL ANATOLIA
Niltifer Baturayoglu
Res. Asst., Department of Restoration, Faculty of Architecture, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey: niluferb@superonline.com
KEY WORDS: Archaeological Survey, Architectural Survey, Central Anatolia, Iron Age, City Walls, Gate Structures
ABSTRACT
The Iron Age settlement of Kerkenes Dag located in central Anatolia is a large ancient city surrounded by a massive defensive
system. This paper focuses on the documentation of these walls and one of its gates, which are partially visible above the ground
today. Throughout several seasons a combination of various traditional and digital methods have been used to carry out this task that
is still underway in combination with the partial clearance of the remains. The results are bringing out the characteristics of a
defensive architecture without many parallels in Anatolia.
1. INTRODUCTION
Kerkenes Dag, the site of the largest known pre-Hellenistic settlement on the Anatolian Plateau, is a low granitic mountain with an
altitude of c. 1400m above sea level located on the northern edge of the Cappadocian plain in central Turkey (Figs, la and lb in
Baturayoglu et al. also in this volume). This city was most probably Herodotus’ Pteria, founded by the Medes around 600 B.C.,
totally burnt by Croesus, the Lydian king of Sardis in 547 B.C. and thereafter abandoned (Summers 1997; Summers 2000). A strong
defensive system, c. 7km in length and with seven gates and many towers and buttresses encloses a densely built up urban area of
2.5km 1 2 . The city appears to be a center at an imperial scale, laid out and built at a single period and totally destroyed and abandoned
within a few generations of its foundation.
This ancient settlement’s size and visible surface remains
including the impressive defensive system has drawn the
attention of various scholars throughout the last century. Of
these, it was H. H. von der Osten and F. H. Blackburn who
produced the first map of the defenses in 1927 (von der
Osten 1928) (Fig. 1). At present, a more comprehensive
project initiated by Geoffrey and Françoise Summers in
1993 under the auspices of the British Institute of
Archaeology at Ankara (Summers and Summers 1998) and
that is devoted to the research, documentation and
evaluation of this Iron Age settlement is underway with the
help of a multi-disciplinary international team 1 . This paper
focuses on the survey and documentation of the city walls
and one of its gates 2 .
2. DESCRIPTIONS
2.1 The Wall
The defensive circuit is of a single build and formed of the
following elements: a dry stone masonry wall with
portruding towers and buttresses clad in a stone glacis on
the outside (Figs. 2-6, Fig. lb in Baturayoglu et al.), topped
by a stone superstructure and perforated with seven gates,
which also appear to be part of the original plan. There are
no outworks or internal walls. The whole system was laid
out to make efficient use of the existing topography, the
walls following the mountain ridge with the individually
planned gates positioned at strategic points. The towers and
buttresses are not located at regular intervals but rather at
weaker sections along the wall.
Figure 1: Plan of Kerkenes Dag (von der Osten and
Blackburn, 1927)
1 Information on the Kerkenes Project with many images and a full bibliography may be found on the web site at:
http:\\www.metu.edu.tr\home\wwwkerk.
2 The author would like to acknowledge the effort of many participants, who have taken part in the survey and documentation of the
city walls and its gates through the past seasons. The clearance of the gate through the 1999 and 2000 seasons was conducted with
the participation of David Stronach and his team. Ômür Harmansah has greatly contributed to the research on the city gates including
the documentation of the southwestern section of Cappadocia Gate.
