The field trip to Prehistoric and Chalcolithic Western Turkey 

(April 2001) 

The HART 439 course,Neolithic and Chalcolithic Periods in Anatolia, made a fieldtrip to the surroundings of Iznik. The instructor of this course, Dr. J.J. Roodenberg, has been since 1985 the director of the Ilıpınar excavations. This site is located between Orhangazi and the Iznik Lake. The group could make use of the excavation house for the nights, saving us extra costs for a hotel. On Saturday morning the group left Bilkent and arrived in Gölyaka, the village where the dig house is. After unloading the bus a visit to Iznik, the ancient Nicea, was made. First we visited the museum, where a newly opened exhibition displayed the finds of the Ilıpınar and the Hacıtepe excavations. The material from Ilıpınar ranges from the Late Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age to the Byzantine period, while the finds of Hacıtepe date to the Early Bronze Age. The Museum also houses a collection of ‘Iznik Ware’, glazed ceramic with motifs in a second color, comparable with ‘China’. This Iznik Ware dates to the 13th / 14th century, and has been excavated since the 1980s in the town-center where an area with kilns was found. Finds of the Roman period are also displayed, from Iznik’s Roman theater, which is still under excavation.The garden exhibits Roman and Byzantine sarcophagi and capitals, and Ottoman grave stones.

(photo: B. Claasz Coockson 1992)

A tour was made to the large city gates, the city wall, the Hagia Sophia and the Byzantine tomb outside the town on a hill slope. This tomb has frescos on all its walls. Here we heard of a newly-found Roman tomb in a nearby olive grove. The tomb had been excavated only two weeks earlier and was still in extremely good condition, with two doors, their metal hinges and door locking still in place. The evening was spent in Orhangazi.

The Sunday morning started with a tour of Ilıpınar Höyük, where Dr. Roodenberg gave an explanation about the site and the excavation. A short walk through the fields brought us to Hacıtepe, where, in the newly ploughed soil, many good pieces of Bronze Age ceramic and burned mud-brick material were found.

The writer guided the rest of the day. A first stop was in the mountains between the Iznik Lake and the Yenişehir plain. Here, on a flat hilltop near a crossing of roads, a probably Late Roman control-post was situated. This place is called Burunkale. On the edge of the top is still a bank of collapsed fieldstones, which once formed the ring-wall. In the interior, pieces of ceramic tile and typical Roman pottery, Terra Sigillata, are found.

One side of the hill has the remains of lime kilns and part of the hill has disappeared through quarrying. The date of these kilns is unknown.

The next stop was the site of Menteşe, at the foothills just on the edge of the Yenişehir plain, which was in ancient times a shallow lake with marshy shores. Here Roodenberg’s team had excavated a sondage over 3 seasons from 1995. It is also a Neolithic site that has been disturbed by the road which is cut through the middle of the site.

The next site is the large höyük of Çardak. This is a later settlement and is located in the plain, which must have dried up by that period. Surveys have shown material of Bronze Age date and a large Roman settlement.

The temple-shaped tomb of Gerdek.

(photo: B. Claasz Coockson 1992)

On the south side of the Bursa-Yenişehir road, close to Yenişehir, is a low höyük. Its name is Yenişehir II and it dates to the Neolithic period, with a Bronze Age settlement on top. Here we can observe the destruction caused by ploughing. The höyük is divided between two fields with different owners; the western field lies half a meter lower and shows only Neolithic material, while the higher eastern field has a mixture of Early Bronze Age and Neolithic ceramic and flint.

The day’s last stop was the Bursa Archaeological Museum, hidden in a park surrounded by heavy traffic.

Monday was the day of the return journey. The first stop en route was the Eskişehir Museum, where, alongside the clothes of Atatürk, a nice collection of finds from the Demirçihöyük excavations is on display.

Lunch was eaten in a rebuilt Dakota transport plane in the Open Air Museum of the Turkish Air Force. Here, most of the planes formerly used by this air force are on display. A Phantom photo-reconnaissance plane stands in the museum, while its Phantom Bomber Brothers still roar in the sky above the museum.

The afternoon brought us to sites that are not exactly Neolithic, but of interest. The first was Seyitgazi, a religious complex from the Selçuk period, on top of a hill, with a mosque, türbe (tomb), medrese (theo-logical school) etc. In one of the buildings is a small museum with finds from the neighborhood, including a stone axe of probable Neolithic origin, which justified our visit!

Midas Şehri: unfinished rock monument

(photo:B. Claasz Coockson 1992)

The next stop was Kümbet, in the Phrygian Highlands, with a türbe and some remains of earlier date. One of these is a Phrygian rock tomb with lions above the entrance. Rock-cut buildings can be found with nicely decorated chimneys still intact.

A few kilometer further is the temple-shaped tomb of Gerdek. The final stop was Midas. Here, a tour, was made over the whole site, including the small monument of Küçük Yazılı Kaya. The last stop: Bilkent.