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Fieldtrip to Gâvurkalesi and
Pessinus
(2 November 2002)
Early this morning a bus left Bilkent University and first
headed south towards Gâvurkalesi and afterwards west to Pessinus.
The participants of this trip were the 2002 First-year students
of the HART 111 course:
‘Introduction to Archaeology’.
It was a fine day in the fall, sunny and cool and the extra
clothing that most people brought was not necessary. They had
taken to heart the warning on the trip poster:
“Whether the weather be hot,
Or whether the weather be not,
Whatever the weather we’ll weather the weather-
Whether we like it or not!”
The bus followed the road from Gölbaþý to Haymana. Just before
the latter is a narrow turn off, signed by a board saying ‘Dereköy’.
Here the bus turned right, passed the village and after a few
kilometers in a turning of the road stopped at a valley running
towards a hill, the location of:
Fortification wall on top of
the hill.
rock relief
GÂVURKALESÝ
During the walk towards the hill, their instructor Dr.
Julian Bennett asked his students: “If you know nothing of the
place, how can you suspect that there might be an ancient site
here?” The answer lies in the name of the site, which means ‘the
castle of the infidels’, clearly referring to a pre-Muslim
occupation. Also the location in this bare surrounding could
give some indication. A small stream provides water throughout
the year, one of the scarce and basic elements for settlement in
the harsh conditions of Central Anatolia. The stream is today
marked by lines of poplar trees at the bottom of the valley.
Walking up to the foot of the hill, the first pottery sherds can
be found. While showing these finds, Bennett cautions that such
finds must be left where they were found for 2 reasons: if a
future researcher wants to do a survey project, it might be
confusing if finds
were thrown away in different spots, giving this way a new
(false) distribution pattern. The second reason is that it is
forbidden to survey, pick up and take away finds without a
permit from the Turkish Antiquities Service.
Halfway up the
hill slope a wall can be seen. The construction technique and
the size and shape of the stones are compared with a wall
fragment higher up. These are clearly different. Also the
presence or absence of a type of moss on the stones might be a
indicator of relative age and exposure to the elements. The wall
on the slope has towers at regular spaced intervals and forms a
Phrygian curtain wall around the higher half of the hill. On top
of the hill is a large flattened rock face on which two large
carved human figures can be seen. Both men have pointed hats and
shoes with curled-up toes. Both carry swords in their
belts. They walk towards
The
Hittite burial chamber
the left. These two are Hittite Gods walking
towards a less visible seated figure. This is a goddess, located
slightly higher on the rock, and thus damaged by erosion.
Next to these reliefs is the corner of a standing building and
here the destructive effects of illegal excavation can be seen.
The wall, built of large stones with a fill of smaller rubble,
has been attacked in the search for imaginary hidden gold. The
lower stones were removed and the fill of the wall rolled down
the slope, leaving behind an unstable and thus dangerous
construction.
A visit to the Hittite burial room on top of the hill shows its
massive construction. Here it is explained to the students that
for whenever one cannot find a good explanation, archaeologists
will probably say that it is ‘religious or ceremonial’!
Down on the other side of the hill are some excavation
Interior of the burial chamber
trenches left unprotected and un-refilled by
a recent project. Here the devastating effects of erosion on the
trenches’ surroundings can be seen. On the way back to the bus a
millstone was found that did not belonged to the Hittite or the
Phrygian period. Bennett warned the students that, although the
two main periods here are Hittite and Phrygian, there always
could have been occupation in other, earlier or older periods,
with less clear material evidence.
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PESSINUS
The site of ancient Pessinus lies now under the
village of Balhisar. This village can be reached from
Sivrihisar, and is circa 15 kilometer to the southeast. It has
been under excavation for many years by a Belgian team from
Ghent University under the direction of J. Devreker.
The site is well-known for its temple. Across the ancient place
runs a river with stone lined banks, which have the shape of
stairways. Throughout the village are remains of classical
buildings: large blocks of stone decorated or shaped for a
specific function. Some are lying scattered in the village,
others are reused in its modern buildings. Modern is relative,
most houses are quite old- fashioned, made of a wooden framework
filled with mud brick. Roofs are made of layers of reed covered
with mud plaster.
Bennett first asked what kind of evidence there is here for a
site in the classical period? This question is not too difficult:
at the entrance to the village
is located a cemetery whose grave markers are
ancient column fragments.
The group visited the site of the temple. Here large stone walls
can be seen in what is an unusable setting. Next to the walls of
the cella are square blocks in a neat row suggesting square
columns, but this is not the case. All the walls exposed here
are subsurface foundations, and for the people of that time, not
visible.
From the front of the temple stairs lead down into the agora, of
which a corner has recently been excavated. It shows the
stylobate for the portico and some steps leading down from the
portico to the ground level of the agora. Also visible are later
additions like sewers and water canals. In the same area are
stone fragments decorated with Christian crosses, indicating a
continuation of the town into the Byzantine period.
The
stone lined banks of the river
The stairway from the temple was modified at
some point to serve as seats, rounded additions were made and a
small theater or Odeon-like building was created.
In the slope of a hill far behind the temple and village is
visible a semi-circular depression. At the bottom are lying some
large stone fragments. This is the real site of a large theater.
It was oriented, as Bennett indicated, so that the spectators
wouldn’t get the sun in their face while watching a play.
The rest of the ancient site is buried under thick layers of
soil and overbuilt by the village.
The only place where antiquities can be found is in the Pessinus
‘museum’, which is in fact the garden of the Belgian excavation
house. Here an display of objects and mostly tombstones can be
seen. Bennett’s question here was how can we tell what the
ancient population’s economy was. The answer is hidden in the
decoration of the tomb- stones; some of these have ornaments in
the shape of grape motifs and depictions of specialized tools
for the cutting of grapes. Also the museum garden has a few
presses for grapes or olives. But since the area lies too high
and it is too cold for olives, these tools were most probably
used for wine production.
The
stylobate of the portico in the agora and additional sewers
Other tombstones have spindle whorls and wool
combs indicating that the economy relied on herding and weaving.
Explanation by Julian Bennett in the theater
The
group is examining the foundations of the temple
Outside the modern village is a large hill on
which the remains of a Byzantine fortress, locally called the
‘Balhisar’ or honey-castle, can be seen. The walls are badly
preserved, probably because they were constructed badly, and in
a hurry, under the threat of the advancing Arabs. Its walls were
built of stones taken from other buildings. No stones were
quarried for this construction, so material of all shapes and
sizes is used. This makes it difficult to keep a coherent
building quality and strength of walls.
Excavation trenches inside the fortress reached to a level where
they uncovered Roman tombs from a cemetery outside the
settlement of that period.
We leave the settlement too while the sun sets behind the
Balhisar.
Text and photos:
B. Claasz Coockson
Newsletter No. 2
- 2003, Pg. 25
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