Kayalıdere
Coordinates: 39 ° 9 ′ 49 " N , 41 ° 37 ′ 47" E
Kayalıdere is a Urartean fortress in the Turkish province of Mus , Varto district, near the modern village of Kayalıdere, about 15 km from Varto .
location
The fortress is located on the right bank of the Murat (the Assyrian Arsania) not far from a ford. It overlooks the road from Mus to Bulanık , Malazgirt and Patnos , which joins the road between Van and Ağrı (Karaköse). To the north there is a road to Hınıs and Erzurum . The site controls access to the fertile plains of Bulanık and Malazgirt.
The area has harsh winters, usually with snow for four months a year. Summers are short. Today mainly cattle breeding and maize are grown here.
Digs
The site was discovered in 1964 as part of a survey by the British Archaeological Institute in Ankara . The only excavation to date was carried out in 1965 under the direction of Seton Lloyd ; Charles Burney was the deputy excavation director .
investment
The foundations of the fortress are largely made of basalt, the rising part was made of adobe bricks. The fortress is 300 × 180 m in size. Masonry was visible on the surface even before the excavation. The complex consists of an upper and a lower fortress as well as a lower town, which was also surrounded by a wall. It had a massive gate tower. Clay water pipes presumably served to drain the system. At the highest point of the upper fortress, on a steep rocky eruption, there was a square tower temple ( susi ) with a side length of 12.5 m. The foundation walls consist of very carefully hewn large blocks and were preserved up to a height of 2.6 m. The tower had an adobe superstructure that was not preserved in situ . Some of the remains are bricked up. The walls are very thick, so the cella has a footprint of only 5 × 5 m. The entrance was 2 m wide. In the upper fortress there were also storehouses with numerous pithoi . The so-called Pithos room, probably a cellar, was 4.6-5 m wide and contained the remains of 25 red-polished storage jugs in three rows, which had been torn in situ. Many had pictograms on their shoulders. Some rooms also contained stoves and grinding stones, so they were probably inhabited. Many of the rooms had round stone column bases on which there were probably wooden columns.
The upper fortress was destroyed by a huge fire. There are some traces of simple buildings in the rubble, so the fortress was either not completely abandoned or later settled again.
Finds
From the area around the temple come, among other things, a cast bronze lion approx. 10 cm in length and parts of an ornate bronze belt showing scenes of a lion hunt. A three-winged bronze arrowhead suggests Burney that the fortress was destroyed by the Cimmerians . The characteristic red polished Toprakkale pottery was also found in some of the storage rooms .
Groups of objects, including quivers made of sheet bronze, kettles, decorative nails, perhaps from the temple, and shields were found in the upper layers of rubble, Burney attributes them to looters. A hoard (A) consisted entirely of iron, including shackles , hatchets and sickles. Hort C lay in the humus above the rubble and consisted mainly of iron furniture fittings and feet as well as remains of bronze tripods. An undecorated bronze shield 62 cm in diameter was partially corroded.
Burials
In the upper citadel there were also some multi-chambered rock chamber tombs. They had been robbed, but still contained furniture, iron arrowheads and a Stronach I3 fibula.
literature
- CA Burney, A first season of excavations at the Urartian citadel of Kayalıdere. Anatolian Studies 16, 1966, 55-111.
- DB Stronach, The development of the fibula in the Near East. Iraq 21, 1959, 180-206.