Research

Survey of the prehistoric surroundings of Pergamon

This project aimed to investigate prehistoric sites in the Kaikos Valley. For this approach, a systematic survey program on the prehistory in the outskirts of Pergamon was applied for assessing the inter-regional contacts, cultural and historical comparison with regard on the more extensively studied region of the Troad in the north and the Izmir region in the south.

The valley of Kaikos and its prehistoric sites (source map: German Archaeological Institute Istanbul, excavation Pergamon. Details: M. Börner)

The concept for the archaeological survey at Yeni Yeldeğirmentepe, which started in 2008 in cooperation with PD Dr. Felix Pirson (German Archaeological Institute, Pergamon excavations), was developed from viewing and recording Bronze Age finds from the surrounding area of Pergamon in 2007.

Prior to this project, very little systematic prehistoric research was undertaken in the outskirts of Pergamon. Three short expeditions in the last 100 years formed the entire basis of our knowledge of the prehistory in this region (1908 W. Dörpfeld, 1943 K. Bittel, 1955 J. Driehaus). An integration of the Kaikos Valley in large-scale debates regarding the prehistory in the region has so far been almost impossible due to the state of research. The surveys carried out in 2008 and 2009 at Yeni Yeldeğirmentepe formed the beginning of a systematic survey program on the prehistory in the outskirts of Pergamon.

View at Yeni Yeldeğirmentepe from the south (© ERC Prehistoric Anatolia, Photo: C. Schwall)

First results show that Yeni Yeldeğirmentepe is a late Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age settlement site, which has large potential for further research. Firstly, it provides a concrete possibility to define the micro-region of the Kaikos Valley in the late 4th and 3rd millennium BC, which means the region can be tied to larger-scale research questions. Early Bronze Age Troy remains a key site in the wider region, to which all chronological schemes and further interpretations of western Anatolia are connected. The fact that many aspects are only partially transferable to the central Aegean coast, however, has been demonstrated by H. Erkanal and his team in the region of Izmir and with the excavation results of Çukuriçi Höyük. The Valley of Kaikos, a cultural region directly adjacent to the Troad towards the south, will provide answers to many further research questions.

View into the valley of Gümüş towards the east (© ERC Prehistoric Anatolia, Photo: C. Schwall)

The surveys have been expanded considerably in the campaigns of 2011 and 2012. Other sites were visited in addition to the continuing investigation of Yeni Yeldeğirmentepe. These include Çiftlik, Kazantepe, Teuthrania and Değirmentepe amongst others as well as the first systematic investigation in the neighbouring Gümüş Valley. The sites were visited, measured, mapped and described as required. This also included the application of magnetometry and GPR. Furthermore, palaeogeographic and geological surveys complimented the archaeological investigations to obtain extensive results for the entire micro-region (KozakMountains → ore deposits and raw materials / Kane Peninsula → Karagöl-wetland archive / Gümüş Valley → micro-regional analysis).

Further analysis of the finds are almost finished in order to present an authoritative overview of prehistoric Kaikos Valley from the data obtained. The results will then be used as the basis for an inter-regional, cultural and historical comparison.

Publications

Publikationen

  • B. Horejs, Yeni Yeldeğirmentepe. In: F. Pirson, Pergamon – Bericht über die Arbeiten in der Kampagne 2008, Archäologischer Anzeiger 2009/2, 168–174.
  • B. Horejs, Bronzezeitliche Besiedlungsmuster im Kaikostal. Interpretationen erster Surveyergebnisse im Umland von Pergamon (Türkei). In: B. Horejs, T. Kienlin (Hrsg.), Siedlung und Handwerk. Studien zu sozialen Kontexten in der Bronzezeit. Beiträge zu den Sitzungen der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Bronzezeit auf der Jahrestagung des Nordwestdeutschen Verbandes für Altertumsforschung in Schleswig 2007 und auf dem Deutschen Archäologenkongress in Mannheim 2008, Universitätsforschungen zur Prähistorischen Archäologie 194, Bonn 2010, 47–67.
  • B. Horejs, Yeni Yeldeğirmentepe. In: F. Pirson, Pergamon-Bericht über die Arbeiten in der Kampagne 2009, Archäologischer Anzeiger 2010/2, 164–168.
  • B. Horejs, Neues zur Frühbronzezeit in Westanatolien. In: F. Blakolmer, C. Reinholdt, J. Weilhartner, G. Nightingale (Hrsg.), Österreichische Forschungen zur Ägäischen Bronzezeit 2009, Akten der Tagung am Fachbereich Altertumswissenschaften der Paris-Lodron-Universität Salzburg vom 6. bis 7. März 2009. Wien 2011, 157–171.
  • B. Horejs, Bergama and the Bakırçay Valley in Prehistory. In: E. Önen, M. Mutluer, N. Çetin (Hrsg.), Proceedings of the International Bergama Symposium, 7–9 April 2011. Bergama 2011, 24–36.
  • M. Seeliger, S. Schneider, H. Brückner, B. Schütt, S. Feuser, B. Horejs, M. Zimmermann, F. Pirson, Studying Pergamon’s Environs – Geoarchaeological Research in Elaia and Bakırcay Valley. In: E. Önen, M. Mutluer, N. Çetin (Hrsg.), Proceedings of the International Bergama Symposium, 7–9 April 2011. Bergama 2011, 48–65.
  • B. Horejs, Prähistorische Surveys am Yeni Yeldeğirmentepe und im Umland von Pergamon. In: F. Pirson, Pergamon – Bericht über die Arbeiten in der Kampagne 2010, Archäologischer Anzeiger 2011/2, 146–150.
  • D. Knitter, M. Bergner, B. Horejs, B. Schütt, M. Meyer, Concepts of centrality and models of exchange in prehistoric Western Anatolia. In: W. Bebermeier, R. Hebenstreit, E. Kaiser, J. Krause (Hrsg.), Landscape Archaeology. Proceedings of the International Conference held in Berlin, 6th–8th June, 2012. eTopoi. Journal for Ancient Studies 3, 2012, 361–368.
  • B. Horejs, Der prähistorische Umlandsurvey. In: F. Pirson, Pergamon – Bericht über die Arbeiten der Kampagne 2011, Archäologischer Anzeiger 2012/2, 204–208.
  • D. Knitter, H. Blum, B. Horejs, O. Nakoinz, B. Schütt, M. Meyer, Integrated centrality analysis: A diachronic comparison of selected Western Anatolian locations, Quaternary International 312, Berlin 2013, 45–56.
  • B. Horejs, Der prähistorische Umlandsurvey. In: F. Pirson, Pergamon – Bericht über die Arbeiten in der Kampagne 2012, Archäologischer Anzeiger 2013/2, 109–117.
  • F. Pirson, B. Horejs, 2012 Yılında Pergamon’un Yakın Çevresinde Gerçekleştirilen Yüzey Araştırmaları Raporu, Araştırma Sonuçları Toplantısı 31, 2/2013, 2014, 299–311.
  • B. Horejs, The 2nd millennium BC in the Bakırcay (Kaykos) valley. An overview. In: N. Çınardalı-Karaaslan, A. Aykurt, N. Kolankaya-Bostancı, Y. H. Erbil (Hrsg.), Anadolu Kültürlerine Bir Bakış. Armağan Erkanal’a Armağan, Some Observation on Anatolian Cultures. Compiled in Honor of Armağan Erkanal, Ankara 2014, 257–274.
  • B. Horejs, Pergamon and the Kaikos valley in prehistoric times, In: F. Pirson, A. Scholl (Hrsg.), Pergamon: Anadolu’da Bir Helenistik Dönem Başkenti. Pergamon: A Hellenistic Capital in Anatolia, Istanbul 2014, 106–119.
  • B. Horejs, Der prähistorische Umlandsurvey. In: F. Pirson, Pergamon – Bericht über die Arbeiten in der Kampagne 2013, Archäologischer Anzeiger 2014/2, 2015, 141–146.
  • C. Meyer, H. Zöllner, D. Pilz, B. Horejs, A. Matthaei, LEA MAX. Multi-purpose gradiometer array in the fields of the Kaikos valley (Bergama, Turkey), Archaeologia Polona 53, 2015, 229–232.
  • B. Horejs, B. Weninger, Early Troy and its significance for the Early Bronze Age in Western Anatolia. In: E. Pernicka, S. Ünlüsöy, St. Blum (Hrsg.), Early Bronze Age Troy. Chronology, Cultural Development and Interregional Contacts. Proceedings of an International Conference held at the University of Tübingen, 8th–10th May 2009. Studia Troica Monographien 8, Bonn 2016, 123–145.
  • B. Horejs, B. Milić, P. Pavúk, Das Umland von Pergamon. In: F. Pirson, Pergamon – Bericht über die Arbeiten in der Kampagne 2014, Archäologischer Anzeiger 2015/2, 2016, 89–179.
  • B. Horejs, Ch. Schwall, Der prähistorische Umlandsurvey. In: F. Pirson, Pergamon – Bericht über die Arbeiten in der Kampagne 2015, Archäologischer Anzeiger 2016/2, 2017, 170–172.
  • S. Schneider, M. Schlöffel, Geoarchäologische Nachuntersuchungen im Umfeld von Çiftlik Höyük. In: F. Pirson, Pergamon – Bericht über die Arbeiten in der Kampagne 2015, Archäologischer Anzeiger 2016/2, 2017, 172–173.
  • St. Schneider, M. Schlöffel, Ch. Schwall, B. Horejs, B. Schütt, First stratigraphic evidence and absolute dating of a Bronze Age settlement in the Bakırçay valley in western Turkey, Journal of Archaeological Science, Reports 12, 2017, 316–322.
  • B. Horejs, S. Japp, H. Mommsen, Early Bronze Age Pottery Workshops Around Pergamon. A Model for Pottery Production in the 3rd Millennium BC, , in: E. Alram-Stern – B. Horejs (eds.), Pottery Technologies and Sociocultural Connections Between the Aegean and Anatolia During the 3rd Millennium BC, OREA 10 (Wien 2018) 25–61.
  • P. Pavúk, B. Horejs, Ceramics, Surveys, and Connectivity in Western Anatolia. The Middle and Late Bronze Age Bakırçay/Kaikos Valley Restudied, Ägypten und Levante 28, 2018, 457–486.

 

 

Principal investigator

Cooperations

Grabung Pergamon / DAI Istanbul, Direktor und Grabungsleiter: Felix Pirson

Grabungstechnik

Mario Börner

Lagerstättensurveys

Danilo Wolf

Keramik und Kleinfunde (Neolithikum-Frühbronzezeit)

Keramik des 2. Jahrtausends

Peter Pavúk (Universität Prag)

Silices

  • Maximilian Bergner
  • Bogdana Milić

Reibsteine

Christoph Schwall

Paläogeographie

  • Steffen Schneider
  • Daniel Knitter
  • Jan Krause
  • Marleen Schlöffel
  • Stefanie Briese

Vermessung und Planerstellung

  • Daniel Ambroso
  • Mario Börner
  • Andreas Hoscislawski
  • Christian Kurtze
  • Thomas Urban