DIGITAL DOCUMENTATION OF THE CAPPADOCIA GATE AT KERKENES IN YOZGAT, TURKEY

Abstract

The Iron Age city on Kerkenes Dağı, near Şahmuratlı Village in Sorgun, Yozgat, Turkey (Figure 1, 2) is one of the largest settlements of its period in Central Anatolia. It was built as a single foundation c. 620 BCE to the east of the River Halys (Kızılrmak), presumably by a Phrygian ruler, and was destroyed by fire c. 550 BCE, presumably by Croesus of Lydia or Cyrus the Great of Persia during their struggle. The archaeological and architectural evidence points primarily to Phrygian influence with various other Anatolian and Near Eastern cultural connections. The first survey and short excavation campaign at the site in 1926-1928 was carried out by Hans Henning von der Osten and Erich Schmidt of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (von der Osten, 1928, 1929; Schmidt, 1929). This brief field work dated the city as “post-Hittite”, now described as Iron Age, and helped possibly identify it as Pteria, a city mentioned by Herodotus in the Histories (Herodotus, 2009, I.76; Przeworski, 1929). A new campaign began in 1993 under the direction of Geoffrey D. and M. E. Françoise Summers with the support of the British Archaeological Institute at Ankara (BIAA) and Middle East Technical University (METU). This project became an experimental ground for state-of-the-art and non-destructive methods, using a range of new technologies, including aerial remote sensing, geophysical survey and digital photogrammetry. The documentation of the 271 ha urban settlement, including c. 750 urban blocks and surrounded by c. 7 km of walls pierced with seven gates, has been a work in progress, evolving with the development of new techniques and technologies for the last 30 years (Baturayoğlu Yöney et al., 2002; Summers and Summers, 2010; Baturayoğlu Yöney, 2021).