Excavation of the Bozkurt kurgan cemeteiy, 2007: First preliminary report


Özfirat A.

Archaologische Mitteilungen aus Iran und Turan, vol.41, pp.233-247, 2009 (Scopus) identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Review
  • Volume: 41
  • Publication Date: 2009
  • Journal Name: Archaologische Mitteilungen aus Iran und Turan
  • Journal Indexes: Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.233-247
  • Keywords: Asia Minor, Bozkurt/Melecami rock, Bronze to Iron Ages, Eastern Anatolia, Graves/settlement
  • Hatay Mustafa Kemal University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Our campaigns in the region of Aǧri Daǧ (Mount Ararat) Included surveys for the period from the Late Chalcolithic to the Late Iron Age and a new excavation at the Bozkurt kurgan cemetery. The region is located in eastern Anatolia. Excavation of the Bozkurt kurgan cemetery Started in 2007. It is a large cemetery on the western slope of Aǧri Daǧ. No traces of a nearby contemporary settlement were found. The surface material collected dates from the Late Chalcolithic to the Middle Iron Age. Seven kurgans and two graves were excavated. Common features of the kurgans are: mounds formed by piling up unworked small stones and varying in height between 0.80 m and 1.50 m. Their diameter measures between 8-12 m; under the kurgans are stone eist graves. There were no traces of the large slabs that covered the graves. Bozkurt seems to have been the most important Middle Bronze Age site in the region. It compares closely with sites in southern Transcaucasia. The first results add to our knowledge about the relations between the East Anatolian High Plateau, Central Asia and the southern Caucasus.