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©The Archaeological Settlements of Turkey - TAY Project
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Kaklik Mevkii |
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For site maps and drawings please click on the picture...  |
For photographs please click on the photo...  |
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Type:
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Flat Settlement and Cemetery |
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Altitude:
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1135 m |
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Region:
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Aegean |
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Province:
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Afyonkarahisar |
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District:
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Merkez |
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Village:
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Burhaniye |
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Investigation Method:
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Excavation |
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Period:
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EBA II EBA III |
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| Location: It lies 1.2 km southwest of the Burhaniye (Kocakir) Village; north-northeast of the Afyonkarahisar Province [Topbas et al. 1998:fig.1]. |
| Geography and Environment: It is a flat settlement located in the area known as Kaklik Mevkii; in the middle of flat cultivated lands. |
| History: |
| Research and Excavation: A salvage excavation was carried out by the Museum of Afyonkarahisar under A. Topbas in 1983 and 1984. |
| Stratigraphy: It is a flat settlement with two building levels while excavations carried out in the cemetery yielded at least two phases as early and late periods. Excavation exposed that pithos and cist graves recovered in the trenches of Area B belong to an earlier period than the others [Topbas et al. 1998:33]. Pseudo tombs and simple burials are defined as later period burials. Excavation team tends to date the earlier burials to EBA II whereas later burials to EBA III. |
| Small Finds: Architecture: Excavations yielded remains of four-cornered and square planned buildings with stone foundations and mudbrick walls belonging to the Late Chalcolithic Age-EBA I. The walls were painted after a smooth coating. The floors of the dwellings are of compressed clay soil and white-washed. Ceilings are suggested to be flat. There are round ovens and four-cornered kilns inside the buildings. Leader of the excavation team reports the presence of small storage constructions which were continuously renewed. No exact information was gathered about the settlement plan due to the heavy destruction. The buildings are observed to be detached having open courtyards between them. Human Remains: It was documented that the graves belonging to EBA II and III were dug into the transition period settlement from the Late Chalcolithic Age to EBA of Kaklik Mevkii. Excavation Areas A and B yielded plenty of burials whereas only three were uncovered in Area C.[Topbas et al. 1998:33]. The cemetery can be introduced in two phases as early and late depending on the dating suggested by the researchers: Early Phase/EBA II Graves: All the graves uncovered in Area C (No. 32-35) are contemporary with the ones in Area B and suggested to belong to the early period. A few pithos graves in Area A are also dated to early periods; and they are usually uncovered in 1-1.2 m depths in which they were generally placed into the pits facing the east; and being capped by one or two flat stones after the bodies were buried while the cist graves are placed side by side to constitute a four-cornered location; vertical to big flat stones inside the grave pit. They were particularly placed in such a position that the longer sides of the cist graves are always in the east-west direction. They have an orderly technique of burials. Grave Goods of EBA II: Small spouted pitchers; white painting decorated cups; three footed jugs; idols and animal figurines were left as grave goods; however not all of them include such goods. Metallic finds are rare. Late Period/EBA III Graves: As four pseudo tombs and simple pit burials house grave goods of EBA III; they are dated to that period. Those graves so called pseudo are four-cornered walled structures built by attaching small quarry stones with loam mortar. They are not deep; and their direction is west-east just like the cist graves. They are suggested to be covered by a wooden ceiling. In simple pit graves; the bodies are buried in hocker position into the pits. Grave Goods of EBA III: Similar goods are uncovered like two handled bowl; a big spouted pitcher and violin-shaped marble idols. Absence of any finds in some graves exposes that there are differences in burial customs. Some of the simple graves include very precious goods. Various finds were uncovered during illicit diggings; but it is unknown which grave they came from [Topbas et al. 1998:fig.59]. Excavations also yielded spread finds in the cemetery area which might belong to the graves disturbed by the villagers [Topbas et al. 1998:77; draw.169-175]. Metallic finds are very rare in the EBA III graves. A razorblade recovered from grave no. 8 is an interesting find of that period. |
| Remains: |
| Interpretation and Dating: Kaklik Mevkii bears significant information as to illuminate the EBA period of Afyonkarahisar region with its settlement revealing the transition to EBA as well as its graves dated to EBA II and III. Both EBA II and III graves are located far from the settlement; but in groups close to each other. Although they are of different types; presence of finds similar to each other in value exposes that type of the grave has no relation with the wealth of the family of the dead person. Finds scattered through the cemetery area indicate that the site was illicitly dug from time to time and the area was even used for burials in recent times. Cemetery of Kaklik Mevkii is identified as contemporary with Karaoglan Mevkii by the excavation team; particularly graves 6 and 7 have identical finds while grave 8 is somewhat related with the Layer V of Karatas-Semayük and the settlement of Demircihöyük. Likes of the disc-faced idol and marble idol recovered from grave 1 [Topbas 1998:fig.110-109] were uncovered in the EBA settlement of Demircihöyük. Identical of a jug decorated with white painting left as a grave good in grave 1 was also found at Karatas Semayük; having similar patterns. |
