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©The Archaeological Settlements of Turkey - TAY Project
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Masat Höyük |
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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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Mound |
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Altitude:
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950 m |
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Region:
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Black Sea |
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Province:
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Tokat |
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District:
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Zile |
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Village:
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Yalinyazi |
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Investigation Method:
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Excavation |
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Period:
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EBA I EBA II EBA III |
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| Location: It lies 1500 m west of the Masat Village (Yalinyazi); 20 km south-southwest of the Zile District; southwest of Tokat Province. |
| Geography and Environment: Streams originating from the village the mound were named after; located north of the mound in the fertile land of the Masat Plain spill to the Çekerek River. The inhabitants of this settlement were probably supplying their water from these resources. At present; there is no fresh water spring around. The mound was formed on marble-like limestone blocks. It was probably chosen as a mainland because of the elevation of this rocky ground. It is an oval shaped mound; 28.8 m high above the plain level; 450 m long in the east-west direction and 225 m long in the north-south direction. It is classified among the biggest mounds of Central Anatolia. Virgin soil was reached at 5.7 m depth during the first excavations [Akurgal 1946:220]. |
| History: |
| Research and Excavation: A tablet from the Hittite Period was published in 1943 by RenownThe first excavation was carried out in 1945 by a committee comprising T. and N. Özgüç and Y. Boysal under E. Akurgal; aiming to find out the archives of the tablet recovered. This inscription revealed that the city was called Tapigga in the second millennium BC. The excavation was continued after a long period of time between 1973 and 1980 under T. Özgüç; aiming largely to illuminate the period of Hittites. It takes place in the registered archaeological sites list prepared by Ministry of Culture and Tourism. |
| Stratigraphy: The excavation revealed that the site had been inhabited from the EBA to the Iron Age. Moreover; presence of a Late Chalcolithic Age/EBA I settlement can also be accepted. It is reported that the first level was dated to the Iron Age; second and third levels to the Hittite Period; and following levels to the EBA [Özgüç 1978:3]. The EBA levels were largely found under the Hittite palace. Also uncovered is the latest building level of EBA in the northwestern part of the mound which became very shallow due to the long-lasting erosion and absence of an Iron Age settlement on the slopes. First excavation reports indicate that the EBA settlement has two layers [Akurgal 1946:220]. It is noted that the latest level of EBA underwent a massive fire. Intramural graves were uncovered (See:Human Remains). |
| Small Finds: Architecture: An EBA III building; consisting of four-cornered and quadrangular rooms with mudbrick walls rising on foundations made of untreated big limestone blocks and small stones; were uncovered in a very small area [Emre 1979:plan 1-2]. Mudbrick walls are plastered in a thick layer. Some of the rooms measure 3x3.5 m. A trench opened in the middle portion of the western half of the mound yielded remains of a building on the bedrock very near the surface. Mudbricks walls are coated with earth while the floor is of clay. Bases for ovens and earth ovens were recovered from the rooms. Pottery: EBA III yielded sherds of handmade and burnished ware with a sand and straw tempered paste; washed usually in red. Rarely found are wares washed in brown; gray and yellow [Emre 1979:5]. Variety of cups is limited. Forms of cups; mugs; bowls; spouted pitchers; teapots; double handled cups; lids; vases and pithoi are seen. Paste is coarser in big vessels whereas it is elaborate in fine ware. Vessels decorated with notch; largely seen at Alacahöyük and Dündartepe; are very rare. Some of the burnished pots; washed exteriorly in black and interiorly in red have white painted decorations. Parallel lines; rhombs and zigzag patterns are popular. A distinctive group of ware was recovered right on the bedrock. Burnished and exteriorly washed in black; interiorly in gray; exteriorly and interiorly in brown; exteriorly in brown and interiorly black; shoulders of the bowls and fruit-stands are carinated. It is dated earlier than the other group mentioned hereinabove; and identified as EBA I by K. Emre. A gray washed; deep incision and dot decorated sherd and a brown washed; large groove decorated sherd; recovered in smaller quantities and likes only seen at the Late Chalcolithic Age settlements of Büyük Güllücek and Alacahöyük; probably indicate the presence of a Late Chalcolithic Age settlement which was not found during the excavation. Clay: All EBA levels yielded terracotta spindle whorls; loomweights; brushes; figurines; cylindrical objects. Bone/Antler: Hammers in deer horn; seen in the other EBA settlements; were recovered. Also found are rare finds like blades and spearheads. Metal: Very limited numbers of copper/bronze finds were recovered from the graves mentioned hereinbelow. They include pins; earrings; bracelets and necklace beads. No weapons. Human Remains: Four graves; even tough very small; one simple pit and others pithoi uncovered in the northern slope of the mound expose that there is an intramural cemetery. Senyürek studied the seven skeletons found in those graves [Senyürek 1946:231]. Simple pit burial houses one of them interred in hocker position; only a pin being left as a grave good. This pin is; probably; for the shroud. Mouths of the pithos graves lined side by side are oriented toward the east; and they were capped by stones. They are production of a dark brown washed and burnished ware. The burials were again interred in hocker position; their head toward the bottom. Two of them housed only shroud pins. A copper/bronze pin; an earring and a bracelet as well as beads in various materials were left as grave goods into the third pithos where a female skeleton was found. Depending on the grave goods; it can be suggested that it is a female burial. Except two adults; they are all aged fewer than 20 while the other two were reported to die in an age not so much exceeding 20 years [Senyürek 1946:238]. Another pithos was found by K. Emre beneath the courtyard of the Hittite Palace [Yakar 1985a:205]; yielding a pin; a couple of earrings and a bracelet; a rock crystal; wall tiling and bronze beads. |
| Remains: |
| Interpretation and Dating: K. Emre who examined the EBA finds of Masat Höyük; proposes that the mound houses Late Chalcolithic Age-EBA I; EBA II and first and middle phases of EBA III based largely on the analysis of pottery [Emre 1979:11]. Sherds of depas were found at EBA III as it is the case with the other EBA settlements in Central Anatolia. Teapot forms recovered are reported to be the prototypes of the teapots seen during the Assyrian Colony Period and their metallic likes are found at Alacahöyük; Kayapinar and Horoztepe. City of the third millennium BC is indicated to be abandoned by a devastation just like the other settlements in Central Anatolia. It is difficult to verify if Masat; being a very significant city named Tapigga in the second millennium BC; still had the same characteristics in the third millennium BC. Because the EBA levels were destroyed by the upper Hittite and Iron Age buildings; and the excavation was mainly concentrated on the illumination of the city the of second millennium BC. Shortage of rich finds doesn't allow to claim that it was the capital of a principality during the EBA period. Besides; presence of a fortification wall surrounding such an important city was not reported. It can be proposed that it is a small settlement yielded finds recovered same as the local EBA settlements of the Northern Anatolia Region. |
