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©The Archaeological Settlements of Turkey - TAY Project
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Çadir 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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1000 m |
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Region:
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Central Anatolia |
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Province:
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Yozgat |
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District:
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Sorgun |
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Village:
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Peyniryemez |
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Investigation Method:
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Excavation |
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Period:
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| Location: The site lies in Peyniryemez Village; 13 km northwest of Alisar Höyük; in Yozgat. |
| Geography and Environment: The mound is located on a limestone reef; north of Egri Özü Valley extending from east to west. A stream flows south and west of the mound. It is 32 m high above the level of the plain and measures 240x185 m. The site has been moved towards northeast in time and has a lower terrace; extending 200 m in this area. It is reported that the region was much more watery when there was life at Çadir Höyük [Gorny et al. 1999:167]. Illicit digging pits are observed on top of the mound in last years. |
| History: |
| Research and Excavation: First excavations at Çadir Höyük were launched by H. von Osten and Erich Schmidt in between the years 1927 and 1932 with Oriental Institute at Chicago University as their sponsor. In 1993, during the Alisar Survey Project, survey team documented that the settlement was to be submerged by Gelingüllü Dam so they decided for a small scale excavation in 1994. After a short break, the site was excavated again in 1998 and excavations were carried out until 2009 under the directory of R.L. Gorny from the University of Chicago. In 2012, Gregory McMahon from the University of New Hamsphire the and his team started excavating at the site. |
| Stratigraphy: The latest layers of Çadir Höyük belong to Roman-Byzantine Period; there is also Late Iron Age and 2nd millennium BC finds obtained too. Layers II and I which are dated to the end of Late Chalcolithic and layer III dated to Middle Chalcolithic take place at the top hill trenches and at the southern step-trench; immediately under the layers of later periods [Gorny et al. 1999:152]. The preliminary chronology of the mound is as follows: X: Islamic IXa: Byzantine IXc: Byzantine IXd: Byzantine VI: Late Iron Age Va: Middle Iron Age Vb: Early Iron/Late Bronze IVa: Late Bronze II IVb: Late Bronze I IIIa: Middle Bronze IIIb: Middle Bronze II IIa: Early Bronze IIb: Early Bronze IIc: Trans. EB/LC Ia1: Late Chalcolithic Ia2: Late Chalcolithic Ib1: Late Chalcolithic Ib2: Late Chalcolithic Ib3: Late Chalcolithic Ic: Early Chalcolithic Id: Early Chalcolithic Ie: Early Chalcolithic If: Neolithic [Gorny et al. 2006]. |
| Small Finds: Architecture: Trenches were excavated on the east; south and north slopes; on the summit and on a terrace. The Late Chalcolithic and EB I deposits produced more evidence of small houses [cat.une.edu.au/page/cadir%20hoyuk 2006]. In 2013, a group of complex buildings of EBA I dated to 3000 BC were exposed in the trenches (USS 9, USS 10) in the upper sections of the southern slope of the mound. It is suggested that the mudbrick wall with a thickness of 2.5 m (not fully excavated yet) encircles the EBA settlement on top of the mound. A series of large oven and storage units adjacent to the south outer face of this wall were exposed. The storages units were separated from each other with mudbrick walls. It is also possible to interpret these units as small rooms. Their floors are plastered. Although the function of these units is not clarified yet, it is believed that they were used for industrial purposes rather than domestic needs of the dwellings of the settlement. One of the storage units contains a child burial. This burial possibly was placed when these units lost their function. The studies carried out in this area show that EBA settlement of Çadir Höyük was a complex settlement. In previous seasons, weakly built single roomed structures and fire pits related to these structures belonging to this period were exposed in Area LSS4 and LSS5. The recent studies indicate that the lower southern slope was occupied by poor inhabitants who lived outside the wall of EBA town. The upper city was possibly inhabited by a wealthier group [Serifoglu et al. 2015]. Pottery: EB III and EB II sherds were discovered next to a thick fortification wall at the bottom of the step trench in 1994 and similar sherds are a feature of the debris in every later level on the site [Gorny et al. 2006]. In a part of the step trench farther up the hill; building remains were not so clear; but the situation here; including the pottery sherds; suggest a large scale disturbance of earlier materials by building plans undertaken during the later Hittite Period. Pottery sherds collected were predominately Hittite. However; the quantity of Early Bronze III and II pottery sherds (3000-2000 BC) present appears to increase with depth. This suggests that there was a large scale EB III and EB II presence at Çadir Höyük which was followed by a deep disturbance of these levels during the Hittite Empire period [Gorny et al. 2006]. Other: Finds in the upper part of the step trench included pins; spindle whorls; animal bone and shell fragments [Gorny et al. 2006]. |
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