Kerkenes Daǧ

Kerkenes, an Iron Age capital located on a low mountaintop in Central Anatolia, was perhaps founded in the late seventh century BC and plausibly identified with the Pteria of Herodotus. Its seven kilometres of strong stone defences, pierced by seven gates, enclose 2.5km2 of urban space. According to Herodotus, the Pterians were enslaved by the Lydian King Croesus before the Battle of Pteria, fought between Cyrus the Great of Persia and the Lydians in about 547BC. Before abandonment the city was deliberately burnt and its defences comprehensively destroyed. Work in 2004 produced pieces of a unique sandstone statue as well as further fragments of Old Phrygian inscription from a truly monumental entrance to the "Palace Complex".

GIS Transportation studies are revealing how people and goods moved around within the city, simulating traffic volumes calibrated by excavation and laboratory tests of street surfaces. Development of the Kerkenes Eco-Center included construction of a strawbale building and environmental studies.

Source: Kerkenes Haberler vol 7 2004

Director Geoff Summers, Monumental Gale excavations July 2005

Current Archaeology in Turkey: Kerkenes Dağ

The Kerkenes Webpage

Project Director: Geoff Summers