Case Study
Kerkenes Dag
Iron Age Settlement, Turkey
See also: The Middle East Technical University's
Kerkenes
Homepage
Kerkenes Dag is a fortified settlement located in ancient
Anatolia (modern day Turkey). The site has been identified with
Pteria, a capital city of the Median empire mentioned in Herodotus'
Histories. If this identification is correct, the city represents
a foreign imperial foundation imposed on a local, ethnically diverse
agricultural society. Founded at around 600 BC, the settlement was
subsequently burnt by Croesus of Lydia in 547, most of the site
was left unoccupied thereafter.
Magnetic field gradient data below represent a very
small portion of this extensive site, Large portions of which were
surveyed over the course of several field seasons by Dr. Lewis Somers
of Archaeo-Physics. The geophysical survey was part of an ongoing
multi-disciplinary research program. The Kerkenes Project is documented
by an excellent website: http://www.metu.edu.tr/home/wwwkerk/
