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 BCE, 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 beginning in 1993. The geophysical survey was part of an ongoing multi-disciplinary research program (see also: Mapping an ancient city: remote sensing at Kerkenes, an Iron Age capital in central Anatolia (Françoise Summers & Geoffrey D. Summers)).
