Sinop Province in the Second Millennium B.C. (In the Light of New Archaeological Evidence)

Abstract

During the 1980s Archaeological research began to be carried out in Sinop Province. Until that time, it was an unexplored part of Anatolia (terra incognita) but since research efforts began our knowledge of the 2nd Millennium BC in Sinop Province has increased. M.A. Işın and İ. Tatlıcan conducted one of the most effective surveys in this province. In addition to the surveys, I was invited to the Boyabat-Kovuklukaya rescue excavation led by Musa Özcan, the current director of Sinop Museum. I was given responsibility for Trench 5 where we found a building with a substructure built from flat stones. This architectural tradition, along with the pottery and the small finds, provided us with new and important data about the 2nd Millennium BC in the Sinop Region. In Sinop city centre, a spearhead anda pin were found during an excavation at the foundation of the Kız Öğretmen Okulu. These two objects, which were dated to the Middle Bronze Age by Ö. Bilgi, are very important finds because they indicate a possible 2nd Millennium BC settlement or a cemetery in Sinop city centre. Another object, also dated to the Middle Bronze Age by Ö. Bilgi, is a spearhead found at Lala Village. During surveys carried out under the directorship of F.J. Hiebert, some Middle Bronze Age potsherds were found at Nohutluk-Güllüavlu (Hacıoğlu). All these finds indicate that there were a large number of settlements and cemeteries in Sinop Province and the surrounding region during the Assyrian Trading Colonies Period. In spite of research that would suggest otherwise, no Old Hittite or Hittite Empire objects were found in any of the surveys and excavations conducted in Sinop Province but two lugged axes found in the villages of Bülbül and Dibekli, have been dated to the Late Bronze Age (Hittite Empire Period) by Ö. Bilgi.