The Excavation of the Bozkurt Kurgan Cemeteries

Abstract

Excavation of Bozkurt kurgan cemetery has been started in 2007. It is a big cemetery on the western slope of Mt. Ağrı. Our campaigns in the region of Mt. Ağrı also contain survey for the period from the Late Chalcolithic to the Late Iron Age. Material of Bozkurt kurgan cemetery belong to from Late Chalcolithic to Middle Iron Age. 7 kurgan and 2 grave were excavated. Common features of the kurgans are: The hills formed by piling up unworked small stones have a height varying from 0.80 m. to 1.50 m. Their diameter between 8-12 m. Graves which are under kurgan were cist or stone-cist grave, there is no trace about large slabs that covered graves. Bozkurt seems to be the most important site for the Middle Bronze Age in the region. It is compared closely with the sites of Southern Transcaucasia and Iranian Azerbaijan. The first results seem to add to what is known about the relations between Eastern Anatolian High Plateau and Central Asia and Southern Caucasia.