In the course of surface investigations at Gedikli (Karahüyük) [see Map 1], a village in the district of İslâhiye, during the summers of 1958 and 1963, our group[1] engaged in research in the İslâhiye area on behalf of the Turkish Historical Society, the DirectorateGeneral of Antiquities and Museums, and the University of Istanbul, had collected several fragments of a species of pottery reddish-orange in colour, made on a slow-turning wheel and with striations showing traces of burnishing. Since we had found this same type of pottery at Tilmen Hüyük[2] both in “Tomb M-3” and in Levels IIIg-IIIc, and had seen in the Gaziantep Museum numerous specimens of complete pots of the type under discussion which had come from Gedikli, it became inevitable that while working at Tilmen Hüyük during the summer and autumn months of 1964 we should also begin an excava-tion at Gedikli as well. The following represents therefore the first preliminary-report of the excavations undertaken by us at Gedikli (Karahüyük)[3].
A
A SUMMARY LOOK AT THE GEOGRAPHICAL SITUATION AND EXPLORATION HISTORY OF GEDİKLİ (KARAHÜYÜK)
Situated in the western part of the very fertile and in places marshy Plain of Sakçagözü, Gedikli (known also by the name of Karahüyük) is a village attached to the district of İslâhiye in the vilayet of Gaziantep. Located 23 km. from İslâhiye as the crow flies, it is 19 km. to the northeast of Zincirli (Sam’al), about 35 km. to the north of Tilmen Hüyük, and 6 km. to the west of Coba Hüyük [see Map 2, No. 12].
Under the name Karahüyük we encounter it for first time in the archaeological literature on the map of R. Koldewey[4], who had been one of the excavators of Zincirli.
The name “Karahüyük” is also to be seen on the map of John Garstang[5], who had carried out investigations in the Plain of Sakça gözü in 1907 and conducted excavations at the mounds of Coba Hüyük and Songurus Hüyük in 1908. In his first excavation-report, J. Garstang mentioned the fact that “Karahüyük” occupies a place among the other mounds of the Sakçagözü Plain, but that he did not hold this particular mound to be a likely one for any thorough investigation[6].
In 1949 Dr. M. V. Seton-Williams, Dr. J. Waechter, and J. du Plat Taylor, who had made a verificatory sondage at Coba Hüyük, showed some of the mounds in the area under discussion, and among them “Karahüyük”, on the map in their publication, but they did not however make any further specific mention of Karahüyük[7].
In view of the existence in Anatolia of an exceedingly great number of places known by this name “Karahüyük” and in order to prevent any possible confusion, we find it much more reasonable to make use henceforth, both in the present preliminary-report as well as in our future publications, of the alternative name of our mound, namely “Gedikli Hüyük”.
The first thoroughgoing reconnaissance of the site of Gedikli was made by us in the summer of 1958[8]. In our surface-investigation at that time we found it possible to collect at Gedikli Hüyük sherds belonging to a number of diverse periods (Early Bronze, Second Millennium B.C., First Millennium B.C., and Roman). In the course of our visit then we learnt from the villagers that, approximately in the year 1951, as the result of information reported to her, Mrs. Sabahat Göğüş, the Director of the Gaziantep Museum, had come to Gedikli and had taken away to the Gaziantep Museum a group of pots more than ten in number almost all of them intact, after having removed them from what was obviously a tomb chanced upon a sector of the mound on its eastern lower terrace.
On our going to the Gaziantep Museum in 1963, we studied the complete pots which had originated from Gedikli and, upon observing that a greater part of these bore a considerable resemblance to the ceramic wares which had been brought to light from the Early Bronze II and III levels of Tilmen Hüyük, we found it fitting to go once more to Gedikli before beginning the work of the 1963 season on the Tilmen Hüyük excavations. On this trip a small-scale investigation was made in the sector which we had suspected of having been a tomb, and two additional complete pots of the same species were found but, because we did not go down to any great depth, no tomb whatsoever was encountered.
And so, with the aim both of verifying the stratigraphic data obtained from Tilmen Hüyük and of securing complementary materi-als for throwing light on the settlement history of the İslâhiye area, we decided to begin in 1964 an excavation at Gedikli Hüyük.
B
THE 1964 SEASON’S WORK AT GEDİKLİ HÜYÜK
Rising 24 metres above the present level of the Sakçagözü Plain and to a height of 569 metres above sea-level, Gedikli Hüyük [Fig. 1] is located immediately adjacent to the northern edge of Gedikli village. A mound nearly oval in shape, its long axis measures some 240 metres while its shorter axis is some 190 metres in length [Plan 1]. Because the villagers have removed earth on a large scale from both the eastern and western lower terraces of the mound, as well as from its northern slope, for molding into mud-brick, it is self-understood that the architectural strata and other cultural remains, which we consider most probable to have present, have met with considerable damage in these sectors. It was in the course of just such earth-removing activities in the southeastern lower terrace of the mound, in the very sector where our investigations have defibitely established the existence of a necropolis, that a chamber-tomb, from which the pottery now in the Gaziantep Museum was removed, had been accidentally stumbled across. But since we have been unable to obtain unambiguous information about the exact find-spot of this chamber-tomb, it is impossible to say with certainty whether the pottery in question had been removed from one of the three chamber-tombs subsequently uncovered by us, or whether it might actually have been taken from yet another chamber-tomb whose structure will have been completely destroyed prior to the beginning of our investigations.
Sondages were undertaken by us in three different places at Gedikli Hüyük: on the summit of the mound (=Sondages B and BJ, on the northeast slope (= Sondages A and Ai), and on the southeast lower terrace (=Sondage C).
I. On the Summit ( — Sondages B and B1 )
These trial excavations were carried out on the summit of the mound in an area measuring 20x30 metres [sec Plan 1, coordinates III, 7 to III, 10 / D, 5 to D, 8]. Since this sector of the mound has been used from time by the villagers of Gedikli as a children’s cemetery, it was only after several graves about 50 or 60 years old had been removed from the upper level and transferred to the present-day village cemetery that the deeper digging activity was permitted to proceed [Fig. 2]. After there had been removed over the entire area a level of soil two metres in thickness yielding assorted pottery and small finds belonging to late periods, remains of stone foundations showing no definite ground-plan were encountered [Plan 2]. We noted by way of architectural remains a pavement which came to light in the central portion of the trench, made from stones of all sizes and destroyed in places, in addition to the remains of two foundationwalls crossing one another to the east of the pavement, as well as portions of two walls in the southern end of the same trench [Figs. 3 and 4]. Among the finds we wish particularly to mention one coin of the Osmanli Turkish sovereign Mahmud II (1808-1839) minted in the thirtieth year of his reign, some superior-quality fragments of terra sigillata, and a single coin each of the Eastern Roman emperors Constantins II (337-361 A. D.) and Honorius (393-423 A.D.)[9]. Relying on the evidence of these ceramic and numismatic finds, we deem it probable that the aforementioned architectural remains showing no ground-plan belong to either the Late Roman or Byzantine periods.
Because of the fact that the Classical period cultures were seen to have formed a thick covering-layer on the sumit of the mound, and in order to arrive more quickly at a stratigraphical result in this “Summit Sondage”, it was decided to continue the deep digging in an area measuring only 5 X 20 metres on the eastern side of the trench, the name “Sondage B1” being given to this new pit [Plan 3]. At a depth of 4 metres with respect to the top of the mound, stone foundation remains in the same technique were again encountered and were seen to be in disorder in the very same way at this level as well. Here and there fragments of a pavement made from irregular pieces of limestone, foundation-wall remains showing no groundplan, and in the central part of the southwestern end of the trench a door-socket—these consitituted the architectural “documents” of this trench [Fig. 5].
That these remains discovered in Sondage Bj likewise belonged to the Roman period is evident from the associated ceramic types. Although the depth of these “Summit Sondages” had already exceeded four metres, it was seen that, on the one hand, only Osmanli Turkish, Byzantine, and Roman period pottery were still continuing to be turned up, and on the other hand, the “architecture” present con-sisted of nothing more than fragmentary walls showing no ground-plan whatsoever. Moreover, in the Stepped Sondage A (which had been begun concurrently with Sondage B, with the aim of defining the mound’s stratigraphy), these late periods were observed to have been represented in two of the “steps”, likewise in a very disordered con-dition. For this reason, it was decided to discontinue the digging on the summit of the mound.
II. On the northeast slope ( =Sondages A and A1)
With the aim of defining the cultural sequence of the tnound in this sector [see] Plan 1, coordinates III,6 to III,9/D,10 to E,4 stepped sondage—in which a “step” is left at each architectural level, and the dig continued immediately alongside until the next level is reached— was undertaken. From top to bottom the stratigraphic results obtained are as follows: Late periods (Osmanli Turkish, Byzantine, Roman, and Hellenistic) ; Iron Age (=Level I) in two phases; Second Millennium B.C. settlement (=Level II); Early Bronze Age (= Level III) demonstrably in six phases; and Late Chalcolithic Period (?) (= Level IV?). Virgin soil has not yet been reached. [Plan 4 shows the “Step trench” both in respect to position of the levels, and in cross-section.] In the light of small finds and especially of ceramic types, the cultural phases represented in the “steps” are manifestly as follows:
First step : Late Roman and Byzantine
Second step : Roman and Hellenistic
Third step : Iron Age (Level Ia)
Fourth step : Iron Age (Level Ib)
Fifth step : Second Millennium B.C. (Level II)
Sixth step : Early Bronze Age ( Level IIIa )
Seventh step : Early Bronze Age ( Level IIIb )
Eighth step : Early Bronze Age ( Level IIIc )
Ninth step : Early Bronze Age ( Level IIId )
Tenth step : Early Bronze Age ( Level IIIe )
Eleventh step : Early Bronze Age ( Level IIIf )
Let us now briefly describe the architectural evidence and small finds brought to light in the Stepped Sondage A:
Late Periods, as defined by us, are represented by a confused mass of rubble encountered on the upper surface with the first and second steps. Sherds belonging to the Osmanli Turkish, Byzantine, Roman, and Hellenistic periods, and a single coin of the Roman emperor Elagabalus / Heliogabalus (218-222 A. D.), were found.
Level I (= third and fourth steps): Since remains belonging to this cultural period were encountered on two different steps, it is shown as having been in two phases wliich we have designated as Ia and Ib.
In Phase Ia, a foundation wall made from limestone and oriented in a southwest-northeast direction was uncovered.
In Phase Ib likewise, wall remains oriented in the same direction were found. The ceramic finds, both in Ia and Ib, were of a type of pottery konwn generally under the name of “Iron Age.” Of these we give here three examples: in fig. 6 a sherd bearing decoration in dirty brown parallel stripes on a light buff background; figures 7 and 8 show two pottery fragments ornamented with a broad band in a deep-brown paint over the same light buff-coloured background.
We would like also to mention fragments of plates, pots and pithos-jars of a monochrome kitchen-ware type.
Among other small finds are a bronze bracelet found in Ia and a fragment of a bone awl which came to light in Ib.
The fact that the Iron Age is represented at Gedikli Hüyük by two phases is an indication that the Plain of Sakçagözü was the scene of continuous and dense settlement during that period. We consider it possible that la and lb are to be dated to the first quarter of the First Millennium B.C., more specifically to the 9th and 8th centuries.
Level II (=Fifth step): Burnt fragments of mud-brick and a level of scorched earth point in the direction of a conflagration separating this period from that of the subsequent Level Ib. We consider these remains of a great conflagration at the top of Level II and belonging to Level I to have been connected with an invasion operation, perhaps either in association with a tribal migration (the Aramean Ahlamû?) or with the conquests of Tukulti-Ninurta I (1244-1208 B.C.) of Assyria. The existence of the same conflagration also in the analogous levels of Tilmen Hüyük as well as of the excavated mounds in the Amuk Plain tends to prove the correctness of this opinion of ours.
Remains of a foundation in limestone running in a southwest-northeast direction constitute the architectural documentation of Level II. In this level, representing quite a heavy deposit 1.5 metres in thickness, specimens of pottery types belonging to the Second Millennium B.C. were found. In view of this, although it is probable that there must needs have been more than just a single phase in the period covered by Level II, there was nevertheless not encountered, at least not in the sector excavated, any additional architectural sub-level of the same culture.
Of the ceramic types discovered, one is reminiscent of the Early Hittite pottery, two pieces belonging to this particular species having been found. The first of these is a fragment of a glossy red goblet of painstaking workmanship, while the other is a piece from the rim of yet another red goblet.
The second species of pottery belongs to the variety of painted wares known under the name of “Habur type”, some ten pieces of this species having been found. In figures 9 to 11 we see three specimens of this type with reddish-brown ribbon decoration over a yellowish- brown ground. On the other hand, we find in figure 12 a much more painstakingly-produced piece of this class, in which the ground is a yellowish-tan while the banded decorations over it are of a brown colour approaching black; the fact that the pigment is quite lustrous is in itself especially remarkable, for we do not very often encounter in the Habur wares, which were brush-painted, the phenomenon of the pigments showing lustrousness[10].
Besides these there were also brought to light in Level II coarse monochrome daily kitchen pottery (fragments of pithos-jars, pitchers, plates, pots, etc.), a pestle or a quernstone made from a large pebble, and a cylinder-shaped terracotta loom-weight.
In the very lowest level of Level II there was found one sherd of a vessel reddish-orange in colour with a cross-hatched parallel-lined incised decoration [Fig. 13]; complete specimens of pottery of the same species had been brought to light both in the chamber-tombs at Gedikli [see below, pp. 48-51] and in phases IIIg-IIIc at Tilmen Hüyük. Again at the very bottom of this Level II there was encoun-tered one single sherd of the same type as the blackish-grey cremationpots which had come to light in “Sondage C” [sec below, pp. 42-44], but which here had obviously been used to serve everyday needs. We consider however as accidental the appearance here of wares of these types belonging to a much older level (Early Bronze Age) at Gedikli; it is most probable that in the course of the digging of foundations in Level II the rubble of Level III had been disturbed.
It is understood that this Level II of the Step-Sondage A comprises almost in its entirety the Second Millennium B.C. ( ca. 2000-1200).
Level III (=Sixth to eleventh steps): A conflagration layer is also present at the top of this level as well. This is most likely an indication that an invasion took place into the area at the end of the Third Millennium B.C., for we also find in the analogues levels both at Tilmen Hüyük and in the mounds of the Amuk Plain the very same burnt layer pointing to the same invasion. It has been possible to establish the existence of six sub-levels (IIIa, IIIb, IIIc, IIId, IIIe, and IIIf) in the Third Level of our “Step-Sondage”, representing the various phases of the Early Bronze Age and probably extending over the whole of the Third Millennium B.C. We should like here to describe briefly these phases:
Phase IIIa: Architectural remains brought to light consisted of an area of pavement in addition to the remains of a wall oriented in a southwest— northeast direction. Since the wall had been demolished on both sides, its thickness could not be determined but it is clear that it had originally been quite thick.
The ceramic types in this phase were in process of changing, and there were encountered in abundance sherds of the incised-line decorated reddish-orange ware which was found in Levels IIIg-IIIc at Tilmen Hüyük and of which a few specimens had been found in the Early Bronze phase II3 at Tarsus; there also turned up fragments of “fruit-stands” and of campaniform-footed dishes, such as were observed in the aforementioned levels at Tilmen Hüyük. The very same types of pottery, as will be touched upon again below [see pp.48-51], were also found in the chamber-tombs at Gedikli Hüyük, and even in the cremation-burials there as well, thereby providing a basis for the dating of those graves. Because these interesting finds yielded by Phase IIIa had so clearly shown a cultural change, we decided to begin a second trial dig (=Sondage A1) in an area just alongside this Phase IIIa of Step-Sondage A, adjoining it on the north [see Plan 1, coordinates III, 7-8/ D, 10-E, 1], permitting our proceccding to the same depth, with the aim of gaining more detailed information. During the 1964 season it was possible for this new Sondage A1 to be taken down to two levels, which we designate A1: IIIa and A1: IIIb.
Among the architectural remains which brought to light in A1: IIIa [see Plan 5] were foundation-walls, which were seen to be the continuation of those found in Level A1: IIIa of the Step-Sondage A. There were encountered in Sondage A1: IIIa the remains of two walls in addition to a pavement made from small stones, but preserved only here and there [cf. Plan 5 and Fig. 14]. Despite the fact that one side of the wall in the southeastern part of the area was found in a demolished condition, it is clear that it had been close to three metres in thickness; moreover, the fact that the upper surface of this wall had been made level by the use of very small stones, as well as the fact that at its right and at its left scorched fragments of mud-brick were encountered, serve as indications that the superstructure had been constructed with mud-brick. In view of its more than normal thickness, we consider it probable that these wall-remains had belonged to a section of fortification-wall, and consequently that the site at Gedikli Hüyük had been surrounded by a fortification-wall in this Phase IIIa.
Phase IIIb ( = A1: IIIb) : Situated immediately beneath Phase IIIa and separated from the latter by demolition debris, both the architectural and ceramic remains of Phase IIIb arc almost identical with those of Phase IIIa. Especially the thick wall, which we have identified as a fortification-wall, has been preserved in A1: IIIb to a much better degree [sec Plan 6 and Figs. 15-16]. It is moreover clear from this that the fortification-wall of Phase IIIa had been erected directly above the Phase IIIb fortification-wall, taking advantage of the same original underpinning and making use now and then of the old wall itself. The absolute necessity of the site at Gedikli Hüyük’s being fortified in both Phase IIIa and Phase Illb inspires the view that there must needs have been extant in those periods in a neighbouring territory a hostile people threatening the security of the region.
Phase IIIc : The pottery of this phase, which yielded remains of a simple foundation, is identical with that of the previously-discussed two later phases (IIIb and IIIa). Among the finds are various flint implements, of which one fragmentary reaping-hook blade is of special interest. Λ number of specimens of this type of originally quite long flint reaping-hook had been brought to light in Level Hie at Tilmen Hüyük[11].
Phase IIId and Phase IIIe: The simple wall-remains and ceramic types of these phases are almost identical with those of Phase life. The number of flint implements begins to “increase” in these levels. It is worthwhile to dwell a moment on the finding in Phase Hie of a tiny chariot-wheel (diameter 4 cm.) of terracotta. As is well-known, a two-wheeled chariot —together with its driver— with wheels of this very type and approximately even of the same size, was brought to light in “Level H” at Hama in Syria[12]. The acquaintance, already in the middle of the Third Millennium B.C., of the people of Gedikli Hüyük, thus of the Sakçagözü area, with the wheel —the most ancient specimens of which have been come upon in Mesopotamia[13]— and consequently with the chariot, and the use of this vehicle either for religious or for mundane purposes, is an interesting and thoughtprovoking fact.
Phase IIIf (=Eleventh step): The only architectural testimony encountered in this phase were the remains of a simple stone foundation. It was observed that the reddish-orange pottery with inciscd-line decorations continued to be found, but that the quantity of flint implements had increased, and that among these a number of obsidian items were also found. It may be proper to recognize in this sub-level the earliest phase of the Early Bronze Age. Among the pottery fragments encountered in this sub-level IIIf was a single sherd of red- coloured “Khirbet-Kerak” ware. Still another single “Khirbet-Kerak” type fragment had been picked up during this season as a “surface find” on the eastern lower terrace of Gedikli Hüyük.
That some specimens of this ceramic type—which is regularly found in the Chalcolithic Age and later also in the “Copper Age” (in broader terminology, the Early Bronze Age) cultures of Eastern and Central Anadolia, which begins in “Phase G” and continu es in use until “Phase I”in the Amuk Plain(ca. 28th-25th centuries B.C.), although hardly a specimen is encountered at all in either the Konya Plain or Cilicia, but which on the other hand is found regularly in Palestine but only in the second phase of the Early Bronze (ca. 27th-25th centuries B.C.), and well-known under the name “Khirbct-Kerak ware” from the Palestinian site of that name —should have been found at Gedikli Hüyük in Phase IIIf of the “Stepped-trench” is a remarkable matter. For such merely accidental occurrences, both at Gedikli Hüyük and at Tilmen Hüyük and the mounds of the İslâhiye area, serve to emphasize the fact that the folk who owned this “Khirbet-Kerak” pottery, and who had migrated during the Early Bronze I period from Northeast Anatolia to Syria and to the Amuk region, did not have the Sakçagözü, İslâhiye, and Hassa areas under their influence. It is clear that during the period in question, our area —just exactly as was the case in Cilicia — was experiencing its Golden Age of Prosperity. This Golden Age, in turn, could only have been achieved during a period in which our area was under the domination of the people who were the possessors of the wheel-made reddish-orange pottery with incised-line decoration, which had clearly been in use here for centuries.
Level IV (?): Below the level of Phase IIIf there were encoun-tered no architectural remains whatsoever. Pottery now “becomes” scarcer. But it was observed, however, that even though scanty the reddish-orange pottery continues, while on the other hand flint imp-lements “become” more abundant. We wonder whether the phase below Phase IIIf was a late Chalcolithic, or whether it was perhaps rather an earlier “continuation” of the oldest phase of the Early Bronze Age. On this subject it has not been possible to advance any definite opinion. However, fragments of thick-based and thick-rimmed “Coba bowls”, to use Dr. M. V. Seton-Williams’ terminology[14], one sherd of a pot with incrustations, and a few locally manufactured pottery fragments of Obeid type, render most probable our looking for either a very early phase of the Early Bronze Age or else a Late Chalcolithic period below Phase IIIf.
Figure 17 shows a fragment of reddish ware with incised-line decoration filled with a cream-coloured paste; one wonders whether this incrusted ceramic type might not perhaps represent a forerunner of the type without incrustations, of which the later period yields abundant specimens. Since however we do not as yet possess a sufficient quantity of finds, we can say nothing for the present on this subject.
In figs. 18 and 19 we find two sherds of locally made wares of Obeid type, while in fig. 20 we see a specimen ornamented with parallel bands showing a resemblance to a piece discovered in Level IV C of Coba Hüyük.[15]
Because the stepped-trench had in this sub-IIIf phase approached too closely to the lower terrace of the mound, and would, as a matter of course, have lapped over into the lower terrace and even beyond toward the outside, without having been able at the same time moreover to reach virgin-soil, the possibility of clarifying in any decisive manner the most ancient culture of Gedikli Hüyük could not be realized. It is our hope that in the excavations of the coming season information on this subject will be made manifest.
III. On the southeast lower terrace ( =Sondage C)
We have explained our reason for undertaking an excavation in this sector [see Plan 1, coordinates IV, 2 to IV, 5/E, 5-6] above in the course of our brief sketch of the exploration history of Gedikli ([see above, pp. 27-30]. During the work which we carried out in an area measuring 30 X 8 metres we discovered a necropolis sector [see Plan 7 and Fig. 21]. In this necropolis which had evidently been in use for at least a few centuries, three types of burial were encountered: simple inhumations, cremation-burials in earthenware pots, and rectangular chamber-tombs.
a) Simple inhumations: In the southern part of the trench, at a depth of between 0.50 metres and 1.50 metres beneath the presentday surface of the terrace from which the villagers had formerly removed earth, and in an area measuring 7 X 6.5 metres, four skeletons were found buried directly in the earth [see Fig. 22 and Plan 7].
The first burial was chanced upon in the southeast part of the area; this had been a simple burial, having been laid to rest on its back oriented in a north-south direction with an amphora standing at its head still in situ. As work proceeded, three additional burials, each oriented in a different direction, were found [see Pian 7]. The four skeletons thus uncovered have been numbered “I1, I2, 13, and 14”.
Skeleton İ1: Oriented precisely in a north-south direction, it lies on its back with its left foot set on top of the right foot; the left lower arm is bent in a right angle, the hand touching below the the right elbow, while the right hand is raised up and placed upon the breast. The head moreover is turned slightly toward the right [see Fig. 23]. All the bones being practically complete, the skeleton is in a very good state of preservation. Immediately adjacent to the top of the skull, there was found still in situ standing upright an amphora [see Fig. 24] 21.6 cm. in height. The amphora, buff in colour, bears a reddish-brown painted decoration over the entire surface from the level of the bottom of its handles to the top of the rim.
Skeleton İ2: Found at a distance of 2.60 metres to the southwest of Skeleton Î,, and at a depth of 0.50 metres below the surface of the lower terrace of the mound, Skeleton İ2 was oriented in a northeast—southwest direction. Lying upon its back, the skeleton is complete except for the two feet which are missing from the ankles down and could not be found in the course of the excavation. The two hands were found clasped together across the breast. The head tilted slightly forward and the lower jaw hanging downward tend to give the skeleton a kind of smiling expression. Apparently placed at the head of the corpse as a grave-gift, there was found still in situ a single-handled (the handle unfortunately broken) ring-based round full-bellied little pot [Fig. 25].
Skeleton İ3: This skeleton had been buried at right-angles to Skeleton İ2 [cf. Plan 7 and Fig. 25a], but on a level 0.40 metres higher than that of the latter. However, because the lower terrace of the mound encounters the lower part of the slope of the mound proper at this point, Skeleton İ3 was at a depth of 0.70 metres below the surface of the slope. Oriented in a northwest—southeast direction, it was lying on its back; neither feet nor hands of this otherwise complete skeleton were discovered in the course of excavation. As for the head, the back part of the skull was preserved, although the front portion is in a destroyed state. No burial-gift was encountered.
Skeleton İ4: Oriented in a west-east direction, once again this skeleton was lying on its back, with both arms extended downward alongside the body. Both hands were missing from the wrists down, as were also both feet from the ankles down. No burial-gift was extant [sec Fig. 26].
Pottery which came to light in the area where these simple in-humations were discovered was in general buff in colour, bearing the typical characteristics of the wares of the Second Millennium B.C., but with the passage of time and probably under the influence of dampness had taken on a dirty colour. Especially worth mentioning among the monochrome wares arc two round-bottomed full-bellied double-lipped “Syrian bottles” (one of the them with a broken rim), and a fragment of a small trefoil-spouted pitcher. From these ceramic finds it is obvious that this group of simple inhumation burials belong to the first half or the middle of the Second Millennium B.C. As is well-known, simple inhumation burials, indiscriminately oriented in the same way, had been brought to light by Sir Leonard Woolley at Tel Açana (=Alalah), some 120 km. to the south of Gedikli, scattered through Levels VIII-I (ca. 19th- 13th centuries B.C.)[16]. In the event that we find, during our work of the coming season, additional simple inhumation burials together with characteristic pottery, and other objects, we hope that it will then be possible to date more precisely this type of burial at Gedikli.
b) Cremation burials: In an area measuring 6.5x10 metres in the northern part of Trench C, cremation burials were found beginning at a depth of 0.80 metres below the present-day surface of the mound’s slope. Because the multiplicity of burials one above the other had resulted in the crushing of the ossuary-vessels lower down, there had come into being here a virtual stratum of ash, bone, and pottery fragments mixed together; this stratum varies in thickness from one metre to 1.75 metres (see Plan 8 and Fig. 27]. Although the original number of these cremationgraves must probably have been approximately a few hundred, only 43 could actually be counted now as individual “graves”.
The cremation-burials here, in vessels of various types and sizes, have in general certain features in common, namely:
1 — Bones of the deceased are found always in the very bottom of the vessel. In the lower part of the “belly” of the vessels there is usually present a small hole.
2 — Above the bones there is found in each burial-vessel a single bronze pin, most often of the type known as “toggle-pins”.
3 —Just above the bone fragments there is generally to be found a burial-gift in the form of a single small cup, sometimes a small jar or bottlctype vessel, above which the burial-vessel is filled with blac-kened burnt bone and wood ashes.
4 — To cover the mouth of the cinerary-vessel, a fragment of a broken piece of pottery (often of a campaniform-based deep dish) is used as a lid.
These observations of ours have inspired us with the following ideas, by way of interpretation: That, after the deceased had been cremated in a place probably immediately to the east of this area, and after the pyres had been extinguished with some kind of liquid before the incineration procedure had been completed, the remaining bone fragments will have been collected and wrapped up in a cloth, the resulting small bundle will have been fastened with a bronze pin and placed in the bottom of the large cinerary-vessel ; then the small cup or bottle representing the burial-gift will have been set into place, and the remaining ash from the pyre then will have been used to fill the upper part of the vessel; finally, then, fragments of the dish, pitcher or other vessel which had contained the liquid used to extinguish the pyre, and which had probably been then broken on purpose, will have been used to close the mouth of the cinerary-vessel.
The vessels used for holding the cremated bones are generally pots of a type that are nearly spherical in shape, varying in diameter between 30 and 40 centimetres, with outward flaring rims, and made of a brittly baked black clay [see Figs. 28, 29, and 30-left]. This type of ceramic, usually referred to elsewhere by the name “kitchen-ware”, and indeed found in the lowest part of the cultural Level II of our Stepped-Sondage, was thus clearly manufactured both for everyday needs as well as for burials.
Besides these black pots, there were also employed for the cremation burials coarser specimens of the ceramic types found in the chamber-tombs which we will deal with below [see pp. 48-51] ; among these types are included reddish-range deep bowls, squat “fruitstands”, and variously shaped pots.
As for the vessels placed as burial-gifts inside the large cinerary pots, they were relatively small in dimensions, the types found in-cluding buff-coloured cups, two-handled slender goblets of the type usually misidentified with the Homeric depas amphikypellon, bottles of the type known commonly as “Syrian bottles”, as well as beak- spouted single-handled pitchers with parallel-grooved decoration on their necks; some of these may be seen in figures 30 (right), 31, 32, and 33.
The “chamber-tombs”, which came to light in the central part on Sondage C and which are to be described by us just below [see pp. 47-51], and our Cremation Cemetery are located almost side by side, and among the cremation pottery there were encountered relatively coarse specimens of the faultlessly burnished reddish-orange wares found in the chamber-tombs. This point leads us to infer that, despite the fact that there should have been some interval of time between these two burial fashions, that interval must not have been very great.
It is possible to date the cremation burials with the aid of both the cinerary-vessels themselves as well as the burial-gift pottery.
The spherical black pots which are the prevailing type of cinerary- vessel are also known to us from the Amuk Plain, where they had been found by the Braidwoods in “Amuk phases F, H, I, and J”[17].
The “chamber-tombs ceramic”, the dating of which is probaby earlier in time than that of the cremation-burials, has been ascribed both at Tilmen Hüyük and at Tarsus to the Early Bronze II period [see below, p. 48 and footnote 28]. In consideration of this, the coarsely-made specimens of this ware which have turned up in the cremation-buri als may be clearly dated to a slightly later period, probably to Early Bronze III.
The pottery placed inside the cinerary-pots as grave gifts, as well as the types of bronze pins, substantiate this dating of ours. We should like to deal with these briefly:
1 — “Depas amphikypellon" (Two-handled slender goblet): The occurrence of such a characteristic goblet type as these “depata amphikypella”, encountered at Troy in periods II through IV, is a most important piece of dating evidence. In the course of our excavations at Gedikli, three specimens of this type of goblet, all of them fragmentary, were brought to light; a fourth specimen, intact, is included among the vessels now in the Gaziantep Museum which, as we have mentioned earlier [sec above, p. 30], have been confirmed as coming from Gedikli. The Gedikli “depata" [see Fig. 34] show a maximum resemblance to the “depata" found in Troy III and IV.[18] As is known, there had also been discovered a fragment of such a “depas" in the old excavations at Zincirli[19]. We may also compare one “depas" fragment from the “Amuk-J” phase of Tell Tainat, as well as the Early Bronze III “depata" from Tarsus[20], with those from Gedikli.
2 — “Syrian bottles” : Another vessel type found amongst the cremation ashes and aiding in the dating is one known as the “Syrian bottle”. Tilmen Hüyük, where one bottle of the same type had been brought to light in sub-level IIId[21], and Zincirli, where a number of specimens of such bottles were found[22], are the sites closest to our area which have yielded specimens for comparison. In addition it is well-known that wares with this same bottle-profile have been discovered both in Cilicia and at various sites in Siyria[23]. For example, those coming from Tarsus have been shown to belong to the final phase of Early Bronze III,[24] and those from Tell Tainat are dated to “Amuk phases I and J”[25] Bearing these examples in mind, our Gedikli bottles may also be dated to Early Bronze III.
Both round-bottomed and flat-based types of these bottles are present among the burial-gifts in the Gedikli cremation graves. Of very widespread and persistant use in our region, two additional specimens of the flat-based variety of this bottle-profiled small vessel were found in a sector of Trench C above the level of the cremation-grave area, on the same level as that in which the simple inhumation burials had been found.
3 — Bronze pins : These pins, one of which was found, as has been pointed out above, in almost every incinerary-pot, may be classified into two groups contingent on the presence or absence of eyes (string-holes) ; within these two groups, moreover, various types may be distinguished [see Figs. 35 - 37J. Bronze pins of the types found at Gedikli, particularly the toggle-pins (characterized by the presence of large heads incapable of passing through fabric — and hence not usable as needles for ordinary sewing — in addition to the existence of “eyes” through which cord or string might be passed, affording the likelihood that these “toggle-pins” may have been used in daily life for the stitching of leather or of heavy cloth in a process used by leather-craftsmen [waf] unto this very day, although those “toggle-pins” found in our funerary-vessels must surely have been used for tying and holding fast the bundles in which the bones had been wrap-ped) are met with both at various sites in northern Syria[26] as well as at Tarsus[27] in the Early Bronze III period. As demonstrated by Dr. Ufuk Esin in her as yet unpublished Istanbul doctoral dissertation Milâttan önce III. ve II. binyılda Anadolu iğneleri : Tipolojik ve kronolojik bir inceleme (“Anatolian Needles and Pins of the Third and Second Millennia B. C. : A Typological and Chronological Study”), both the Royal Cemetery at Ur in Southern Mesopotamia, on the one hand, and Anatolia, on the other hand, represent in the Third Millennium B. C., from the viewpoint of the typology of pins, two major centres; since northern Syria, and our area as well, are located between those two centres, it is to be noted that they had accepted influences from both of them in this particular matter.
Thus it is clear from the evidence just presented above that the terminus ante quem for the cremation burials uncovered during this season in Trench C is the final phase of Early Bronze III (ca. 23rd-21st cen turies B.C.). In our work at Gedikli next year, it is one of our aims to investigate, by digging down to lower levels, whether or not this Cremation Cemetery was already in existence in still earlier periods.
c) Stone Chamber-tombs : In an area measuring 9.5 X 7.5 metres in a sector located slightly to the east of the middle of Sondage C, three “chamber-tombs”, approximately rectangular prisms in form, were brought to light, and designated as “M-1”, “M-2”, and “M-3”. It was this area that, as pointed out by us above [see pp. 29-30], had been dug into earlier by villagers or treasure-seekers, and had later also been partially investigated by the Director of the Gaziantep Museum, Mrs. Sabahat Göğüş. When the earth covering the top of the tombs was now removed by us [see Plan 7], it was seen that all but two of the huge limestone covering-slabs, which had apparently originally formed the roofs of these tombs, had been either thrown down, carried off, or otherwise done away with; our excavations discovered only two of these huge slabs still in situ, one covering part of the top of Tomb M-1, the other forming part of the roof of Tomb M-3 [see Fig. 38]. It is quite evident that the cause of this damage was those who, be it in ancient or in modern times, had attempted to open the tombs for the first time. Despite this, it was nevertheless possible for us, in the course of our work, to secure material data relevant to the construction technique of the tombs, and especially for the dating of the interesting pottery vessels which had been left within the tombs as burial-gifts.
These chamber-tombs had been built, using a mud mortar, in the rough-stone technique from stones of all sizes, in the form of mini-ature rooms with rectangular ground-plans. Their roofs had been covered with flat and quite thick limestone slabs of large dimensions. We would like to point out also the special features of each of these three tombs:
Chamber-tomb Μ-1 : The southernmost of the three tombs, this tomb (more properly an irregular quadrilateral in plan, rather than a rectangle) has the following inside measurements: the two shorter sides measure 1.75 and 1.20 metres respectively; the two longer sides 3.9 and 3.6 metres respectively; height, from the floor to the root-slab, measures 1.60 metres, [sec Fig. 39]. The extant preserved height of the now largely destroyed front or eastern wall — the tomb being oriented in an east-west direction — is, however, only 0,57 metres. This same eastern wall has in its centre one single vertically-placed thin stone slab which obviously saw service as a kind of door, behind which two stone steps (found still in situ) lead down into the tomb [sec Plan 9]. The floor of this tomb-chamber was paved with large pebbles varying in size from to to 15 centimetres in diameter. On the surface of this pavement there were found fragments of human arm and leg bones, these but few in number [see Fig. 40].
In chamber-tomb M-1, we uncovered pottery vessels in various profiles, eighteen in number. The greater part of this ceramic, though found in a broken state, has in accordance with established practice been glued together and restored; a number of the piece swere found, moreover, still intact. This pottery was made of the same reddish-orange coloured and buff-coloured clays that we had encountered in almost every layer of cultural Level III in the Stepped-Sondage A, and showed very fine and painstaking workmanship and interesting profiles [see Fig. 41]. It is possible to classify these vessels from the standpoint of shapes into six classes: campaniform-footed pots, campaniform-footed squat “fruitstands”, a stemmed “fruitstand”, bowls, basket-handled small “fruitstands”, and cups. We would like to dwell briefly on the special characteristics of each of these six forms:
1 — Campaniform-footed Pots [see Fig. 42] : Apart from those found at Gedikli Hüyük, intact specimens of this vessel type have been yielded by Tarsus in Early Bronze II levels, while sites in the Amuk Plain have produced some in fragmentary condition from “Amuk Phase I”[28] In our Chamber-tomb M-1, four of these campaniformfooted pots were found; of these only one was lacking an incised ornamentation, the other three all having decoration of this type. Its bell-shaped foot rising from an everted and rolled lip, combined with a “pillow”-like bulge between the foot and the bottom of the body of the pot, give the profile of this vessel a quality of liveliness. The body has a sharp carination below the middle; the neck rises sharply from the body, and after flaring outwards, ends with a slightly outward twisted rim.
As for the ornamentation with incised lines, these are generally located on the carinated waist-line, on the upper part of the body, and on the neck. Those on the waist-line consist of short cross-hatched lines encircling the vessel in the manner of a frieze. Those on the upper part of the body or on the shoulder, although in the same technique, show certain variation of forms; for example, a zigzag ladder motif repeated four times in the same direction at equal inter-vals around the surface of the vessel, or, in another instance, a series of lozenge motifs produced by means of “V”-shaped designs placed side by side and one below the other, these “V” -shapes in turn being divided into squares. As for the incised decorations on the neck, these take the form of two continuous zigzags parallel to one another run-ning in linear fashion around the cirumference of the neck[29].
2 — Campaniform-footed Squat “Fruitstands" : Two vessels of this type, one with its rim in a broken condition, were found in Chamber-tomb M-1 [see Fig. 41]; this type consists of deep dishes with outward-spreading sides rising after a sharp break to the rather broad-diametered mouths, set upon bellshapcd feet.
3 — Stemmed “Fruitstand” [see Fig. 43] : A single vessel of this type, in an intact state, was brought to light. Beginning in a bellshaped foot (exactly like those of the campaniform-footed vessels described above), the rather tall stem flares out upwards, then after a smooth band-like vertical section narrows once again to the point where the stem unites with the dish above it; the dish has a sharp carination in the lower part of its sides, above which it flares outwards until the rim is finally reached. An exactly similar stemmed dish had recently been found at Tel Habeş, 68 km. to the southeast of Gedikli as the crow flies, and brought to the Gaziantep Museum.
4 — Bowls: In Chamber-tomb M-1 there were found three complete bowls, two of these being of the reddish-orange ware and the third of buff ware, in addition to one fragment of a fourth bowl in the buff ware. Those in the reddish-orange ware have either two or three parallel grooves around the outsides of their rims. The smaller of these two reddish-orange ware bowls has on its outer surface, aside from the traces of burnishing, no further decoration whatsoever. As for the larger of these two bowls, it has a continuous frieze of cross-hatched lines just below the grooves on the outside of the rim [see Fig. 44]. Beneath this frieze there appears an incised group of three identical designs[29a] one above the other, repeated four times at equal intervals and at the same level around the circumference of the bowl.
The bowl from Chamber-tomb M-1 in buff ware, although unburnished, shows very painstaking workmanship; it is decorated over its entire outer surface with parallel horizontal fine grooves or “corrugation”.
5 — Basket-handled Small “Fruitstands” : Once again these little vessels in reddish-orange ware are like a kind of miniature replica of the campaniform-footed squat “fruitstands”, except that they are provided with round basket-type handles rising from their rims. Two specimens of this type were found in Chamber-tomb M-1[30].
6 — Cups : In Chamber-tomb M-1, six specimens of cup-profiled small vessels were found. As already noted above, this type of buffware cup decorated over the entire outer surface with parallel little grooves or “corrugation”, has been encountered in abundance in fragmentary state as well as in the form of whole vessels, both in the Third Millennium B.C. phases in the Stepped-Sondage as well as in the Cremation Cemetery.
As for other small finds in Chamber-tomb M-1, since the tomb had already been opened previously, nothing else except for a single fragment-ary bone pin was discovered.
Chamber-tomb M-2: This tomb, with a similarly rectangular ground-plan measuring 3.25x1.25 metres, is situated just to the north of Chamber-tomb M-1 some 1.5 metres away; its entrance had also probably been on the eastern side. Because it had been destroyed to an excessive degree by the treasure-seekers, only the very lowest course of its surrounding walls could be found at the time of our excavations. Its floor was of stamped earth.
Although the pottery which came to hand was very scanty, it was of an elegant and thin-walled quality, and gave the impression of being burial-gifts presented to a woman. The ceramic which we took out of this tomb consisted of the following: two rather highfooted, broad and round bodied, outward-flaring rimmed pots [see Fig. 45], one vessel in the same elegant style, round-bottomed and trefoil-spouted [see Fig. 46], and numerous fragments of cups.
Chamber-tomb M-3 : This is the northernmost of the rectangular- planned chamber-tombs [sec Plan 7]. Just as in the case of Chambertomb M-1, there had remained in situ only a single one of the slabs covering the roof, the one on the side toward the steep slope of the mound. The tomb measures 2.75 metres in length, 1.30 metres in breadth, and 1.40 metres in height. On the eastern side, a single step is present, in consequence of which it is clear that the entrance had been on the east. The floor of the tomb had been paved with rather large pebbles. Since it had been opened up previously, almost all of the original furnishings had already been removed. Only a very few bone fragments, three complete cups of buff ware [see Fig. 47]. and some fragments of other pottery' came to light in our excavations. Among the latter we would like to mention three fragments of bowls [see Fig. 48], one bowl-fragment with parallel “corrugation” grooves on its outer surface [see Fig. 49], and a fragment of the mouth of a bottle, painted in red over buff.
d) Grave of a Sacred Animal: On the easternmost edge of the middle sector of Sondage C, at a point some 5 metres to the southeast of the entrance of Chamber-tomb M-1, and on approximately the same level as the floors of the chamber-tombs, we found a most interesting skeleton of an animal which we have appraised as being ovine (sheep or goat) on the basis of its bones, and which we presume to call a “sacred animal’’ for reasons to be given presently. From the position of the remains, it was inferred that the interment procedure must have been much as follows: First the head of the animal will have been cut off; then, while the body was still warm, the body will have been twisted into an arc with all four legs drawn together on one side and the bent back and ribs on the opposite side, and then placed in the grave in this arched position; the head of the animal will then have been set in the centre of the arch thus formed; and then finally, two buff-ware cups will have been placed as votiveofferings on the neck-region of the animal [see Fig. 50]. It is likewise remarkable that a number of stones were found present over the top of this animal’s thus interred corpse, and that in addition, still another buff-ware cup was found amongst these stones. This unusual burial led us to wonder: Could this have possibly been some sort of sacrifice? Or was it actually rather the burial of some sacred animal, that is an animal sacred to some deity? Because the skeleton had come to light complete and intact, except for the severed head, we consider the latter alternative to be more probable.
C
A SUMMARY LOOK AT THE RESULTS OF THE 1964 SEASON’S WORK AT GEDİKLİ HÜYÜK
There is absolutely no doubt that it is still far too early to think that the results from the first excavation season which we have under-taken at Gedikli Hüyük permit us to arrive at definitive historical and archaeological conclusions. We do believe, however, that it would not at all be out of place to point out certain specific matters :
1 — Gedikli Hüyük shows a continuous succession of cultures from the most ancient phase of the Early Bronze Age until today.
2 — We have come to understand that the people who possessed and used the hand-made (not wheel-made) “Khirbet-Kerak ware”, probably the Hurrians (?), who had apparently migrated from Northeast Anatolia and invaded the Amuk Plain at the beginning of the Early Bronze Age (=Amuk Phase G)[31], did not pass through the Sakçagözü and İslâhiye areas in the course of that invasion. Finds of that type of pottery in our area, including Gedikli, have been few enough to be counted, and hence may be considered extrinsic.
3 — We see the Gaziantep and İslâhiye areas as having been the scene of an uninterrupted settlement in the Third Millennium B.C., and representing an important regional culture. As has become apparent, this regional culture belonged to the people of a country (Ebla-Ursum?Hassum?) who were masters in the use of metal and who had close relations with Southern Mesopotamia. We consider it likely that the chamber-tombs with rectangular ground-plan at both Gedikli Hüyük and Tilmcn Hüyük are to be attributed to this people. It is most probable that the interesting wheel-made reddish-orange ceramic wares with incised decorations, which have come to light in great abundance at both Gedikli Hüyük and Tümen Hüyük, as well as in Gaziantep and Kilis and their environs, belonged to the people who were the creators of this regional culture.
4 — The probability that the fortification-wall at Gedikli Hüyük, remains of which we have found in the “Stepped-Trench” in two successive levels (IIIa and IIIb) dating from the fourth quarter of the Third Millennium B. C., had been constructed during the latter part of the Agade Period and during the Period of the Third Dynasty of Ur by the people of a strategic “crossroads” region (Ebla - Ursum?), most likely in defence against invasions which might come from any one of several neighbouring regions with different cultures (the Amuk Plain, Cilicia, and the Elbistan Plain), accords well with the available relevant written historical sources.
For Ebla — Ursum, as a matter of fact — situated astride the major zone of intercommunication between the Euphrates River and the Amanus Mountains, the latter of strategic importance both for their great forests of cedar, etc., as well as for the passes leading to Cilicia and to Cataonia — was conquered successively by Sargon of Agade and his grandson Naram-Sin, was later a major source of building materials for Gudea of Lagash, and still later was apparently a vassal princidality under the suzerainty of the Third Dynasty of Ur.[32]
The fact, moreover, that several fragments of a specifically Mesopotamian type of pottery known under the name of “Sargonid”, and dated to the periods in question, have been found in this very area at both Tümen Hüyük and Coba Hüyük[33] is a most interesting additional piece of corroborative evidence.
5 — As for the custom of cremation of the dead, the discovery of the existence of this custom at Gedikli during the 22nd and 21st centuries B.C. is in itself a most remarkable fact. As is known, cremation burials, in the real sense of the term, have been encountered in Second Millennium B.C. in Anatolia and Syria at the following sites: Boğazköy - Osmankayasi necropolis (Hittite, the oldest burials being of the 18th-17th centuries B.C.)[34], Konya Kara Hüyük (ca. 18th-17th centuries B.C.)[35], Ilıca (65 km west of Ankara: Hittite, ca. 1700 B.C.)[36], Troy VI (ca. 14th century B.C.)[37], Müsgebi-Bodrum (Mycenaean, ca. end of Second Millennium B.C.)[38], Tel Açana-Alalah (16th-12th centuries B.C.)[39], Hama (14th-13th) centuries B.C.)[40], and in Carchemish (15 th - 13th centuries B.C. [cf. Sir Leonard Woolley - R.D. Barnett : Carchemish III, pp. 250 f.] ).
In addition, we would like to mention the reference in the date - formula of a text found at Nuzi to the cremation of Parattarna, ruler of the Hurrian Confederation (15th century B.C.)[41]. Besides this, there are also known to us now, from the Hittite cuneiform tablets of Boğazköy (14th-13th centuries B.C.), detailed descriptions of cremation ceremonies, particularly in connexion with royal fune-rals[42], which bear a close resemblance in many of their details to the cremation practices described in the Iliad of Homer in connexion with the funerals of Patroklos and of Hektor[43]. Finally there is the reference in the Biblical account (I Samuel 31: 1-13) of the death of Saul, king of Israel, and his sons, at the time of their defeat by the Philistines at Mt. Gilboa, to the rescue of their mutilated corpses from the walls of Bethshan, and their cremation and burial in Jabesh - Gilead (ca. 1010 B.C.)[44].
The discovery now of the most ancient cremation cemetery (wherein cremation appears as general practice) of Anatolia, Syria, and northern Mesopotamia at Gedikli Hüyük in the final phase of Early Bronze III has provided some important new materials for an intensive research - study on early cremation and burial-practices throughout the eastern Mediterranean and Near East in the course of preparation by one of the writers of the present article.
In the second excavation campaign which we shall carry out at Gedikli Hüyük during the 1965 season, it will be our aim to try to verify whether or not there had existed cremation burials also in the still more ancient levels of this mound, as well as to attempt to define the character of the culture at Gedikli prior to the Early Bronze Age.
In bringing this preliminary report of ours to a close, we consider it a most pleasant duty to extend the thanks of our excavation-staff composed of Prof. Dr. U. Bahadır Alkım, Handan Alkım, Ferit Köper, Dr. Refik Duru, Aziz Albek, Akif Dâi, Halûk Abbasoğlu, Ali Dinçol, and Rasim Özgürel, to the Turkish Historical Society, to the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums, and to the Faculty of Letters of the University of Istanbul, which have supported our work.