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Yassıhöyük Excavations in 2010
Masako Omura JIAA
The second season of the excavations at Yassıhöyük was conducted for seven weeks from 13th September to 31st October 2010.
The objectives of this season were 1) to continue the research on the 3rd building level, which belongs to the Late Iron Age, in the Stratum I, in order to reveal its structure; and 2) to study the large architectural remain, which was recognized by the geomagnetic survey, digging down to the burnt layer belonging to the 2nd millennium B.C., in the Stratum II. The excavation was carried out in the Area 1 at the top of the site: four more grids in the south (E8/e9. E10, d9, d10) were added to the two grids (E8/f9, f10) where the research was started last year. The total size of the six grids became 20m x 30m.
The remains of the Iron Age.
A pottery excavated from the Stratum I.
Stratm I: The building levels 1 to 3, which were excavated during the season in the last year and belong to the Late Iron Age, were labeled as Stratum I. The continuous parts of the large architectural remain in the 3rd building level was found in the grids E8/e9, e10 and d10, and in the grid E8/d9 at the southeast edge, fragmentary walls, which were supposed to belong to the same architectural remain, were discovered. However in the west of these grids, it seems that most of the architectural remains of the Stratum I were destroyed by agricultural work. In the grids E8/e10 and d10, the 2nd building level consisting of isolated one-room houses with dug-in basements and fragile one-row walls were detected: these one-row walls were added to the part of the older large walls remained from 3rd building level. Also in the grid E8/e9, a remain with a deep dug-in structure, which were supposed to belong to the 2nd building level, was excavated.
A fragment of a lead stripe excavated from the Stratum I.
In the grids E8/f9, f10 and e9, in order to excavate further to the burnt layer of the 2nd millennium B.C. in the Stratum II, the foundation stones of the 3rd building level which were thought to be made by digging a ditch and stacking the stones there were removed. And there revealed that the wall in the grid E8/f10 was particularly long: especially at the wall W15, which runs from northwest to southeast of the outermost edge of the site, the foundation stones were set in the ditch with 90cm deep. On the other hand in the grid E8/f9, no ditch was made, but the foundation stones were placed on the smoothed brick wall belonging to the Stratum II beneath this layer. This means that the depth of the ditch for the foundation or the height of the stone foundation was adjusted depending on the conditions of the ground or earth at the different parts of the walls. And it is supposed that on such firm foundation stones the walls with considerable height were built and it is inferred that there could have been enormous sizes of buildings.。
From the Stratum I, a lot of artifacts of the Late Iron Age were found, including gray and red wares in the shapes of jags with and without handles and plate, black polished pottery shards, painted pottery shards, bronze arrow head and fibulae. Although there are fragments of lead stripe written in hieroglyphic and painted pottery shards in Alişar IV style belonging to the Middle and Early Iron Age, no architectural remain belonging to these periods have been excavated.
The Stratum II: The 4th building level, which was excavated last year, was labeled as one of Stratum II. This layer supposed to belong to the first quarter of the 2nd millennium B.C. or the Middle Bronze Age. In the grid E8/f9, at the room R8, which was detected during the last season, the carbonated timbers were removed, and the entire floor of the room was shown up. For the carbonated beams and/or columns, which were fallen just above the floor surface, the preservation treatment was carried out to keep them as they are. After removing the stone walls belonging to the Iron Age, rooms R19, R20 and R21 which share walls with R8 were revealed. During this excavation process, together with fragments of red polished ware and gray-yellow cups with the traces of string-cut, handmade red pottery shards and painted pottery shards, which have been thought to be from the 3rd millennium B.C., were found. At the northeast corner of the R20, a lot of fragments of bullae with wood grain on their back were excavated together with burnt or fired plates. On the surface of the bullae, it seems that stamp seals were impressed several times, however, they were all too degraded to reconstruct the detail of the stamps, except fragmental motives.
The remains in the Stratum II.
R8 in the Stratum II.
Gold earing excavated from the Stratum II
In addition to the pottery shards and mud fragments mentioned above in the Stratum II, it was particularly notable that a gold earing with lapis lazuli and bronze pins were unearthed.
Preservation of the Site: The preservation of this large architectural remain is a big issue. From the last season, a large architectural remain started being detected in the Stratum II. It is expected that this remain will have the size of at least around 2000m2. It is important to discuss what way is the best preservation method for both archaeology and for the sake of local cultural society. While the 2nd season of excavations was carried out, a stabilization method was tried on a part of the brick wall coated with mud and plaster. At the beginning of next season, the condition of this wall will be checked and the efficiency of this method will be discussed in order to choose the best way.
Protective roof.
Preservation treatment in the Stratum II.
On 27th October, excavated artifacts were stored at the Kaman-Kalehoyuk Archaeology Museum. Covered the excavated area with the protective roof, the 2nd excavation season of Yassıhöyük was finished on 31st October.
The 2nd seasons of excavations at Yassıhöyük was conducted with the aid of Grants-in-Aids for Scientific Research (B) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
Yassıhöyük Excavations in 2010
Preservation Treatment in R8.
Since 13th September 2010, the 2nd excavation season at Yassıhöyük has started.
This year, adding four grids in the south of the two grids from last year (one grid is 10m x 10m), the survey aims at excavating further into the burnt layer, which belongs to the middle Bronze Age or the Assyria Colonial Period, after studying the architectural remain belonging to the Late Iron Age. The architectural remains from the Late Iron Age have robust foundation stones, which does not have any rivalry example in the Central Anatolia. At the same time, it has been already discovered that under these large architectural remains, there are brick walls with 160cm width covered with plaster.
It is anticipated that there will be more of these brick walls excavated in various areas and for the purpose of preserving these brick walls, trial preservation treatment to the wall in R8 has been carried out.