Monumental structure shown to be largest one in Middle East

KAYSERİ - Anadolu Agency

The monumental structure is the largest building that has been found in Anatolia or the Middle East, according to the head of the Kültepe excavations, Fikri Kulakoğlu. AA photo

This year’s excavations at Kayseri’s ancient site of Kültepe, a center where the written history of Anatolia began, have unearthed a large monument. The ancient monument will now be carefully examined, said the head of the Kültepe excavations Fikri Kulakoğlu.

He said the excavations had been conducted in an area dating back to 4,500 years ago and currently they were working on the monument.

The monument’s 75x60-meter-part has been unearthed, said Kulakoğlu. “This monumental structure is the largest building that has been found in the Anatolian and middle Eastern areas.”

Noting that the whole monument might be something like a directorial building but not a house, Kulakoğlu said they thought that it might be the directorial venue where the king had stayed, once upon a time.

He added that they might reach many important documents to enlighten the ancient times during the excavations, and continued: “We think that we can find some documents from Syria, an area that we call Tell Beydar. These things show us that there was trade in the past and the trade took place mainly in Kültepe.” The documents are very important, according to Kulakoğlu. “We believe that the Kaniş, Karum and Kültepe area has a 550-meter diameter and 20-meter height. The settlement in the tumulus is composed of segments from the early Bronze Age, the middle Bronze Age, the Iron Age, and Ancient Greece and Rome. The most important of these documents is the tablet from 2000 B.C., which explains that there were local kingdoms in Anatolia at that time and the Kaniş Kingdom was the most powerful local kingdom in Anatolia. Merchants from Asur, which is 1,000 kilometers away, came to Kaniş to use the natural sources of Anatolia,” explained Kulakoğlu.

Kulakoğlu said that Kültepe was a center where the history of Anatolia began. He said that Assyrian traders came to Kültepe 4,000 years ago and brought literacy to people there and, thanks to them, Anatolia had entered into the written history for the first time.

This year’s excavations show that the 4,000-year-old history could be traced back to an earlier time. So far, 23,500 cuneiform tablets have been found in excavations here but Kültepe is a very large area. The team believes that only 1 percent of this area has been excavated so far. Therefore the number of these tablets will reach to a few thousands. This is the biggest collection in the whole of Asia. It is known that the Kültepe excavations had entered the 66th year.