Dataset
All chosen research areas have, to varying degrees, already been the focus of several survey projects. Fundamental to any research undertaken in Study Areas I and II are the numerous survey reports published annually by the editors of the Kazı and Araştırma Sonuçları Toplantıları (KST/AST). Almost all data was collected, standardised and verified via GoogleEarth in D. Sürenhagen's “Catalogue of Central Anatolian Settlements” (2017). Regarding Study Area III, the Upper Tigris Basin has until recently been on the periphery of archaeological exploration in West Asia. But, spurred by the construction of a number of dams along the Euphrates, Khabur, and Tigris rivers (the Southeastern Anatolia Development Project), a substantial number of archaeological investigations has already been conducted in this area (see e.g. Algaze 1990/1991 or Peasnall 2004/2010 in Literature).
The database derived from the various survey reports is made available to all interested parties via the link below, without any claim to being complete. A total of 2197 sites were recorded for the whole of Turkey, dating from the end of the 3rd millennium BCE to the beginning of Hellenism. As already noted by Sürenhagen (2017), the proposed chronological classification of the sites would still need to be verified in numerous cases, as would the information on the location and size of the ruin, not to mention all the cases where no further information is available at all. In particular for the area on the Upper Tigris, especially along the Batman Su, there is neither a verifiable coordinate nor an exact dating for the individual sites. Accordingly, only just under 57% can be considered identified, so that for a total of 43% of all listed sites a verifiable determination of location and size is still pending.
The catalogue of sites is accompanied by a bibliography listing all survey and excavation reports consulted, as well as a legend describing the structure of the database. The database layout is kept quite simple, as it is intended as an end-user application for integration into a geoinformation system.
| ← Click on the icon to download the comprehensive site catalogue for Turkey. The file is in Excel format (632 KB). |