It is estimated that the history of Kültepe Kaniş/Karum Tumulus, where Anatolia first met with writing thanks to clay tablets, dates back to 7,000 years ago.
Archaeological excavations in the mound, where Prof Dr Tahsin Özgüç started the first scientific excavations in 1948, continue to shed light on Anatolian and world history.
Ankara University Faculty of Languages, History and Geography Faculty Member Prof Dr Fikri Kulakoğlu, who has been leading the excavations in Kültepe for 75 years, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that his teacher Prof Dr Tahsin Özgüç has been excavating here for 58 years, and this could be a world record.
Explaining that in the past 75 years, they have obtained results that illuminate the history of Anatolia, Mesopotamia and Syria, and they still reach new results, saying, "Kültepe's feature is that it brings surprises every year. Kültepe's history dates back to 6,000 years ago. Now there is an area for our work on the hill (in the old layers below the Warsama Palace). This place belongs to earlier strata, here we have a goal of descending to 7 thousand years. We are trying to understand the first establishment of Kültepe. We're trying to find out how it happened then."
The story of a house can be written by looking at the soil.
Pointing out that archaeological excavations take time, Kulakoğlu stated that their primary goal is to obtain data on when Kültepe was first established.
Noting that they have been able to spare less time for excavations in Karum (lower city) due to funding and other conditions for a long time, Kulakoğlu said:
"This year, we intend to work in a wider area in Karum again. We want to reach some data that we could not understand or find in previous excavations. Especially now, the soil looks just like soil, but in fact, there is so much information in that soil, in the ground of a house, that you can now understand it from the soil, even if we do not find any artifacts or objects in that house, in today's conditions, in today's technology, and after today's analysis. You can write the story of that house, now the technology is at this level. The soil in a grave we dug used to be thrown away, we don't anymore. Because there is a lot of data to inform us about the bacteria, illness, cause of death, ate and drank of the man in that grave, we want to collect them."
Metropolitan Municipality is supporting
Explaining that they were trying to understand the life in the mound before the Assyrian merchants came, Kulakoğlu said, "We have a big structure there. We see that this structure was enlarged by adding it several times, and we know that there is a great power here. In particular, we are looking for data that can confirm relations with foreign countries and Mesopotamia, Syria. Since 2017, there was the place we call the idol room. When we looked at the materials in it, we could directly relate to Syria and the Mediterranean coasts. We will now try to verify them. Of course, we will do these works as long as the weather conditions allow."
Kulakoğlu stated that the Kültepe excavations were among the lucky ones because the local government and the Metropolitan Municipality valued and supported this value of Kayseri.
"An international excavation team is carrying out the work"
Indicating that the excavations were carried out by an international team and that they cooperated with different countries, Kulakoğlu said:
"We are working together for Kültepe. We have a team from Italy, South Korea, and Japan. Apart from them, there are scientists from various countries and universities, from France to Denmark, America and even Brazil. All of them are trying to give Kültepe something. They don't look at the issue as 'it is not our country'. In fact, the data obtained here belongs to all humanity. Artifacts and information are both information that illuminates the common past of humanity. Therefore, everyone contributes voluntarily without expecting any remuneration or financial benefit.”