Settlement İn Yassıhöyük Could Date Back To 6,000 B.c., Predict Archaeologists

The excavation works in Ovaören Village of Central Anatolian Nevşehir province has brought to light that the settlement in ancient Yassıhöyük dated back to 1,700 B.C., within this year's works.

The ancient site could even date back to 6,000 B.C., said Head of excavation team and Director of the Gazi University Archaeology Department, Yücel Şenyurt.

A team of 23 archaelogists along with 26 people from the Ovaören Village carry out the excavation works, which have been launched in 2007 by decision of Council of Ministers.

Yassıhöyük, along with Topakhöyük and its booms, constitute the largest excavation fields in Turkey, with its 350,000 m2 area.

The works reveal that the oldest settlement has been formed in Topakhöyük and the foundings dating back to 2,500 B.C. illustrates a rich settlement regarding the archaeological findings, builtup plan, and tombs.

"Printing of the seals shows that a trade colony had lived in the area. In Yassıhöyük, we have been trying to document the settlement of Hittites lying under these architectural layers dating back to the Iron Age. We have also revealed that at this urban-looking settlement of Yassıhöyük has been surrounded by defending systems in Middle Iron Age, as in Hittite Age. The ruins of seven-meter-long walls and the portals of the town in Ovaören- Yassıhöyük will become important tourism destinations in near future, I believe" added Head of excavations.

(Photo) - Nevşehir