Demircihöyük East Citadel
Demircihöyük East · Çukurhisar East Mound · Demircihoyuk Citadel East
Chalcolithic – Early Bronze Age (4000–2300 BCE)·Northwest Anatolian Chalcolithic → EBA Troy I contemporary·🇹🇷 Eskişehir Province, Tepebaşı District, Çukurhisar Plain, Turkey
About
About Demircihöyük East Citadel
Demircihöyük East Citadel is the fortified nucleus of the type-site for Northwest Anatolian EBA (Troy I contemporary). Korfmann–Seeher excavations exposed 12 EBA levels (A–S) with palisaded enclosure, apsidal houses and off-site pottery scatters; the cemetery 400 m southwest yielded 500 inhumations — the largest EBA burial ground in NW Anatolia. The east citadel sector overlies Chalcolithic wattle-daub with pre-Bronze Age bead horizons, linking Balkan Karanovo to Anatolian Troy.
Why it mattersType-site for NW Anatolian Chalcolithic–EBA — 500-burial cemetery links settlement to Troy I chronology
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Gap between Chalcolithic and EBA — hiatus or continuity?
- 02Function of twin off-site pottery scatters — manuring or outposts?
Theories
- 01Seeher palisade urbanism vs. open village
- 02Anatolian-Balkan bead exchange — turquoise bead origin
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.4000 BCE Chalcolithic; EBA citadel 3100 BCE
- Period
- Chalcolithic – Early Bronze Age (4000–2300 BCE)
- Culture
- Northwest Anatolian Chalcolithic → EBA Troy I contemporary
- Builders
- Chalcolithic village founders, EBA palisaded town community
- Purpose
- East citadel spur of Demircihöyük — Chalcolithic/EBA fortified nucleus with cemetery 400 m SW
- Abandoned
- c.2300 BCE EBA II late
- Rediscovered
- Excavated 1937–39 Bittel; 1975–78 Korfmann & Seeher; 1990s Efe survey
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1937
Bittel opens Demircihöyük trench, Chalcolithic levels found
1978
Korfmann–Seeher 12 EBA levels A–S and palisade published
1996
Baykal-Seeher turquoise bead study 10 beads published
On the ground
Structures & features
39.8300° N · 30.1500° E · 820 m · 3 mapped features
Palisaded EBA Citadel (Levels A–S)
fortificationPalisaded enclosure with apsidal houses, 12 superimposed EBA levels
39.8308° N · 30.1506° ESouthwest Cemetery (500 EBA burials)
necropolisExtra-mural cemetery 400 m SW — largest EBA burial ground NW Anatolia
39.8293° N · 30.1491° EChalcolithic Wattle-Daub Settlement
settlementPre-Bronze Age horizon beneath citadel with Neolithic bead levels
39.8311° N · 30.1507° E