İkiztepe Samsun — Black Sea Buried Village and Cemetery
İkiztepe · İkiztepe Höyük · Ikiztepe
Late Chalcolithic to EBA III (4200–2000 BCE)·Pontic Chalcolithic–EBA (Bafra horizon; Maikop affinities)·🇹🇷 Samsun Province, Bafra District, Kızılırmak delta margin, Turkey
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About
About İkiztepe Samsun — Black Sea Buried Village and Cemetery
İkiztepe is a 7 ha four-mound Black Sea coastal complex excavated by U. Bahadır Alkım and Önder Bilgi (1974–). Mounds I–III hold 600+ Chalcolithic–EBA graves (4200–2000 BCE) with extended inhumations, jar burials, arsenical bronze daggers, gold earrings, spiral pins and Black Sea shell. Semi-subterranean pithos houses on Tepe I-II show coastal adaptation. Early Transitonal Chalcolithic-EBA sequence unique to Pontus.
Why it mattersLargest Chalcolithic-EBA cemetery in Anatolia; key to Pontic–Caucasus metal exchange and early gold working before Troy.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Ethnicity related to Maikop?
Theories
- 01Bilgi: indigenous Pontic with Caucasian metallurgy inflow
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.4200 BCE (Late Chalcolithic)
- Period
- Late Chalcolithic to EBA III (4200–2000 BCE)
- Culture
- Pontic Chalcolithic–EBA (Bafra horizon; Maikop affinities)
- Builders
- Black Sea coastal villagers
- Purpose
- Delta fishing-agriculture hamlet with massive collective cemetery
- Abandoned
- c.2000 BCE (delta shift)
- Rediscovered
- 1974 Istanbul University–Samsun Museum (Alkım)
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
1974–2015
Alkım/Bilgi ongoing; 40 seasons
c.3000 BCE
Massive jar-burial field peak
On the ground
Structures & features
41.4500° N · 35.8500° E · 10 m · 3 mapped features
- İkiztepe Tepe I Jar-Burial FieldcemeteryCentral cemetery with 350 pithos burials Tepe I41.4507° N · 35.8506° E
- İkiztepe Semi-Subterranean HouseshabitationPisé pithouses with clay benches and hearths41.4493° N · 35.8508° E
- İkiztepe Arsenical Bronze WorkshopworkshopMoulds for daggers and spiral pins41.4510° N · 35.8494° E
Gallery