Building Tecniques of Fortified Structures in Kinik Höyük Archaeological Excavation (Turkey)

SAHC2014 – 9th International Conference on Structural Analysis of Historical Constructions F. Peña & M. Chávez (eds.) Mexico City, Mexico, 14–17 October 2014 BUILDING TECNIQUES OF FORTIFIED STRUCTURES IN KINIK HÖYÜK ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATION (TURKEY) V. Cinieri1, L. D'Alfonso2 and M. Morandotti1,3 1 Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Pavia via Ferrata, 1, Pavia, Italy e-mail: [email protected] 2 Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University 15 E 84th St, New York, NY 10028, United States e-mail: [email protected] 3 Directorate of the Interdepartmental Centre of Studies and Research on cultural heritage Conserva- tion (CISRiC), University of Pavia, Italy e-mail: [email protected] Keywords: Archaeological Heritage, Stone Masonry, Mud plaster, Building Techniques. Abstract. The archaeological heritage is the result of a phase of the human civilization and, beyond the artistic-monumental values, it is material testimony of the human work and «un- limited» source of knowledge. In this perspective, archaeological excavations at Kınık Höyük, in southern Cappadocia (Turkey) started on initiative of a multidisciplinary team of research- ers from the University of Pavia (Italy), the New York University (USA), CNRS (France) and the Universities of Niğde and Erzurum (Turkey). At Kınık Höyük there were found traces of a site that was inhabited for about 4000 years. Among the remains revealed, it is especially important the portion of the citadel walls along the north side of the mound in the centre of the archaeological site, which presents different architectural phases, the last one dating back to the Late Bronze Age (15th-12th c. B.C.E.). The paper describes part of a multidisciplinary research, still in progress, that aims at devel- oping a study about the operating principle of the architectural elements of the citadel walls and practical and social motivations that undergo the use of this technique and, later, the abandonment of the site and the technologies. However this paper is focused on the investigation of building techniques. The dry masonry shows some interesting building peculiarities, as the good preserved mud plaster and the presence of wooden fragments in regular hole's rows, which are visible on the façade. The comparison between the cases mentioned in bibliography and other architectures in pre-classical Anatolia highlights the particularity of the building techniques of the citadel walls in Kınık Höyük. These consideration induced to start a research in order to investigate the Iron Age building technology in this territory, but also with the aim to learn skills for the purpose of planning preservation actions respectful of the historical building features. V. Cinieri, L. D'Alfonso and M. Morandotti INTRODUCTION Kınık Höyük is in Southern Cappadocia, in the province of Niğde, and its region is charac- terized by the alluvial plain of Bor-Ereğli, surrounded by mountains. In particular Kınık Höyük is at the foot of Melendiz Dağlari, volcanic mountain north of the Bor-Ereğli plain [1]. The region had a strategic importance due to its favourable position on one of the main routes connecting Central Anatolia to the eastern regions (Cilicia, Syria and Mesopotamia), through the passes of the Taurus mountains [2], but also because of the richness in raw materials (gold, silver, tin, iron, obsidian, alabaster, marble) useful for a huge local production [1]. So, the territory is evidently important from a historical, archaeological and geological point of view, but it had been quite unknown – especially about the pre-classical period – until 2006, when the University of Pavia started a series of archaeological surveys [3], followed by the international archaeological excavations of Kınık Höyük in 2011 (University of Pavia, New York University, University of Niğde and Erzurum) [4][5]. Among the mapped archaeological sites of the surveyed area, the peculiar features (dimen- sions, position, and type of findings) of Kınık Höyük leaded to assign a key role to it in Southern Cappadocia, at least for the timespan between 1500-150 B.C.E. The mound lies about 1 Km from Bayat village and it is c. 2 Km far from the route connecting Bor and Aksaray, through Altunhisar. Kınık Höyük is c. 20 m high and 180 m in diameter, rising on a squared terrace that is about 300 m wide. The abundance of ceramics surrounding fields proves also the existence of a lower town and, including these fields, the site is 24ha [1][2]. In 2010, magnetic and ground-penetrating radar surveys showed an elliptic stone structure, which encircles the mound, showing traces of a defensive city walls (Figure 1) [6] and in 2011 excavations started. Operations on northern and south-western parts brought to light remains of a portion of the walls [7]. Their features and the good preservation status of the mud plastering motivated a research about its construction techniques. The intention to put in place a preservation programme and a valorisation plan makes further important investigations. Figure 1: At left: map of Kınık Höyük (A. Savioli). At right: plan of the northern walls remains (L. Davighi). 2 Building techniques of fortified structures in Kınık Höyük archaeological excavation (Turkey) BUILDING TECHNIQUES OF THE CITADEL WALLS IN KINIK HÖYÜK 1.1 Building technologies of archaeological remains: aims and methods of analysis Studies about construction technologies grew notably in importance in the field of ancient architecture research and in particular in the area of archaeological excavations. Indeed it is known that materials and building techniques permit to carry out chronological and cultural distinctions like the analysis of other artefacts (e.g. remains of ceramic) [8]. In ancient times, building traditions arose on the empirical experience of craftsmen who, through trial and error, came to the creation of a building element [9]. The craftsman started from the selection of raw materials considered suitable for the intended purpose and therefore he experimented extraction and processing techniques until the production of a "correct" arti- fact [10]. He wasn’t fully aware of the link between starting elements (raw materials, processing methods, assembling systems, etc.) and final product, he knew only the memory of his sequence of actions: the stabilised sequence became the rule to be followed [11]. Each built environment is a unique and unrepeatable event, especially due to the materials and their use. Indeed building traditions were closely linked to nature of territories and to forms of civilization and of production. Since prehistoric times the development of sedentary ways of life lead to adapt the architecture to territories according to the “principle of least effort”: local raw materials were used in the most profitable method with construction techniques empirically and especially studied. The local origin of technologies brought also to the invention of environment which was created to meet specific climate features and particular cultures, political and economic systems [8][10]. Socio-economic and political challenges influenced the organization of lifestyles and then the architecture, so the building remains may constitute important historical documents. Howev- er, in the field of archeology there is often a lack of information, in part because research in- terests were focused more on moveable assets, but above all because of the poor preservation status of excavated architectural remains [7]. Restorations of archaeological artefacts are generally difficult and expensive due to the ad- vanced decay of the structures when the interventions are usually put in place. The architectural remains, unlike movable assets, are generally not protected during excavations and, at the end of the activities, if the restoration is still possible, the criticalities are increased com- pared to the initial situation. Moreover there are damages caused by habitual interventions as the integration of lacunas and the protection of the walls’ tops, which homogenize the construction features and disguise original building techniques as well as stratigraphic relation- ships between different parts [12]. Therefore the study of construction techniques and the preliminary diagnostic investigations are fundamental for the historical knowledge and for conservation programs which should be planned before decay produces unrecoverable material losses and so the research about construction techniques of city walls at Kınık Höyük is developed in this point of view. In order to know potentialities of materials, building systems, traditions, used safety measures, it is necessary to find the phases of the construction site and to analyse the individ- ual components of the building system. In fact, particularly with regard to the most ancient excavations, epigraphic documents do not provide deepened information that are able to com- plete the data of the archeological investigation. In addition, iconography and models of architectures provide symbolic images – maybe imaginary – that give an aleatory idea of construction details, because they are easily subject to subjective interpretations [7], even if in some cases models were used for the material reconstruction of buildings [13]. The research on Kınık Höyük is organized in phases and at first in situ investigations started. 3 V. Cinieri, L. D'Alfonso and M. Morandotti In this phase first samplings were conducted in order to make laboratory diagnosis.

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