İkiztepe is an archaeological excavation site at

Bafra Bafra is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Samsun Province, Turkey. Covering about 1,500 km2, and with over 140,000 inhabitants it is a settlement located from the Black Sea, in the fertile Kızılırmak Delta. The Bafra Pl ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

in the Kızılırmak delta, near the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

coast. Although İkiztepe means "twin mounds" in Turkish, the site contains four mounds and a burial ground amidst those. İkiztepe II mound contains the earliest findings. Most of the findings are dated to the

Early Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

, but the earliest finds date back to possibly the sixth millennium BCE. Finds from İkiztepe exhibit similarities to material of the same age found elsewhere in

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

. There are also parallels with findings from Eastern Europe. Among the artifacts found are pottery, metalworks and spindle whorls. According to one theory, the

Bosphorus The Bosporus or Bosphorus Strait ( ; , colloquially ) is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul, Turkey. The Bosporus connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and forms one of the continental bo ...

might have been blocked temporarily during the

Late Chalcolithic The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in diff ...

to Early Bronze Ages, exposing a wider shoreline at the coast of the

, making it possible to easily travel from

Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city ** Varna Province ** Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna ** Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis * Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy * Varna (Šabac), a village in Serbia Asia * Var ...

to İkiztepe region. Ikiztepe is located very close to both copper and arsenic deposits. Many high quality

arsenical copper Arsenical copper contains up to 0.5% arsenic which, at elevated temperatures, imparts higher tensile strength and a reduced tendency to scaling. It is typically specified in boiler work, especially locomotive fireboxes. It also helps prevent embri ...

items were found here. There are rich arsenic ores at the Duragan mine nearby which were used to make arsenical copper alloys. Duragan arsenic mines were in use for a very long time, and they were even commented upon by the ancient geographer

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

. The Hittite city of

Zalpuwa Zalpa (also called Zalba, Zalpah, Zalpuwa) were ancient regions mentioned in Assyrian, Mari and Hittite records. The toponyms appear in a variety of forms and contexts and likely refer to multiple similarly named regions. They have been located on ...

is sometimes associated with İkiztepe. However, this identification is not certain. The large amount of textile materials (spindle whorls) found in the site may indicate sailing activity. The excavations in İkiztepe started in 1974 and continued intermittently into the 21st century. 690 skeletons were found.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ikiztepe Archaeological sites of prehistoric Anatolia Samsun Province

See also

References