Avkat Survey Project

The Avkat project involves an archaeological survey of the region surrounding the village of Avkat, or Beyözü, in the area of Mecitözü, east of Çorum. The village has been identified as ancient Euchaita and the survey aims to place it in its regional perspective while investigating the long-term changes in landscape use and socio-economic structures in a rural Anatolian hinterland. The region is known to contain settlement remains from the Bronze Age to the Ottoman period. The project is led by John Haldon (Princeton University), High Elton (Trent University) and James Newhard (College of Charleston).

2008

The results of the first two years of survey have allowed a more detailed understanding of the occupation of the region of Avkat/Beyözü than was previously possible. A total area of almost 6.5 square kilometres has been surveyed with GIS to identify artefact patterns. These show a dispersed settlement pattern with village settlements and occasional isolated farmsteads, with increasing intensification in the Roman period. Roman and Byzantine spolia, including milestones, have allowed the identification of the main Roman road running east-west through the valley.

Occupation is now known to have begun in the Palaeolithic period, as an open-air Middle Palaeolithic site was identified just north of the village. The region has also produced pottery of all periods from Early Bronze Age (possibly Chalcolithic) to Ottoman. Brown and black burnished pottery of Late Bronze Age date was among the material collected, as might be expected in this valley close to the Hittite heartland.

There is no historical record of Hellenistic or Roman occupation in the area before mentions of Euchaita as the centre of the cult of St Theodore Tiro in the 3rd or 4th century AD. The site was fortified and became the seat of a bishop under Anastasius I (490-518). This fortified city had a fortress on the hill (Kale Tepesi) behind it and was part of the eastern frontier defences of the Byzantine Empire. The town of Euchaina, also in this area, was the centre of the cult of St Theodore "the General" from the 10th century. In the 11th century the area was conquered by the Seljuks and was later incorporated into the area of Ottoman rule.

Finds from the survey confirm Beyözü as the site of Euchaita. Quantities of later Roman and Byzantine spolia were found there, as well as coins and other finds from the end of the 6th century AD to the 10th or 11th century. Architectural pieces include capitals of palmette and impost type. These would have come from the church. The geophysical survey of Kalesi Tepesi revealed the fortification wall and gateway, as well as structures and a possible cistern.

2007

The site is in the next valley north from Ortaköy (Hittite Şappinuwa) and Late Bronze Age pottery has been found in the area. The next period for which settlement is definitely attested is late Roman/Byzantine, when Euchaita is recorded as the centre of the cult of St Theodore Tiro. From the 7th century it was a Byzantine military base until the area was conquered by the Seljuks. Under the Ottomans Beyözü was a small rural village.

The area was surveyed with GPR radar, a total station and geomagnetic resonance. Many spolia from a Byzantine stone church and fourteen tombstones were identified in the village and there may have been a second church south of the village. On Kale Tepesi, behind the village, a defensive wall 2-3 m high was documented and it may have had an associated ditch.

Bibliography

John Haldon, Hugh Elton and James Newhard, "The Avkat archaeological project", Anatolian Archaeology 14 (2008), 17-20

Website

The project website is at
http://www.princeton.edu/avkat/