Turkey: from Catal Huyuk to Gobekli Tepe

We begin with one of the oldest settlements anywhere in the world: Çatal Hüyük, which comprises two tells rising 20m up from the plain. One of the largest and most distinctive sites of the Neolithic period, dating 7500-6500 BC, it is exceptional in its layout of closely packed houses with roof access into the buildings. In the afternoon we explore the remote, early Byzantine site of Binbir Kilise complete with Syriac style churches, monasteries and houses.

Before we leave Konya, we visit the Mevlana Museum, former tekke (dervish hall) and mausoleum of the famous Sufi mystic Rumi, the Karatay Madrasa, an excellent example of Selçuk Turkish architecture, and the Alaeddin Mosque with its typically Selçuk ’forest’ of columns and very early ebony prayer platform. After lunch we make the long journey to Göreme.

Engaging with the regional culture this morning we visit a local co-operative which produces Anatolian rugs, a tradition which has integrated different motifs and practices introduced by the Armenians and Caucasian and Kurdish tribes. Afterwards we head out to the Sarıhan Caravansary, one of the many which once serviced the Selçuk trade route from Konya to Kayseri. After lunch we continue to our main visit of the day at Göreme Open Air Museum. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is a fairy tale landscape of eroded volcanic tuffs, full of rock-cut churches of the mid-Byzantine period which bear witness to the faith, fervour and tenacity of devout Christian communities, beset both by Arab raiders and the persecutions of the Iconoclastic movement.

We start our explorations of Cappadocia with a visit to the Ihlara Valley, a beautiful, verdant gorge occupied by a fast-flowing river. The gorge is believed to have contained more than four thousand dwellings and a hundred churches cut into the rocks, used for worship by early Christian communities. We will explore some of these churches this morning before moving on to visit Aşıklı Höyük, an impressive settlement mound comprised of layers dated between 9000 and 7400 BC, and which developed in part owing to its proximity to an important obsidian source.

Today we head south, stopping en route at the extraordinary underground city of Derinkuyu. This is one of the largest and most accessible of many such Byzantine settlements. Little is known of their true function, however, with such a geology at their disposal, it may almost have been as easy to dig down as build up. We continue our journey south across the Anatolian plateau before crossing the formidable Taurus range and dropping down to the fertile Cilician Plain to overnight at Adana.

This morning we visit Adana Archaeology Museum, which houses a fine collection of Hittite artefacts. We continue east and rise into wooded mountains to visit the eight century BC fortress palace of Karatepe, now located in an archaeological park. A bilingual text inscribed on the gate here reveals the name of the neo-Hittite ruler who build the fortress: “I am indeed Azatiwatas, The Blessed of the Sun, the servant of the Storm-God, whom Awarikus exalted, king of Adanawa…”. The twin gateways of the fortress palace are lined with relief-carved figurative slabs.

Our main focus this morning is the Zeugma Mosaic Museum, which contains the very fine Roman mosaics from Zeugma, a city which stood on a crossing of the Euphrates river, and which has now been largely flooded by the construction of the Birecik Dam. We also visit the town of Halfeti, itself partially submerged as a result of the same project. Here we can see houses and minarets emerging from the water, and further up the river the monumental bulk of the largely Medieval fortress Rumkale.

We start the day today with a walk around historic Gaziantep and explore the citadel, largely built by Turkish Mamluks in the 13th – 16th centuries. The citadel itself lies on top of existing Roman walls and a Neolithic tell. The bazaars are full of copper ware, dried pepper flakes and pistachio nuts, and the mosques betray the influence of the Arab lands to the south. Indeed, Gaziantep is reminiscent of Aleppo, some 50 miles away in Syria. In the afternoon we take the long but scenic road north to overnight at Adiyaman, at the foot of 7,000 ft high Mount Nemrut. 

We spend the day with the rulers and monuments of the Commagenian kingdom today – beginning at the Roman bridge at Cendere, built by the Legio XVI Flavia Firma in the reign of Septimius Severus around AD 200, and the Karakuş (Black Bird) Tumulus, probably built to cover the burials of the mother, sister and niece of Antiochus’ son and successor. After lunch we continue to the remote hilltop site of Mount Nemrut (UNESCO World Heritage Site), where Antiochus I had a monumental sanctuary constructed to promote his rule, comprising the world’s largest tumulus and a collection of huge statues of the gods and of himself.

This morning we journey to Şanlıurfa where we visit Şanlıurfa Museum, a huge complex completed in 2015 and home to a treasure trove of finds. Its exhibition halls contain a remarkable series of finds from the Neolithic sites around Şanlıurfa, as well as a life-size reconstruction of one of the stone circles at Gobekli Tepe, along with Assyrian, Babylonian, Hittite, Neolithic, and Bronze Age artefacts. Adjoining the main museum another large structure houses a superb collection of in-situ late-Roman/early Byzantine mosaics, once part of the palace of the rulers of the kingdom of Osroene.

Our morning is dedicated to the excavations at Gobekli Tepe, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018. Situated on top of a rounded hill in the anti-Taurus mountains a few miles northeast of Şanlıurfa, this spectacular early Neolithic complex, an extraordinary series of structures centred on carved megaliths up to 5 metres in height, has challenged the conventional view that only settled societies could produce monumental architecture. In the afternoon we continue further east and south to the remote site of Karahantepe, where a series of circular enclosures and T-shaped monoliths (250 of them) have been uncovered. The 10-hectare site, along with Göbekli Tepe, forms one of the so called Taş Tepeler (Stone Hills) sites in the region.

Today we explore more of Şanlıurfa. We view the Pools of Abraham, filled with sacred carp. It was here that Muslim teachings tell how Abraham was thrown into the fire by Nimrod, but upon landing in the fire the flames were turned into water and the logs into fish. Şanlıurfa is Turkey’s most Middle Eastern city, and we continue our exploration of this bustling place with a foray into the labyrinthine bazaar, a glass of tea in the courtyard of an Ottoman caravanserai and ascent of the rocky citadel for splendid views of the old city.

After breakfast this morning we head to Şanlıurfa airport for our return journey to the UK.