Anatolia has been long home to many ancient civilizations and it has many well preserved great Archaeological sites. Until the advent of modernity the landscape of Turkey had remained as it was through millennia. Even today vernacular architecture has strong similarity with the first agrarian villages dating back to almost 7,000 B.C. The settlement pattern is more or less how it was during the time of the ancient civilizations. Modern roads are laid down on the tracks trodden by great warriors of the East and the West and by colourful caravans along the Silk route.
Van citadel |
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Prehistoric sites
Çatalhöyük (also Çatal Höyük and Çatal Hüyük), a very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlement. At Çavustepe, (Çavustepe Cavustepe Haikapert) there is an Urartian Castle with Urartian cuneiform inscriptions.
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Çatalhöyük
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Roman era
Hippodrome of Constantinople (Istanbul). The "Serpentine Column", what remains today of the Tripod of Plataea, an ancient Greek sacrificial tripod originally located in Delphi. The obelisk of Theodosius, carved from pink granite, it was originally erected at the Temple of Karnak in Luxor in about 1490 BC. Another obelisk known as the Walled Obelisk built by the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus in the x c, originally covered with gilded bronze plaques, only the stone core survives today.
The archaeology museum of Konia houses some finds from Roman times like the sarcophagus from Pamphylia depicting the Twelve Labors of Hercules.
Konia |
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Eastern Turkey
Quite distinct in culture and history most of the Sites of this region are of the earliest civilizations. Nemrut or Nemrud (Nemrut Dag or Nemrut Dagi) tomb-sanctuary of King Antiochus I of Commagene with huge statues of the king himself and various Greek and Persian gods. Hosap Castle (Hosap kalesi) a large medieval castle built by a local Kurdish lord. The Fortress of Van (Van Citadel) a massive stone Urartu fortification, overlooking Tushpa the capital of the ancient kingdom of Urartu (today Van).
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Nemrut Mountain
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