1997 Season
Systematic Survey in the Demirci Valley
 
The 1997 season objectives were focused on the documentation of settlement in the Demirci valley, which opens onto the sea about 15 km south of the port. The Demirci valley was an excellent place to begin systematic investigations because a Roman industrial settlement at its mouth has been under investigation by Dr. D. Kassab-Tezgör in collaboration with the Sinop Museum for several years (Kassab-Tezgör and Tatlican 1996). 

A high proportion of the valley is under cultivation providing the survey with comparable visibility throughout. 

 
Landscape in the Demirci Valley, 15 km south of Sinop

It is essential that a survey control carefully for site visibility, because it is as important to document where sites are not as it is to identify the sites themselves. We survey just as carefully off-site as we do on-site, because we want to understand many different kinds of land use, not only settlements.  Only with careful documentation can we come to an understanding of the ancient inhabitants' choices of where to settle and how to use various natural resources (e.g. fertile soils, springs) and cultural-economic resources (e.g. roads, access to markets). 

 
Plan, Demirci Valley survey

The survey covered 153 fields (tracts) during the 1997 season, with each field worker walking transects separated by 10 m. The position and shape of each tract and all transects covered were carefully recorded. A total of 45 sites were documented in the Demirci valley, ranging from the Chalcolithic (ca. 2500 B.C.) to Ottoman (19th c. AD) in date. 

The most extensive period of settlement was the late Roman - early Byzantine (about 3rd - 7th centuries AD). This extensive settlement pattern must reflect the expansion of agricultural exploitation of the valley in support of the industrial facilities on the coast.  Similar results have been observed in other parts of the Roman world, when long prosperity, improved infrastructure and the increased security of long Roman military domination encouraged widespread rural settlement. 
 
A concentration of pottery kilns along the northern ridge probably supported the storage and distribution of agricultural products in the inner valley. Although the inner valley does appear to have been producing goods for export, hardly any imported pottery was recorded further than 1.5 km inland. Perhaps the farmers of the inner Demirci valley produced food that was consumed as part of the broader regional economy, they consumed primarily local goods and commodities.
Kiln site from T010, Demirci Valley
 
 

In 1997 exploratory survey was made in the inland Boyabat Valley in preparation for future surveys in the area. The valley is sheltered from the coastal zone by high (2,000 m+) mountains and thick forests. The Gökirmak river runs through the center of the valley, meeting the Kizilirmak (anc. Halys) at the modern town of Duragan. 

The Halys Valley was the most important corridor for traffic from Central Anatolia to the Black Sea in ancient times. Rocky masses thrust out of these eroded landscapes, providing excellent lookouts for controlling the valleys.
 
 
 

The 1997 survey documented two citadels evidently constructed with defensive purposes in mind at Salar köy and at Pervane near the modern town of Boyabat. Other means of marking territory clearly in this region include impressive rock-cut tombs like the one cut into the bedrock beneath the citadel at Salar. 
 
 
 

 

below: Hellenistic Rock-cut Tomb 
at Salar koy, in the Gokirmak Valley
above:Salar köy citadel, an underground passageway
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