Kerkenes Daq; A Median Colony or A Phrygian City?

Kerkenes Daq is one of the most important archaeological sites of Iron age in the Near East. It is situated at the northern edge of the Cappadocia plain in the Yozgat province of Turkey. Several seasons of archaeological surveys and excavations which has been conducted in this place, resulted in recognition of a city with an extraordinary size of 2.5 km2, surrounded by the long defensive stone wall of seven km. with seven gates. It included of sections with different purposes, such as military, residential, commercial, as well as various separate public and private structures as reservoir, stables, palatial complex with a monumental entrance, inscriptions, reliefs, and statues. Introducing the strategic situation, characteristics of the archaeological material of the site, we will try to recognize the original identity of Kerkenes, according to the material culture, and linguistic evidences, as well as written sources. Therefore, after a critical review of the earlier literature and hypotheses mentioned by different scholars on the under-study subject, it is proposed that this city with a royal scale, and as a regional center, probably is the Pteria, mentioned in the Herodotus’ Medikos Logos, and ruined in the 545 B.C., by the Lydians who craved for the revival of their rule after the Assyrian and Urartian powers’ fall. This event is attested through the excavations by traces of an extensively deliberate fire, destruction and looting the structures. At this time, around half of a century had just being passed since the time of foundation of the city. According to the linguistic, archaeological material, the late seventh century and the early sixth century B.C. is the most probable date for the short life of this site. Furthermore, in contrast to the Summers’ opinion which takes Median elites as the founders of the sites, we discuss that there is no data in favor of that assumption. Remains of Kerekenes, represent a mixed style of motifs, rules, and visual elements, adopted from diverse artistic traditions of different cultural zones and flourished in an era of complicated socio-political interaction between organized societies inside and around the Central Anatolia. However, one can see that these materials, display the western influence, rather than the eastern impact. Bearing in mind the fact that artistic and architectural remains of Kerkenes Daq either have parallels inside Anatolia or are unique, we have to recall that in this collection, there is no available sign of the direct influence of Media. On the other side, the context of the Kerkenes Daq’s material culture are closer to the Phrygian culture than any other one. Beside the parallels of the Phrygian samples of the Central Anatolia and Phrygian inscriptions which acquired from Kerekenes, the historical context of the Near East in the initial centuries of the first millennium B.C. verifies the Phrygian identity of the sites’ founders. In this context, Phrygian tribes got the chance to revive their rule and replace the former Gordion with the strong Kerkenes in such a strategic position. This site is situated in the southeast of Boğazkale and northwest of Alişar Hüyük, respectively with 50 and 20 km. distance from. Consequently, one can imagine that the Phrygian population of the Kerekenes were not isolated.