GEVALE KALESİ ARAŞTIRMALARI
Authors: ÇAYCI Ahmet , ŞİMŞİR Zekeriya 
Published: November 2023

Gevale Castle is located on a volcanic hill 10 km west of Konya. It contains signs of life starting from the Hittites to the end of the Karamanoğlu Principality period. Especially before the Anatolian Seljuks conquered Konya, they achieved political, military and psychological superiority by taking this castle. In addition to its importance in Anatolian Seljuk History, the castle, which was the shelter and shelter of the sultans, has become an important place in terms of hosting political history. Anatolian Seljuk History has become more understandable thanks to the information in the sources and the classification and analysis of concrete cultural assets obtained in excavations. This research and findings will be briefly mentioned here. As a result of scientific excavations that have continued since 2013, many objects, referred to as small finds, have been obtained along with the architectural spaces of the castle. If we need to list the architectural places, we should start with the temple structure that dates back to the ancient period. This structure, built in rock carving style, consists of a single room and a vaulted space. As for the city walls surrounding the castle, it is observed that they contain uninterrupted examples from the Hittite period to the Anatolian Principalities period. There are also many cistern structures, which are examples of water architecture on a castle scale. Since these have different forms and architectural arrangements, they can be expressed as signs of period differences in the castle. Again, two bath structures are among the important examples of the group of buildings here. It is understood that one of the buildings, which can be classified as large and small baths, was used by high-level administrators such as the sultan and the castle governor, and the other small bath was allocated to the castle employees. We would like to emphasize that only the mihrab niche of the mosque structure used as a place of worship is prominent. It is understood that the spaces on the outskirts of the castle were used as kitchens for cooking. The actual viewing pavilion or the place where the sultan was hosted has not survived to the present day, but due to the finds in the castle and its location, it must have been inevitable that it was located on the southern side of the castle. It should be noted that thanks to the excavations that have been going on for years, many small objects have been unearthed in the castle. Many ceramics that can be described as glazed or unglazed have been obtained. Especially the abundance of vessels from the Anatolian Seljuk period is important in revealing the medieval dimension of this castle. Again, many Seljuk ceramic lamps were obtained. In addition to these, the fact that “cellodon” vessels and vessel fragments were found indicates the importance of the castle. We need to point out the abundance of metal finds. Defense tools of the Middle Ages, especially arrowheads, were obtained. Spear, dagger and knife-style cutting tools are other finds of this category. Metal containers were also unearthed along with metal kitchen utensils, which were daily items of the period. We would like to inform you that the days when the castle, which is the “lock of Konya”, will be opened to visitors with the restoration activities are very soon. Thus, it is clear that the castle, which was formed as an archaeological site, will create a new visiting area for the city of Konya as a viewing area along with its historical richness.For more detailed information, please refer to the Extended Abstract at the end of the text