KALEHİSAR ÖREN YERİ KAZI ÇALIŞMALARI (2019-2022)
Authors: ŞAHİN Mustafa Kemal 
Published: November 2023

Mid- Black Sea Region (Çorum-Amasya-Tokat-Samsun-Sinop-Kastamonu) are places of significance in addition to being port cities, they are the doors opening to the expanding settlement in Anatolia. Determining the proportion of the architectural bodies and typlogical diversity in the region pose significance in revealing the intellectual, sociological and architectural Seljukid presence, which forms the subject matter of this research. Despite the the fact that a great of researches have been conducted in the aforementioned region, not any research on the development of Seljukid architecture has not yet been conducted. In tje environs of Çorum, one of the significant Seljukid settlement, has a number of surviving architectual bodies; however very few of them are known and examined in detail. One of the significant urban concentration sites in mid-Black Sea Region, within the Anatolian Seljuk period, is usually Çorum, specifically Kalehisar. The surface survey carried out by means of geophysical methods in 2019 revealed that there are new buildings apart from the known seminary, bath and inn/caravanserai buildings. The surface surveys conducted in the seminary and the nearby area revealed new findings and buildings which could be dated to pre-Seljuk period, which brought the significance of the town in question anew. In addition to being the only town in mid-Black Sea among the known other Anatolian Seljuk towns, Kalehisar proves that the town has much more developed and deeper historical background than usual estimations. The typology of the newly discovered buildings seems to offer great contributions to the future researches which we consider continuing. And we believe that Kalehisar, which was a prominent ceramic production site, seems to provide enough information to change our views on ceramic production. Apart from the above mentioned researches, we did detailed drawings of the seminary and found considerable amount of information about its function and how to solve the problems of the building. This survey conducted in 2019 provided a different standpoint on buildings built in Çorum during Anatiolian Seljuk period. Kalehisar is of growing significance as a town in mid-Blacksea Region and of Anatolian Seljuk period, contrary to usual climate of thought, showing great promises in terms of architectural, ceramic and coin findings as a town of Anatolian Seljuk. The Surface Survey of 2020 has been conducted in Caravanserai and Castle. Today the Caravanserai is under threat of collapsing; losing its integral unity it needs reconstruction work to start as soon as possible. In terms of its architectural style it poses significance as a single inn/caravanserai?; the building in detail has been mapped by drawing and photographing. Despite the fact that it is known as a caravanserai, the building poses some functional problems like having unusual pattern in its plan and therefore requires an examination in detail. Though a research was conducted Prof. Dr. Oktay Aslanapa in 1965-1966, the constructional problems still remain. For this reason the building needs to be associated with other architectural bodies, which will constitute a preliminary groundwork for further excavation researches. For more detailed information, please refer to the Extended Abstract at the end of the text