Less than an hour, 3.6 km. Off-road part may be muddy due to irrigation; moderately steep for a short distance. Closed-toe shoes are recommended.
This walk features the geology, botany, archaeology, recent history, and
culture of the Gordion region. The most notable characteristic of this landscape is
the many tumuli (burial mounds) that dot the region. Most date to the Middle
Phrygian period (ca. 800-500 BC), a time of great wealth (King Midas).
Tumuli were meant to be seen. Many are located on the horizon line, where
they would have shown the power of the rulers that had them built.
The walk starts and ends at the Gordion Museum in a 3.6 km loop (plus any
wandering about). Or, if you are already at the
Citadel
Mound and want to walk to the museum, you can pick up the south ridge
tour [2.8 km total], or take a side trip back through the village (total
4.4 km total].
You can appreciate the beauty of this ancient place best early in the morning
or late in the afternoon. You cannot get lost: as long as the big tumulus,
Tumulus MM
is in view, you can always figure out how to get back to the
museum.
Summary of the route
[White trail] From the museum [1] turn right and walk to the end of the museum grounds, within which is a small native plant garden [2]. Turn right again and follow the dirt road to the drainage ditch; turn right [3]. Walk parallel to the drainage ditch until you reach the bridge [4]. Cross the bridge and make your way in a generally southeast direction; if they haven't been cut down, you will see a couple of tamarisk trees [5]. Pass just to the right of the one on the left, and head in a southwesterly direction; as you near the ridge [6], go off-road and make your way to it by walking along the field boundaries [6]. Make your way across the ridge and turn in a northeasterly direction until you meet a dirt road [7]. After you cross the ditch, turn left [8]. About 200 meters further along, turn right in the direction of Tumulus MM to return to the museum.
[Blue trail] If you start from the Citadel mound, make your way across the plain to the tamarisks at point [5], and pick up the 'white' trail to return to the museum [total: 2.8 km]. To go through the village, walk parallel to the ditch about 800 m and then follow the 'yellow' trail [total: 4.4 km].
The landscape you are walking in has been populated for over 4,000 years.
Most of the tumuli (indicated by stars) were constructed between about 800 and
500 BC, so they were already old when Alexander the Great passed through on
his way to conquer Asia. They have been part of the landscape for each
succeeding generation. We hope that they will last another 2500 years, but
given the rate of agricultural development and suburban expansion, that
remains an open question. Protection of these mounds is not a technical
problem, but rather a political and economic one.
[1] Start at the Museum and Tumulus MM
Tumulus MM is across the street from the museum. From a distance, it is the
most prominent feature of the landscape, but as you stand in the streeet, your
view of this 53-m burial mound is obscured by street trees. The fence was
erected in 1995 to reduce erosion by encouraging plant growth
[Tumulus MM
tour]. Facing MM from the museum, turn right and walk to the end of the
museum grounds.
[2] Native plant garden and Tumulus P
Turn right between the small native plant garden just inside the museum
fence and Tumulus P.
[Make a detour to the top of Tumulus P if you are interested in the
Gordion Landscape
Overview tour.] Follow the dirt road to the drainage ditch; turn right.
Archaeology: Tumulus P was excavated in 1956. It was
constructed for a child's burial; one of its most famous artifacts is a ceramic
goose, on display in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara.
Culture: Depending on the time of your visit (before 9 AM is
best), you may still see flocks of sheep and goat accompanied by a shepherd,
donkey, and dog.
If you see a flock of sheep or goats
Be aware that there may also be a dog of the same general size, shape, and color. DO NOT get between the dog and its flock.
[3] Drainage ditch
Walk parallel to the drainage ditch until you reach the culvert.
Geology: The mountain to the east (behind you) is called Dua
Tepe; its basalt substrate gives the soil a reddish color. Sometime in the
past 2000 years, the native juniper and oak were cut down, leading to massive
erosion of soil onto the plain. This 'colluvium' is up to 4 meters deep.
Botany: The vegetation along the roadside is subject to much
abuse by animals and tractors. The constant soil disturbance permits only a
limited variety of plants to grow, such as 'Syrian rue'
(Peganum harmala; üzerlik in Turkish).
Archaeology: Several tumuli (some excavated, some not) are on
the rise to your right. When the valley bottom was lower (i.e., before the 4
meters of colluvium were deposited), the tumuli would have been an even more
impressive site. It seems likely, therefore, that the ancient road paralleled
the valley bottom to the south of these tumuli, unlike the modern road.
Recent history: The excavation house (the building on the
high point ahead of you toward the right) was built in the 1950s on a couple
of excavated tumuli.
Culture: In the 1990s, a drainage ditch was dug to the Sakarya
river to reduce flooding from the uplands.
[4] Culvert
Cross the culvert and then make your way in a generally southeast direction.
Geology: You can get an idea of the scale of
erosion at the ditch. The bottom of the ditch is more than 2 m above the
surface of 2000 years ago.
Botany: Reeds (Phragmites) and Cat-tails
(Typha) thrive in the intermittently wet ditch bottom.
Archaeology: Despite the deep colluvial deposits,
archaeologists have found stone blocks from the extensive ancient settlement.
Recent history: In the distance to the northwest, you can see
the village of Kıranharmanı, settled by Bulgarian Turks who came to
the region during the population exchanges after the War of Independence
(upper vegetation line).
Culture: In 1957, the government dredged and straightened a
stretch of the Sakarya river. Before that time, the plain flooded annually;
even rice was grown. Water also flowed from mountain springs. The government
dug the drainage ditch that you are now crossing in the 1990s to channel the
runoff into the Sakarya (lower vegetation line). [You can see the straightened
channel and the meander of the 'Eski' (former) Sakarya at the lower left
corner of the second image in the tour.]
[4.5] Sakarya plain toward the ridge
As you make your way across the plain, it is easiest to follow the various tractor tracks; if they haven't been cut down, you will see a couple of tamarix trees.
Geology: The red clayey soil on which you are walking is over
4 meters deep in the center of the plain, having eroded from the uplands to
the east.
Botany: The plain is overgrazed; depending on the time of year
and rainfall, you might see many grasses and other annual plants or just
perennials (e.g.,
Camphorosma monspeliaca). As you walk
toward the ridge, you might be lucky enough (in June or early July) to see
'Bells of Ireland' (Molucella laevis) poking
up from the clay.
Archaeology: Towards the west, you can see the flat Gordion
Citadel mound, 'Yassıhöyük'; the mound to the right is
Kuştepe and the one to the left is the Küçük
Höyük, both part of the fortification system of Middle Phrygian and
later Gordion.
Recent history: The battle of the Sakarya was fought here
(August 23-September 19, 1921); there are traces of military defenses on the
top of the flat mound, and archaeologists have found spent shells from the
battle.
Culture: The main cash crops today are onions and sugarbeet,
but in this region you might also see fields of wheat, alfalfa, sunflower, and
safflower. The fields are over a kilometer from the river. Although they are
heavily irrigated, you do not see canals. With moveable plastic pipe, water
can be brought as far as 2 kilometers from the Sakarya; without pumps, this
gentle rise near the ridge would have to be dryfarmed.
Camphorosma monspeliaca
Molucella laevis
[5] Tamarisk trees between plain and cultivated slope of ridge
Pass just to the right of the tamarisk on the left, and head in a
southwesterly direction; as you near the ridge, go off-road and make your way
to the ridge following along the field boundaries.
Geology: A light colored gypseous marl ridge rises above the
surface of the relatively recent red colluvium. It is easy to mistake the
natural ridge fingers (towards the left) as tumuli, but as you approach, it
becomes clear that they are not circular piles but rocky outcrops.
Botany: Assuming no one has cut them down since this was
written, you will be heading between the two tamarisk trees. Tamarisk
(Tamarix; ılgın in Turkish) grows in poorly
drained areas like this plain. It is nibbled by the flocks.
Archaeology: Ahead of you to the left, you can see several
tumuli along the ridge. Although the tumuli look pretty impressive, they are
gradually being eaten away by irrigated fields on the far side.
Recent history: One of the tumuli has a telephone pole on top
of it!
Culture: The local name for this ridge is Deve Dengi,
literally translated as 'camel equivalent', but we can think of it as
camelback ridge.
[6] "Deve Dengi," the South Ridge
First, have a look back toward the plain:
Geology: As you leave the fields behind, the clayey red soil
gives way to the gypseous marl of the ridge. The marls do not hold water as
well as the basaltic soils, and are more sustainably utilized as pasture than
as irrigated fields.
Botany: The weeds associated with irrigation have been
encroaching on the ridge pasture land for many years. Notice the buffer zone
where water-loving field weeds and steppe plants co-exist/fight it out
(depending on your basic assumptions about nature).
Archaeology: Towards the west, you can see the flat Gordion
Citadel mound, 'Yassıhöyük'; the mound to the right is Kuştepe
and the one to the left is the Küçük Höyük, both
part of the fortification system of Middle Phrygian and later Gordion. If you
have binoculars or a telephoto lens, you might be able to see the Gordion
Citadel Gate, shown in the inset. Arrowheads were found embedded in the
fortification wall of the Küçük Höyük.
Recent history: The battle of the Sakarya was fought here
(August 23-September 19, 1921); there are traces of military defenses on the
top of the flat mound, and archaeologists have found spent shells from the
battle.
Culture: Pasture is communally owned (by villages), and
fields are individually owned. Today, cheap, subsidized irrigation water, and
the unsubsidized cost of animal husbandry make cultivable land more valuable
for fields than for pasture. As a result, the area devoted to pasture, on
which native steppe plants thrive, is being unsustainably replaced by
monocropping and associated moisture-loving field weeds. The loss is to
biodiversity and future generations.
Make your way across the ridge and turn in a northeasterly direction until you meet a dirt road. But now that you're here, you might first want to wander about up here to look at tumuli, plants, and the lay of the land; the plants shown below bloom in June and July.
Geology: As you walk across the ridge, you will see a bright
white crystalline stone: gypsum. Gypsum and alabaster have the same chemical
composition,
calcium sulfate (CaSO4).
Botany: In this
overgrazed area, you may notice that many plants are spiny, which protects
them from the flocks and herds. Other plants produce strong phytochemicals in
their leaves that deter herbivory. A number of plants grow only on gypseous
soil, or tolerate it very well. If you are here at the right time of year
(June-early July), especially if the previous winter has been moist, you will
see many beautiful plants, some of which grow only in Anatolia.
Archaeology: You can see the tumuli close up if you walk
south; the excavated mounds on this ridge are Middle Phrygian in date.
Recent history: The Battle of the Sakarya was fought in this
region. The telephone pole dates to the 20th century.
Culture: You are now on ‘Deve Dengi’.
The grazing flocks leave their dung as they walk in
parallel lines across the soft surface of the ridge. So
even if you see no sheep or goats, you know that they have been here.
Some plants on the South Ridge
Centaurea virgata
Stipa lessingiana
Onobrychis tournefortii
Hedysarum varium
Jurinea pontica
Sheep or goat dung
[Back to text]
[7] Road to drainage ditch
Head in a northeasterly direction until you meet a dirt road. Follow it across the ditch and turn left.
Geology: Kızlarkayası (the cliff north of
Yassıhöyük) has a similar geology to the south ridge (on which
you are standing).
Botany: With severe grazing pressure, Artemisia
(sagebrush / wormwood, Turkish: yavşan) and Thymus (wild
thyme, Turkish: kekik) replace the native bunch grasses of the
central Anatolian steppe.
Archaeology: To the north, you can see the near tumuli, and
also a couple on the horizon line to the east (right) of the
Kızlarkayası cliff.
Recent history: The village of Yassıhöyük,
named after the flat Citadel mound, was first settled in the early part of the
20th century. Starting in the 1950s, the Penn Museum-sponsored excavation of
Gordion and some of the tumuli provided cash income to many of the village
households.
Culture: The material remains of the modern world are visible
in the present-day landscape: the water tower was under construction in 1982,
telephones came later, water from the river supplied pump-irrigation to
fields within a couple of kilometers of the river until the present-day
pumping station was installed (mid-1990s) on the Kızlarkayası ridge.
There is virtually no limit to irrigation until the river and water table are
pumped dry.
[8] Walk about 200 meters further along
You will be back to spot [3]; turn right in the direction of Tumulus MM to retrace your steps back to the museum and Tumulus MM, a bit over a half kilometer from this spot.
Archaeology: Dung burned as fuel left charred seeds that
inform us about the ancient environment and land use. As you approach the paved
road, Tumulus P will be on your right, and the Gordion museum on your left.
Recent history: Sheep and goat herding is declining, and
irrigation makes it hard for many unique endemic steppe plants to compete
with cosmopolitan boring field weeds.
Culture: even if you see no sheep or goats, you know that
they have been here, as you can see from the dung pellets scattered about.
If you are doing the walk from the Citadel mound with the Yassıhöyük side trip, keep going straight (stations 3, 4) and turn right instead of crossing the ditch again.
Cumulative distances and Lat/Long coordinates in decimal degrees
[1] Museum
39.6529°N, 31.9968°E
[2] Museum corner, 0.1 km
39.6524°N, 31.9978°E
[3] Drainage ditch, 0.6 km
39.6485°N, 31.9952°E
[4] Culvert, 1.3 km
39.6512°N, 31.9884°E
[5] Cross plain: to tamarisk trees, 1.7 km
39.6476°N, 31.9897°E
[6] Follow field boundaries: to ridge, 2.0 km
39.6547°N, 31.9915°E
[7] Cross ridge: to dirt road, 2.5 km
39.6459°N, 31.9951°E
[8] Culvert, 2.7 km
39.6471°N, 31.9975°E
Drainage ditch to MM turnoff [3], 2.9 km
39.6485°N, 31.9952°E
Back to Museum [1], 3.6 km
39.6529°N, 31.9968°E
Citadel distance to [5]; back to museum, 1.1 + 1.7 = 2.8 km
39.6497°N, 31.9807°E
Citadel to [5]; [5] to [8]; [8] to [3] to [4]; village detour (yellow line)
back to Museum, 1.1 +1.2+0.7+1.4 = 4.4 km
39.6485°N, 31.9952°E
NOTE: I prepared this walking tour in the summer, 2014. It is based on many
publications and conversations over the years with Ayşe Gürsan-Salzmann,
Ben Marsh, Mecit Vural, Mary Voigt, and many other Gordion team members. If
you have any comments or corrections, you can contact me at
< nmiller0@sas.upenn.edu >. Fieldwork for this project was funded by the
University of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia. The views expressed here
are mine alone.
Naomi F. Miller, July,
2014
www.sas.upenn.edu/~nmiller0/Tour_SouthRidge.html