Göllüdağ (also Göllü Dağ, Golludag) is a volcanic mountain located in central

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. This area has a long history of human occupation going back to the

Lower Paleolithic The Lower Paleolithic (or Lower Palaeolithic) is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. It spans the time from around 3.3 million years ago when the first evidence for stone tool production and use by hominins appears ...

period. Especially the obsidian found here was valuable.

Geology

lava dome In volcanology, a lava dome is a circular, mound-shaped protrusion resulting from the slow extrusion of viscous lava from a volcano. Dome-building eruptions are common, particularly in convergent plate boundary settings. Around 6% of eruptions ...

of this volcano has produced

rhyolite Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture (geology), texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained matri ...

dacite Dacite () is a volcanic rock formed by rapid solidification of lava that is high in silica and low in alkali metal oxides. It has a fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyolite. ...

and

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

. The lavas have been dated at 1.33 to 0.84 million years by

fission track dating Fission track dating is a radiometric dating technique based on analyses of the damage trails, or tracks, left by fission fragments in certain uranium-bearing minerals and glasses. Fission-track dating is a relatively simple method of radiometr ...

obsidian Obsidian ( ) is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Produced from felsic lava, obsidian is rich in the lighter element ...

. The dome lies above the

Tertiary Tertiary (from Latin, meaning 'third' or 'of the third degree/order..') may refer to: * Tertiary period, an obsolete geologic period spanning from 66 to 2.6 million years ago * Tertiary (chemistry), a term describing bonding patterns in organic ch ...

Derinkuyu

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...

History

It was determined that the

found in abundance in Göllü Dağ was used by the prehistoric peoples as early as the Lower Paleolithic period, 800,000 years ago.

Obsidian trade

Golludag obsidian was mined, processed and traded to distant areas as far as Cyprus, and Syria. A 40,000-year-old obsidian tool was found in Syria that was made from Golludag obsidian. The areas where obsidian was processed locally may be the earliest such workshops in the world. In 1996, it was determined that the early humans passed through this area during their transition from Africa to Europe.

Iron Age

Neo-Hittite Tabal

During the early Iron Age period, Göllüdağ belonged to the Tabal state, which was also a part of the larger

Tabal (region) Tabal ( and , romanized: ) was a region which covered south-east Anatolia during the Iron Age. A Luwian-speaking Syro-Hittite Tabal state existed at that time in this area. Name The native name of the region of Tabal is still unknown, although ...

. High upon the mountain, a large settlement was found dating back to the 8th century BC, the period of Neo-Hittite civilization. The city here was surrounded by a stone wall; the important structures were also protected by a second wall. The largest building at the site, occupying the highest location, measures about 112 by 228 meters. The lion statues found among the building remains are quite remarkable. Two large double portal lions, two portal lions, and two sphinxes have been discovered. They are now exhibited in the Nigde Museums. In 2000, a bone fragment thought to belong to an ancestor of horses was found as the result of the erosion of the mountain slope. Several structural similarities indicate that Göllüdağ was also associated with the settlement on Mount Kerkenes, which is located about 170km north.Map showing the location of Golludag in the context of ancient Anatolia.
in Geoffrey Summers 2013, "The Kale at Kerkenes Dağ: An Iron Age Capital in Central Anatolia."

Excavations

The excavations here started in 1934 by Remzi Oğuz Arık. Wulf Schirmer excavated here between 1992 and 1998.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gollu Dag Mountains of Turkey Volcanoes of Turkey Pleistocene lava domes Landforms of Niğde Province