Alluvial Burial of Gordion, an Iron-Age City in Anatolia

Abstract

Geomorphic research at Gordion, an Anatolian Iron-Age city, shows alluvial burial and extensive leveling by the Sakarya River starting prior to the 4th century B.C. The aggrading river eventually buried parts of the city under 3–5 m of silt, beginning during occupation. Subsequent river movements eroded away substantial parts of the site, including 2 km of outer wall. Buried and removed parts of the site total three times the area now visible on the river plain. These alterations, not readily apparent from the surface, were not investigated during previous archaeological research.The site provides the most precise evidence to date about the Beyşehir Occupational phase, a widespread episode of sedimentation affecting SW and central Anatolia beginning in the Iron Age, apparently caused by tree-cutting and over-grazing. The likely equivalent disturbance event at Gordion extends this episode into a new region, is associated directly with an archaeological site, and has a later onset and end.Because the modern channel of the Sakarya has recently been dredged to several meters below its floodplain, Gordion provides an unusually clear display of an alluvially buried city, whose occupants made numerous responses to the rapidly changing river.