An Analytical Approach to the Traces of Settlement of the City of Sakarya from Antiquity to the Present

Abstract

According to the known history of the world, the first communities generally chose natural cave environments on the edges of sea, lake and stream for settlement and spread towards the interior of the land over time. These communities have learned to move to higher elevations in order to be protected from phenomena such as water rises and ground movements in the natural flow of the earth. It is an ironic situation that these natural phenomena that shape the earth are called disasters today. In this context, the aim of the study is to question Sakarya River, which was formed as a result of an earthquake action, and along this river, the settlement decisions of the cultures that established living spaces within the borders of the city of Sakarya by mapping them chronologically from the Paleolithic period to the present day with an analytical approach. Within the scope of the study, the effect of the earthquake phenomenon in the city, from the ancient times to the present, while the settlement decisions are taken, will be discussed and the effect of this information on the current settlement decisions of the city will be questioned. Types of analysis specific to the method developed within the scope of the study are; systematic literature review, epigraphic documents, aerial and archive photographs, maps. While reading the traces of settlement in the historical process, the study makes the structural constructs created by the cultures visible through the icons created within the scope of the study.