Archaeological Sites in Turkey

What you need to know about the archaeological resources in modern day Turkey, including the most important archaeological sites.
Catal Hoyuk (8)
Antioch
Founded by Alexander the Great's general Seleucus around 300 BC, Antioch also was the seat of a Roman governor after 64 BC.
Band-e Dukhtar (Turkey)
Band-e Dukhtar is an irrigation works located in the Anatolian plain and likely dated to the Achaemenid dynasty.
Bin Bir Kilisse
The site of Bin Bir Kilisse, also called Maden Sheher, was a Byzantine city, described by British archaeologist Gertrude Bell as the "City of a Thousand and One Churches".
Boghazkoy
Boghazkoy is the site of a major Hittite capital called Hattusas, in what is now Turkey, some 100 kilometers from the Black Sea and 150 miles from Ankara.
Byzantium
Byzantium is the name of the state, culture and capital city of the eastern Roman empire, which outlived the Roman empire, from Roman times through the 15th century AD.
Cayönü
Cayönü is an Early Neolithic site (Pre-Pottery Neolithic B) in the upper Tigris valley of southeastern Turkey
Constantinople
Constantinople is the old name for Istanbul, the great city located in what is now Turkey.
Edirne (Turkey)
The ancient city of Edirne is located in far western Turkey, and is best known for its stunningly beautiful mosques built during the Ottoman Empire.
Ephesus
The archaeological ruins of the Ionian city of Ephesus are located in western Turkey at the mouth of the Cayster River as it enters the Aegean Sea.
Gordion
The archaeological site of Gordion is located in central Turkey, about 100 kilometers west of the modern town of Ankara, and said to be the home of the Phrygian King Midas.
Hacinebi Tepe (Turkey)
The archaeological site of Hacinebi Tepe is located in southeastern Turkey, on the bluffs overlooking the east bank of the Euphrates River.
Hisarlik
Hisarlik is the modern name for the ancient site of Troy, located in what is now Turkey.
Kaletepe Deresi 3 (Turkey)
The site of Kaletepe Deresi 3 is located in the Göllü Dag region of central Turkey, and it contains at least three Middle and Lower Paleolithic archaeological components
Kerkenes (Turkey) - Median Imperial Center Kerkenes
The archaeological site of Kerkenes is located on the northern edge of the Cappadocian plain in Yozgat province in central Anatolia (modern day Turkey).
Pasalar
The paleontological site of Pasalar is a very early (Middle Miocene) hominid site in Turkey.
Pergamum (Turkey)
The Greek and Roman occupations at the Turkish city of Bergama, called Pergamum, have left numerous beautiful ruins to visit and remember.
Sardis
The archaeological site of Sardis was the capital of a dynasty in Asia Minor, according to Herodotus, beginning during the 12th century BC.
Uluburun
Uluburun is the name of a Late Bronze Age ship, wrecked off the coast of Turkey near Kas in the 14th century BC and about 50 meters below the water's surface and six miles from the coast.
Zincirli (Turkey)
Zincirli is the modern name for the ruins of Sam'al or Ya'udi), an Iron age Neo-Hittite kingdom in Turkey.
Aphrodisias, Turkey
Recent excavations at this Greek and Roman period site; report in American Journal of Archaeology by R.R.R. Smith and Christopher Ratté
Atskouri Project
Excavations by the University of Bilkent, occupation from 6th century BC to the present.
Black Sea Trade Project
Archaeological investigations at the Greek colony of Sinope, by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Cayönü, Turkey
A neolithic village-farming community, Cayönü was most recently excavated by the late Robert Braidwood, of the Oriental Institute, and Dr. Halet Cambel, of Istanbul University.
Deveboynu Tepe, Turkey
Reported to be the site from which a Greek army first sighted the Black Sea during its flight from the forces of the Persian king Artaxerxes II in 401 B.C. in this news brief from Archaeology magazine.
Göltepe / Kestel,Turkey
A Bronze Age mining district and the associated town in Turkey, directed by Aslihan Yener at Columbia; from the Oriental Institute's webpage.
Hagia Sophia
A computer generated model of one of the most famous buildings in Istanbul.
Hattusa/Bogazköy, Turkey
The Istanbul Department of Deutsche Archäologische Institut has conducted decades at research at Bogazkoy, most recently led by Jürgen Seeher. German.
Kazane, Sanliurfa
From SUNY at Binghamton and Bryn Mawr College, field research in the Halaf period levels (5th through 3rd millenium BC)
Kerkenes
From the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, excavations and survey at the imperial city of the Medes.
Kinet Höyük, Ancient Issos (Yesil-Dörtyol, Hatay)
From the University of Bilkent, research at this site, with occupations dated to Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages and the Hellenistic period.
Pinarbasi
Excavations by the University of Edinburgh and the Karaman Museum; extensive information on the sites in the Karaman region, beginning possibly as long as 10,000 years ago.
Project Troia - Homepage
New excavations at Troy are being conducted in the summer of 1998 by Universität Tübingen / Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte und Archäologie des Mittelalters and the University of Cincinnati. In German and English.
Sinope, Turkey
The Black Sea Project, from the University of Pennsylvania Museum, spent several seasons of terrestrial and underwater archaeology at the site of Sinope, investigating trade systems in the Black Sea. Led by Fredrik T. Hiebert.
Tektas Burnu
Institute of Nautical Archaeology (Texas A & M) investigations of a 5th century BC shipwreck off Turkey's west coast.
Tell Judaidah
Chalcolithic, Early Bronze, and Late Bronze Age occupations in the Amuq valley, excavations by the Oriental Institute.
Tell Kurdu
From the Oriental Institute, reports from excavations at this Chalcolithic site in the Amuq valley.
The Hacimusalar Project
From Bilkent University, Ankara, in association with the Associated Colleges of the South, DePauw University and the College of the Holy Cross, several reports on archaeological investigations at this Early Iron Age on the Elmali plain of Turkey.
The Midas Tumulus at Gordion, Turkey
Naomi F. Miller at the University of Pennsylvania Museum has conducted several seasons of excavations at Gordion, the site of the Phrygian capital city.
Zeugma
The Roman city of Zeugma went under the water of the Birecik Dam in September of 2000; but not before French archaeologists were able to record and preserve some of the astoundingly beautiful mosaics.