Living Amidst the Ruins: The Yuruks in the Archaeology and History of Lycia

Year 2023, Issue: 28, 143 - 158, 31.07.2023

Gökhan Tiryaki

https://doi.org/10.26650/anar.2023.28.1245449

Abstract

The history of Lycian archaeology has a long tradition dating back to the late 18th century. In contrast to the earlier periods spanning from prehistory to Late Antiquity , however, Lycia in the Ottoman period has been generally overlooked by archaeologists, being dismissed as either uninteresting or not worthy of study. This is due, not to a lack of body of knowledge, but to intellectual and ideological boundaries on what constitutes the archaeological past of Lycia, and/or what its relevance to the archaeology of Anatolia could be. In this regard, all the historical narrations identifying Ottoman Lycia make particular reference to the Nomads and illustrate them as either the barbaric destroyers or the glorious conquerors of Greco-Roman antiquities. In doing so, they push the Yuruks into an eccentric, ambitious, or exclusive past and thus marginalise them as permanent ‘others’ in the long-term history of the region. Hence, the present paper shifts the research focus from history to archaeology, and based on comparative analysis, it provides theoretical and practical insights into the cross cultural interactions between the Yuruks and Greco-Roman antiquities in Lycia. Contrary to previous works, I argue here that the Yuruks were one of the components that composed the long-term history of Lycia, and they contributed to the preservation of Lycian heritage by providing different concepts, meanings, and contexts to the surviving antiquities.

Keywords

Archaeology, Antalya, Lycia, Antiquities, Yuruks

Supporting Institution

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Project Number

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Thanks

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to T. M. P. Duggan and H. Subaşı for their invaluable support in editing and proofreading the manuscript.

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