A New Contribution to Anatolian Ancient Mining Activities: A Miners Settlement from the Early Bronze Age I, Bileç Höyük (Develi / Kayseri) Salvage Excavation

Year 2025, Issue: 28, 465 - 491, 26.12.2025

Özlem Oyman Girginer , K. Serdar Girginer

https://doi.org/10.47589/adalya.1849557

Abstract

When Bileç Höyük was discovered in 2005 during the Kayseri Surveys, it was a settlement that was about to disappear due to intense destruction by the landowners. In 2007, a three-month salvage excavation was carried out under the direction of the Kayseri Museum and with Assoc. Prof. Dr. K. Serdar Girginer as scientific advisor. It was determined that the first layer of settlement belonged to the initial phases of the Early Bronze Age. The finds from the same layer provide important contributions to the history of metallurgy in Anatolia. In this article, the mining-related finds will be evaluated, and the existence of the Kura-Araxes origin interactions in Kayseri will be discussed.

Keywords

Bileç Höyük , Early Bronze Age I , crucibles , mining , Kura-Araxes

Thanks

The Bileç Höyük Salvage Excavation was carried out with the permission of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the financial support of Saray Halı A.Ş. We would like to thank the Kayseri Museum Directorate and its Principal Director Hasan Elmaağaç, Develi Municipality and Nezir Ötegen, Borçelik Çelik Sanayii Ticaret A.Ş., Ömer Yıldırım, Güngör Beyde, and Prof. Dr. Tunç Tüken (Çukurova University) for sending technical staff and pXRF for preliminary analyses of the finds. We would also like to thank Research Assistant Muaz Koçak for his help. We would like to thank Prof. Dr. K. Aslıhan Yener for her assistance and support in the research of this matter.

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