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The Konya-Karaman Plain is a plain in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey, associated with the Konya and Karaman Provinces. It is a flat plain (a height of 900–1050 m) that covers the majority of Konya Basin and constitutes the main part of the Central Anatolian Plateau.
The plain is one of the driest areas in Turkey. To alleviate it, a major irrigational Konya Plain Project was launched in 2012. The project includes 14 irrigation, three potable water and one energy investments, including the Blue Tunnel Project and the Bagbasi Dam.
The plain is dominated by the Çarşamba river, which forms a delta in its centre.
History
The Konya-Karaman Plain did not possess resources which prehistoric and early historic human communities there required, such as timber, metal, chipped stone, and ground stone, which pushed its inhabitants to develop procurement networks in as early as the 9th millennium BC, with these networks continuing to exist in the Bronze and Iron Ages.
The Konya-Karaman Plain was also one of the driest regions Anatolia during the Holocene, especially during the later Holocene corresponding to the 2nd and 1st millennia BC, which would have forced the local populations to develop sophisticated water management practices.
The earliest appearance of irrigation there possibly dates to the 3rd millennium BC, which in turn led to the spread of settlement throughout the steppe region of the plain when human settlements had previously been restricted to the alluvium of the rivers.
Hittite Empire
The Çarşamba river which dominates the plain was referred to as the Ḫūlaya River (Hittite: 𒀀𒇉𒄷𒌋𒆷𒅀) at the time of the Hittite Empire, while the surrounding lands were called the Ḫūlaya River Land (Hittite: 𒌷𒀀𒇉𒄷𒌋𒆷𒅀).
Archaeology
The plain is of considerable archaeological interest, including an important neolithic archaeological site of Çatalhöyük is located within the plain.
Oriental Institute archaeologists unearthed a lost ancient kingdom dating to 1400 BC to 600 BC near the Türkmen-Karahöyük site in 2020, which might be connected to Tarḫuntašša and its king Hartapu. A document written in Luwian hieroglyphs that describes Hartapu's victory over Phrygia was discovered in 2019 by researchers from the University of Chicago and the Konya Regional Archaeological Survey Project.
References
- "Pm Erdogan: Konya Plain Project biggest investment after GAP". Anadolu Agency. Konya. 16 December 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
- Massa & Osborne 2019, 00:42:42-00:43:07.
- Massa & Osborne 2019, 00:41:12-00:42:00.
- Massa & Osborne 2019, 00:40:01-00:41:10.
- Massa & Osborne 2019, 00:44:19-00:47:04.
- ^ Kryszeń 2023.
- Massa & Osborne 2019, 00:42:03-00:43:24.
- "Konya Plain Survey, Central Anatolia". Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology of the University of Liverpool. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
- "Archaeologists discover lost city that may have conquered the kingdom of Midas". phys.org. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
- "Oriental Institute archaeologists help discover lost kingdom in ancient Turkey". University of Chicago News. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
- "VICE - Archaeologists Have Discovered a Lost Ancient Kingdom in Turkey". www.vice.com. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
Sources
- Kryszeń, A. (2023). "Ḫulaya". Hittite Toponyms. University of Mainz; University of Würzburg. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
- Massa, Michele; Osborne, James F. (2019). A New Iron Age Kingdom in Anatolia (Video lecture). Chicago, United States: Oriental Institute. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
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