Churches, Caves, and Fortifications in the Upper Siberis/Kirmir River Valley. On the Byzantine Settlement Archaeology of Rural Galatia, Central Anatolia

With an Appendix on a Roman Statue for Ortiagon, Tetrarch of the Tolistobogii

Abstract

The upper Siberis/Kirmir river valley is well-watered and fertile, but also narrow and small. It was thus always farmed and settled, but never on a large scale. This paper reports half a dozen monuments from the valley, including an inscribed statue base for an ancient Galatian ruler from Mahkemeağcin, an Early Byzantine basilica church at Güzelçiftlik, a large Middle Byzantine cave house complex at Mahkemeağcin, a small Middle Byzantine farmstead at Değirmenönü, a Middle Byzantine cave chapel and possible hermitage at Dikmen (İndere), and two fortifications against the Arabs and the Turks, Tabanoğlu Kalesi and Alicin Manastırı/ Çeltikçi Kalesi. Overall, the upper Kirmir/Siberis river valley appears to combine a number of unusual features with an otherwise typical Byzantine settlement history. Exceptional is the geographical setting that, whilst allowing for small-scale prosperity, regional strategic importance, and rock-cut architecture, also seems to have implied a diminutive dispersed settlement pattern. Typical are the architectural features of the various monuments and how they reflect a changing society, from relatively egalitarian with large communal churches in the Early Byzantine Period to aristocratic dominance with small private chapels later on.