25 May 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

The first settlement of the Cimmerians in Anatolia may be Büklükale

Archaeologists estimated that the first settlement in Anatolia of the Cimmerians, who left Southern Ukraine before Christ (about 8th century BC), was Büklükale.

Büklükale is located about 100 kilometers from Ankara, Turkey’s capital city, where the road from Ankara to Kaman passes the Kızılrmak, Turkey’s longest river. Since ancient times, this region has been a major transit junction, and Büklükale has had control over it.

Büklükale excavations are carried out on behalf of the Japanese-Anatolian Archeology Institute, under the direction of Kırşehir Ahi Evran University, associate professor Kimiyoshi MATSUMURA. Büklükale is a city belonging to the last half of the 2nd millennium B.C. or the Hittite Empire Period. During the excavations carried out since 2009, cultural layers dated to the Ottoman Period, Iron Age, and Late, Middle, and Early Bronze Ages were identified.

Head of Excavation associate professor Kimiyoshi Matsumura told Now Archeology that the Cimmerians who came to Anatolia during the archaeological excavations guessed that the first settlement in Anatolia was Büklükale.

Büklükale site consists of two archeological areas, namely “Lower City” and “Upper City”. Photo: İHA

Matsumura, “We have identified objects with animal motifs peculiar to the Cimmerians or Scythians,” he said.

Stating that the excavations are continuing, Matsumura said, “peoples called Cimmerians came to Anatolia from the Ukraine region. The settlement or castle was built by them. We have identified it here for the first time in Anatolia.”

There is a very large fortification wall behind. “We think about it, and we have identified animal motifs and objects unique to the Cimmerians or Scythians in its contemporary architecture. Now we continue to work under it.”

Photo: İHA

Cimmerians

The Cimmerians, a nomadic people, are known from several Assyrian texts calling them Ga-mir or Gi-mir-aa. These peoples, about whom we do not know much, may have lived in southern Ukraine, where the Crimea is, according to some scholars.

Archaeologists have identified them with the Novocerkassk culture on the grass plains between the river Prut and the Lower Don (c.900-c.650 BCE).

In the eighth century, many Cimmerians moved to the southeast, to the region north of the Caucasus. Here, they threatened the kingdom of Urartu. The Urartian king Rusa decided upon a preventive attack but was defeated (c.720).  The Cimmerians invaded Urartu and looted the country as far south as Lake Urmia.

Cimmerian mounted warriors on a Nimrud bas-relief.

This caused panic in Phrygia, a kingdom in western Turkey. In 710/709, a king who is, in our Assyrian sources, called Mit-ta-a (= Midas?), was forced to ask for help from the Assyrian king Sargon II. However, this did not prevent the Cimmerian invasion. In 696/695, Midas committed suicide after he had lost a battle. This was the end of Phrygia. Probably, Cimmerians settled on the Phrygian plain, which was perfectly suited to their cavalry.

They attacked the Lydian kingdom, which was established after Phrygia for a while. They were repelled by king Gyges, but twenty years later, they were back and in 644, they defeated the Lydians and looted their capital Sardes. Gyges was killed by the Cimmerian leader Lygdamis (Dugdammê).

The Cimmerians raided Greek cities in Aeolia and Ionia, looted Paphlagonia, and seized Sinope. Lygdamis attacked Assyria again after 640 but was defeated both times. The Cimmerians were defeated once more by the Lydian king Alyattes (c.600-560), after which they vanished from history.

However, a settlement belonging to the Cimmerians has not been identified in Anatolia until today.

Related Articles

1400-year-old gold foil figures found in pagan temple

19 September 2023

19 September 2023

Archaeologists have discovered a votive gold hoard during road development works in Vingrom, south of Lillehammer on the shores of...

Bronze Age and Roman-era settlements unearthed in Newquay

10 April 2023

10 April 2023

Archaeologists from the Cornwall Archaeological have uncovered ancient dwellings from the Bronze Age and a Roman period settlement in Newquay,...

Archaeologists discover a well-planned new urban precinct in the Egyptian settlement of Marea

2 August 2021

2 August 2021

Archaeologists excavating the ancient port settlement and cemetery of Marea in Egypt have revealed that a significant part of the...

‘World’s oldest dated rune stone’ found in Norway

18 January 2023

18 January 2023

The oldest known Rune stone in Norway has been discovered by Norwegian archaeologists working at the Museum of Cultural History...

New study: Humans engaged in large-scale warfare in Europe 5,000 years ago ‘1,000 years earlier than previously thought’

3 November 2023

3 November 2023

Hundreds of human remains unearthed from a burial site point to a  warfare between Stone Age people long before the...

Roman era total of 46 early settler burials discovered in Germany

17 September 2023

17 September 2023

Students from Goethe University Frankfurt, in collaboration with the Hesse archeology department at the Darmstadt branch of the State Monument...

Researchers Define the Borders of El Argar, the First State-Society in the Iberian Peninsula

18 March 2025

18 March 2025

Recent research conducted by scholars from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology...

Archaeologists uncover intact 16th-century quayside in the Belgium town of Leper

24 March 2022

24 March 2022

Excavations at Leper (Ypres), located in the West Flanders province of Belgium, have uncovered a 16th-century quayside. The find was...

Kent Archaeological Society purchased an Anglo-Saxon hoard ahead of a London auction

1 November 2022

1 November 2022

The Kent Archaeological Society has bought a large collection of Anglo-Saxon artifacts from the sixth and seventh centuries known as...

Beautiful’ Water-Nymph Marble Statue Found in Amastris ancient city

8 September 2023

8 September 2023

Excavations in the ancient city of Amastris, located in the Black Sea province of Bartın’s Amasra district, have unearthed a...

Archaeologists unearthed a pot of copper coins in first major discovery at Mohenjo Daro in Pakistan, in 93 years

18 November 2023

18 November 2023

A pot full of copper coins was discovered from a stupa (a dome-shaped building erected as a Buddhist shrine) at...

2100-year-old women skeleton found lying in bronze ‘Mermaid Bed’

4 June 2022

4 June 2022

Archaeologists have discovered the 2100-year-old skeleton of a woman lying in a bronze ‘Mermaid Bed’ near the city of Kozani...

First Visual Evidence of the Milky Way Found in Ancient Egyptian Cosmological Vignettes

1 May 2025

1 May 2025

Did ancient Egyptians gaze upon the Milky Way and immortalize its form in their artwork? New research suggests this very...

Burials covered in red dye discovered in Serbian barrows

18 February 2022

18 February 2022

Polish archaeologists excavating two barrow mounds in Vojvodina, in the northern part of the Republic of Serbia, have uncovered the...

1,600-year-old steelyard weight found in Turkey’s ancient city of Hadrianopolis

1 December 2021

1 December 2021

Archeologists have discovered a 1,600-year-old steelyard weight during excavations in the ancient city of Hadrianopolis, located in the Eskipazar district...