YOZGAT - The multinational archeological excavations started in Kerkenes, Cadirhoyuk and Buyuknefes regions in central province of Yozgat.
Officials at the Yozgat Governor's Office told the A.A correspondent on Saturday that during excavations, which were started under the chairmanship of Dr. Geoffrey Summers in 1993 in Kerkenes Mountain near Sahmuratli village in Sorgun town of Yozgat, traces of Pteria, the biggest city of the Iron Age, were found.
The ivory plate, which was unearthed during the excavations in Kerkenes, was handed over to the Anatolian Civilizations Museum in Ankara.
Dr. Summers will continue archaeological excavations in the region with his 30-member team this year.
Kerkenes Mountain is believed to have been the site of an important sixth-century BC city mentioned in Herodotus called Pteria. A short-lived metropolis inhabited by the Medes, an ancient Iranian people, Pteria was burned to the ground and its inhabitants were enslaved by the Lydians, the sixth-century rulers of Asia Minor, in 547 BC. Only the city's strong defensive walls survived the conflagration.
Meanwhile, during the multi-national excavations in Cadirhoyuk near Peyniryemez village in Sorgun town of Yozgat, works belonged to Chalcolithic, Early Bronze Age and Hittite periods were found. The excavations will continue with a 20-member team under the chairmanship of Prof. Dr. Ronald Gorny.
Meanwhile, excavations, which were started by Prof. Dr. Karl Strobel in Buyuknefes village in 1997, will continue this year.
(UK-MS) 05.07.2003