Reconstruction of an Ancient Hill Used as an On-Site Quarry: Castrum Zerzevan (SE-Türkiye)

ABSTRACT

The Roman period Castrum Zerzevan is on a hill 35 km south of Diyarbakır, Türkiye. Various field evidence (e.g. petrographic similarities, sudden changes of the topographic contours, the morphology of the nearby hills, and traces of the on-site quarry activities) suggests that the topography of the hilltop was artificially modified and used as a quarry. This study aims to introduce an approach that creates the ancient topography and calculates and verifies the volume of the on-site material required to build the fortification and associated structures by applying morphological analyses. The primary objective of the methodology is to reconstruct the site’s ancient topography and examine the difference between its former and present surfaces. The result indicates that approximately 36% of the extracted material was used in the enclosure. The overall findings and site investigations suggest quarrying and construction activities were carried out in a planned manner or concurrently at the site. In addition to the collected samples’ petrographic and geochemical similarities, the Castrum‘s topographical modifications and the suitability of the geological unit as a building material support our claim that the Romans were well aware of environmental conditions (including topography and morphology) and material performance.

KEYWORDS:

• Ancient topography
• building technique
• castrum romana
• geomorphology
• quarry
• zerzevan castle

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their deepest gratitude to the Castrum Zerzevan Excavation Team for all their hard work, care and assistance throughout the entire steps of this project. The authors also acknowledge the financial support provided by Dicle University/Scientific Research Project Coordination Office (DÜBAP) under the grant number MÜHENDİSLİK.18.007.

Author contributions

State of art and research questions: Vedat Toprak, Felat Dursun and Deniz Oğuz-Kırca

Research design: Felat Dursun and Deniz Oğuz-Kırca

Data collection: Felat Dursun, Vedat Toprak, Deniz Oğuz-Kırca and Aytaç Coşkun

Interpretation of the results: Felat Dursun, Vedat Toprak, Deniz Oğuz-Kırca and Aytaç Coşkun

Writing and edition: Felat Dursun and Deniz Oğuz-Kırca

All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ Particular information is conveyed in some travel anecdotes. Indicatively (Buckingham 1827), pp. 384–390.

² In line with the knowledge contained in the passages of ancient writers, the critical legion headquarters in Anatolia were founded in Melitene (Gabriel 1940, 264–269) (Malatya); Zeugma (for Legio IV (Scythica, Wagner 1977, 517–540) (Belkıs); Samosata (Adıyaman) and Satala (Lightfoot 1998), pp. 273–284 (Hartmann et al. 2006); (Gümüşhane) (Cary and Foster 1925. For those who organized at this level by establishing headquarters as well as many other legions stationed in Anatolia, Parker 2000, 122; Uzunoğlu 2012, 96–97). Over the region, the Zeugma legion settlement is closest to that of Amida and Dara but represents a civic case (Görkay 2017, 149, 165).

Additional information

Funding

This research received a partial grant from the Dicle University/Scientific Research Project Coordination Office (DÜBAP). Grant No: MÜHENDİSLİK.18.007