Kerkenes Ruins
The first exploration studies in the Kerkenes Mountain Ancient City, located on the surface in the Şahmuratlı Village of the Sorgun District of Yozgat, started in 1993 and turned into a combined research with the museum in 1998-2000. Although the city was estimated by the Medes in the Iron Age around 600 BC, the 2003 excavations also show that there may be a Phrygian settlement in the city where Phrygian inscriptions were found. The city's fortification walls, which are about 7 kilometers long, form a 2.5 square kilometer residential area. It is thought that the city where they lived as Pteria was located in ancient sources.
B.C. The city was captured by the Persians in 547, its people were captured, the city was burned and its walls were demolished. The residential area includes public buildings and civil building blocks and an advanced water collection and use system. The excavation team has completed some of the Geomagnetic survey, resistance method and geographic information system (GPS) studies, and some are still in progress. An ivory ornament belonging to a piece of furniture found during the excavations is currently exhibited at the Ankara Anatolian Civilizations Museum. Since the ancient city was burned and plundered, qualified cultural assets are rarely encountered. According to estimates and some data obtained, some Galatian tombs belonging to the 3rd-2nd centuries BC were also robbed and valuable pieces were plundered during the Byzantine Period. One of the important features of the city is that a kind of stone called perishable sandstone was frequently used in architecture, sculptors and inscriptions. In conclusion; Excavations and researches in the city of Kerkenes Mountain, one of the largest ancient cities of Central Anatolia, will continue to contribute to illuminating the history of the region.
The Assyrian Empire, which once ruled here, was defeated in 612 BC by the joint attack of the Medes and Babylonians. The Medes expanded their empire along the Anatolian high plateau to the west to the Kızılırmak and established a new great city on the Kerkenes Mountain, called Pteria in Herodotus' history. Again, according to Herodotus, in the sixth year of the war that has been going on for years between the Medes and the Lydians, the day turns into night just as Thales predicted for that year, while the battle continues with all its violence. This event, which would later be called the "Battle of the Eclipse", took place on May 28, 585 BC. With the peace treaty signed by the mediation of the Cilicians and the Babylonians, the borders are determined again and the treaty is strengthened by exchanging daughters.
