GREAT ISTANBUL...Episode 1: The Foundation

Joya · 22nd October 2006, 00:08

LAND
Istanbul possesses a rich and varied environment. The lush forest belt to the north, the flowers and fruits, the game, migrating birds and fish have all joined in increasing the attractiveness of the region throughout history. What most clearly distinguishes Istanbul from other cities is the unique harmony between land and sea created by the topography of the Bosphorus.

CLIMATE
Istanbul lies between different climatic zones. At the present day it enjoys a temperate climate with moderately hot summers and mild winters, but one can still experience extreme cold, with ice floes covering the surface of the Bosphorus, spells of suffocating heat, torrential rain and flooding. In the past it was influenced by the slightest changes in the earth’s climate, the dry steppe habitat being gradually replaced, some 10.000 years ago, by the lush vegetation of the present day. In the period between the 17th century and the beginning of the 20th, the city suffered spells of weather so cold as to freeze the waters of the Golden Horn.
Istanbul is a distinctive "world city" on routes connecting continents. On the narrow strait where the city is located, the natural land bridge between Asia and Europe intersects with the sea route coming from the Mediterranean and the Agean and reaching the central and East Europe via black sea and great rivers like the Danube, the Dneper and the Don

(color codes)
red - Migration route for the earliest peopling of Europe.
light blue - Ice sheets of the Cold Period.
pale green - Coastal configuration during Cold Period.

LOWER CAVE
The Lower Cave is in the shape of a 300 meters tunnel with small galleries along the way. Except the drawing of a ship near the entrance, all deposits are dated to the Basal Paleolithic. After remaining empty for a long time, the cave was inhabited by people using pebble tools and flakes about 300.000 years ago. Excavations have revealed the levels of human habitation as well as the bones of animals, the foremost being the now extinct huge cave bear called Ursus Deningeri.

UPPER CAVE
In the Upper Cave, which consists of a large hall with a high ceiling, there are deposits from various periods and sand layers, indicating that it was once submerged underwater. It appears that Neolithic and Chalcolithic communities settled along a small lake formed inside the cave at the end of the Glacial Age. Pottery and bone tools of the Yarımburgaz culture dated to 7800-6800 years ago have survived. The Yarymburgaz layer 4 has incised complex designs that resemble wicker work, while the Yarımburgaz layer 3 is famed for wares with linear decorations. Declared a holy site during Hellenistic and Roman times, the cave was converted into a monastic complex under Byzantine rule.

FİKİRTEPE CULTURE
The characteristic features of Fikirtepe culture, as evidenced in a number of different settlements, consisted of populous villages of round huts of wattle and daub, as well as implements such as bone fish-hooks, spatulas, harpoons and the like. The Hoca Çe?me culture, which created a wave of migration from Anatolia to the Balkans in the period following the classical Fikirtepe phase, played a significant role in the proliferation of the first agricultural village culture in Europe.

FROM THE BRONZ AGE…
In the period following that of the Fikirtepe culture, the Istanbul region remained in a cultural zone extending from the Balkans to Western Anatolia. The Chalcolithic finds unearthed in the Hippodrome in particular are characteristic of this period. The advent of the Bronze Age some 5.200 years ago led to the development of urban cultures in Anatolia and of states like that of the Hittites, while in Thrace a form of life emerged based on animal husbandry. Situated in the borderland between these two different zones, Istanbul gradually declined in importance. The impact of the Anatolian urban cultures, as evidenced by the finds yielded by the Selimpa?a mound and Ye?ilyurt Ayamama, did nothing to free the region from its essentially “provincial” character. In 1100 B.C., 3.100 years ago, the region was affected by a major migration originating north of the Black Sea. After this period, characterised by finds discovered at Silivri-Sülüklü, Safaalany and Sarayburnu, the region entered a Dark Age which persisted until the foundation of Byzantium 2.700 years ago, in the 7th century B.C.