Megalithic monuments of Turkish thrace

Abstract

Thracian megalithic monuments are confined to parts of east and south-east Bulgaria, north east Greece and Turkish Thrace. They are located on the Istranca, Sakar and Rhodopes Mountains. On the basis of artefacts discovered at the dolmens and tumuli in western and eastern Thrace, Thracian megalithic monuments date to the Early Iron Age, between around the 11th and 8th centuries ВС. Prehistoric monuments laid claim to land through the legitimating of ancestors and their use for communal ceremonies. The megalithic monuments of Turkish Thrace have been known since the 19th century AD. Locating and recording of the dolmens was the main goal of early researchers and so little attention was paid to standing stones complexes and other megalithic monuments in Turkish Thrace. My research was conducted as a regional survey with the aim of examining both the geographical distribution of the full range of megalithic monuments, especially the standing stone complexes, and also intensive surveys were conducted in the Istranca Mountains of the Edime Region. A number of interpretations have been offered by many researchers about megalithic monuments in general, such as symbolic meaning of complexes, patterns of intervisibility, location, astronomy and ritual of complexes. All these ideas were examined with reference to the Turkish Thrace megaliths. All of the standing stone complexes in Turkish Thrace contain multiple stone rows and lie in a รพ-NE direction, aligned on the mid-winter sunset. In particular the standing stone rows in Turkish Thrace may have been intended for sequential processions. A procession can be realised through groups of people moving in an orderly and directional manner. Processions are ceremonial in character, taking place to mark an event or to enact a ritual.