Ancient Isaura Quarries in and Around Zengibar Castle (Bozkir, Konya), Central Anatolia, Turkey

Abstract

Zengibar Castle was built by the Isaurian during antique ages on the summit of Mount Asar, approximately 20 km west of the town of Bozkir, Konya, Turkey. The aims of this study are to determine the lithological, petrographic, and mechanical characteristics of the building stones that were used to construct the walls and buildings in Zengibar Castle in order to determine the quarrying techniques of these stones and to determine which structures they were used in. A number of antique quarries of various sizes were located in Isaura, four of which produced a significantly higher volume of building stones. These antique quarries were mostly located on hillsides in carbonate rock of the Late Triassic Dutdere formation located in the Bolkardagi Units and were run phase by phase. The porosity range of the rocks was found to be between 0.85 and 0.90% and the dry density and uniaxial compressive strength were found to range from 2.67 to 2.68 g/cm(3)and 83.10 to 96.60 MPa, respectively. The results of this study suggest that the stones that were quarried in these quarries were used as the main building material or flooring material in various constructions in Zengibar Castle, including religious buildings such as temples and chapels, social buildings such as dwellings, theaters, baths, fountains, and cemeteries, defense and security structures such as watchtowers, fortification walls, and city gates, in monumental tombs, and in stones in which reliefs and inscriptions were carved.