EARLY IRON AGE (YHSS 7), ca. 12th century–950 BC. The Early Iron Age (EIA) deposits are treated as one chronological unit, though they can be put in three stratigraphic groups. Samples from the earliest EIA, YHSS stratum numbers 730 and higher, come from various features (ovens, pits) associated with domestic structures and activities. A burnt reed structure (BRH, stratum number 725) is roughly in the middle of the deposits assigned to YHSS 7. Due to the in situ charring, the floated material is not comparable to ordinary occupation debris and so is listed and treated separately in this report. The most recent samples from YHSS 7 are mostly from wash and later Early Iron Age pits (705).
EARLY PHRYGIAN PERIOD COURTYARDS (YHSS 6B), 950–900 BC. The distinct stratigraphic break between YHSS 7 and 6 signals a change in function from ordinary domestic to elite quarters. YHSS 6B, which consists primarily of clay fills and construction debris, yielded very few botanical remains.
EARLY PHRYGIAN DESTRUCTION LEVEL (YHSS 6A), ca. 900–800 BC. On a grander scale, the buildings of the Destruction Level suffered the fate of the burnt reed structure 725. Similarly, the charred construction debris and in situ room contents are not comparable to ordinary occupation debris and are treated separately in this analysis. The deposits analyzed here come from the anteroom of Terrace Building 2. Broadly, there is clear stratigraphic continuity between YHSS 6B and 6A, but the YHSS 6B deposits excavated in 1988/1989 are in the center of the old excavation, and the YHSS 6A deposits are at its edge.
MIDDLE PHRYGIAN (YHSS 5), ca. 800–540 BC. Soon after the fire in YHSS 6A, the center of the Citadel Mound was leveled and covered with a thick (4 to 6 m) layer of clay (Voigt 2007). This phase is poorly represented in the stratigraphic sounding, so only a few samples were taken, mostly from post-occupation deposits within the cellar of Middle Phrygian building I:2 and a few later pits. This makes generalizations difficult.
LATE PHRYGIAN (YHSS 4), ca. 540–330 BC. Thanks to a large number of trash-filled pits in the excavated area, many flotation samples yielding quite a bit of material were taken. There are also a few samples from hearths. However, remains of structures were fragmentary due to Hellenistic stone-robbing. Despite the fairly small exposure the neighborhood can be characterized as an “industrial” area (Voigt 1996).
HELLENISTIC (YHSS 3), ca. 330–mid-to-late 2nd century BC. Two phases have been distinguished, YHSS 3B, ca. 330–mid-3rd century BC, and YHSS 3A, mid-3rd–mid-2nd century BC. The industrial nature of the excavated area continues in the lower part of this stratum (YHSS 3B), and most of the samples come from a series of hearths. During YHSS 3A, Galations (European Celts) arrived at Gordion. A burned structure, part of the Galatian “Abandoned Village” of YHSS 3A, lies above 3B. Functionally, these flotation samples are most usefully compared to those of the YHSS 7 BRH structure and Terrace Building 2A of the YHSS 6 Early Phrygian Destruction Level. A few Late Hellenistic (YHSS 3A) pits and wall fragments lie above.
MEDIEVAL (YHSS 1), 13th–14th century AD. Voigt (1994) reserved YHSS 2 for Roman period deposits; in the 1988/1989 excavation area, however, there is a stratigraphic gap. Roman material has been excavated in the northwestern zone of the Citadel Mound elsewhere on the site recently (see Goldman 2005; Marston 2010; Miller 2007a, 2007b). The few Medieval samples in the YHSS sounding come primarily from a few pits and an oven.
Yassihöyük Stratigraphic Sequence in Cultural Context
All archaeological periods were important for the people living in them, but some stand out thanks to the breadth and depth of present-day knowledge of the time. Texts—those that were never lost as well as those known only from excavation—are an independent source of information against which one can compare the archaeological materials. Also, members of the Gordion team, working with excavation, survey, archival, and other data, continue to refine our understanding of the sequence.
BRONZE AGE SETTLEMENT. In addition to Gordion, there are a few Early Bronze Age sites within a 10-km radius of the site. During the Middle and especially the Late Bronze Age in the region, Gordion was in the orbit of the Hittite empire (Voigt 1994:276). Despite the uncertain environment for farming, there were many settlements within 15 km of the site (Kealhofer 2005). Perhaps integration into the Hittite economy allowed people simply to move away or to trade for foodstuffs in bad years, or the local adaptation would have encouraged putting more effort into herding to see people through hard times.
THE PHRYGIAN QUESTION. In line with Herodotus’s and Strabo’s writings, the Phrygians are thought to have originated in southeastern Europe (Sams 1988; Voigt and Henrickson 2000a, 2000b). Keith Devries (2000:18) has mapped the plausible extent of Phrygia (at least 7th to 4th centuries BC) in west central Anatolia through rock inscriptions in the Phrygian language and other epigraphic finds. Sometime after Hittite (YHSS 9–8) ceramic evidence of connections with the Sakarya valley ceases and before the establishment of the royal precinct (YHSS 6), Phrygians had settled at Gordion. Voigt (1994:277) sees a stratigraphic break between YHSS 8/9 and 7, along with a suite of cultural changes. Voigt and Henrickson (2000:46) have argued the changes reflect the arrival of a new group of people, the Phrygians. For example, a possible ceramic marker is the Early Iron Age handmade pottery characteristic of early YHSS 7, which replaced the wheel-made Hittite ceramics; among other possibilities, at the very least this would indicate a change in ceramic production and distribution (Henrickson 1993). Despite the apparent continuity in settlement between the earlier and later YHSS 7 Early Iron Age deposits, the pottery at the end of the phase is again wheel-made, and indeed, is indistinguishable from that of Early Phrygian YHSS 6B.
THE EARLY PHRYGIAN DESTRUCTION LEVEL (YHSS 6B). Rodney Young’s major investigation of the Yassihöyük mound stopped at the Early Phrygian royal precinct. The area exposed by his excavation included presumed royal residences in the center and at the edge a series of attached megarons (Terrace Buildings 1–8), the back walls of which presented a single face to the central area. These buildings appear to have functioned as service buildings for the elite quarter. The buildings had been destroyed in a catastrophic fire, now dated to about 800 BC. Though no skeletons were found, the fire was so intense it melted pottery and vitrified the silicates in some of the wood and seeds. Young and others associated the fire with the Kimmerian invasion mentioned by ancient authors, but even before the current re-dating to 800 BC, that view was not tenable (Voigt 2007). Rather, the Early Phrygian rulers had begun a major revamping of the fortification system at the time of the catastrophic, but accidental conflagration. A clear stratigraphic break, the Destruction Level is culturally continuous with what lies above.
MIDDLE PHRYGIAN REBUILDING (YHSS 5). One of the most mysterious aspects of Gordion is the clay layer that seals the Destruction Level. Over much of the excavated area, the buildings built into the clay layer follow the general lines of the earlier, now buried, structures. It is therefore not surprising that “The YHSS 5 (Middle Phrygian) ceramic assemblage is clearly derived from that of YHSS 6 (Early Phrygian) both typologically and technologically” (Henrickson 1993:132). Henrickson remarks that this assemblage is restricted to local types. It is during the Middle Phrygian period that the settlement expanded considerably. Excavation and surface survey suggest relatively dense occupation over an area of approximately 160 ha (Voigt and Henrickson 2000a); the Citadel Mound lay in the middle of a settlement whose maximum extent was about 1 km north-south and 2 km east-west. This archaeological evidence for expanded settlement, the massive earth-moving and reconstruction of the palace quarter, continued tumulus building, and a plethora of imported wares suggest it was a very prosperous time (DeVries 2005; Henrickson 1993:140; Voigt 2005). Regional survey, too, suggests the Middle Phrygian was a time of prosperity and agricultural expansion (Kealhofer 2005). This conclusion is fully consistent with what one might expect, given the textual evidence for the power and expansion of Gordion during the 8th century.
The outstanding feature of the Middle Phrygian and subsequent landscapes was the burial tumuli that dot the countryside, especially Tumulus MM (“Midas Mound”) and the cluster nearby. About a hundred tumuli have been mapped. They are distributed within a 10-km radius of the Citadel. Tumulus building in the region ended by the 2nd century BC.
LATE PHRYGIAN ECONOMIC EXPANSION (YHSS 4). The Late Phrygian phase at Gordion is the time of the Persian/Achaemenid conquest. Gordion’s political importance probably