İkiztepe in the Late Iron Age

Following a three year survey in the Samsun region between 1971 and 1973, excavations started at İkiztepe, situated on the outskirts of İkiztepe village near Bafra town, in 1974. The results obtained from the excavations since 1993 demonstrate that the Bafra region was also settled during the Late Iron Age (Bilgi 1995: 142; 1996: 157; 1997: 145). Intensive survey and subsequent excavations located no settlements at İkiztepe after the first quarter of the second millennium BC. A monumental tomb from the Hellenistic period, however, was found at Tepe I (fig 1. Alkım et al 1988: 85-7). In addition to this tomb, comprising a dromos and two chambers built of cut stone blocks, traces of a settlement with pottery (figs 23, 27:3-6, 27:13-14) and small metal objects (figs 2-4) were found during excavations on the northern slope of Tepe I (Bilgi 1985: 55-6, pls 12-15).