Human origins: Neolithic and Bronze age Turkey
14 September 2023 - 10 Days for £3,499
Discover the dawn of civilisation where our Neolithic and Bronze age ancestors changed from hunter-gatherers to organised societies with agriculture, ritual and an understanding of the wider world. Visiting multiple excavations, UNESCO World Heritage sites, museums and cities across the several different regions of Turkey.
The accompanying archaeologist Çiler Çilingiroğlu will help you explore important archaeological sites including Göbekli Tepe, Çatalhöyük, Aşıklı Höyük, Hattusa and Mount Nemrut. Along with the museums that curate the extensive collections found at these sites.
Plus the east meets west culture clash of Istanbul and it’s impressive biblical-scale architecture, the Turkish capital Ankara, the geologically stunning Cappadocia with its underground city of Kaymakli.
In partnership with Intrepid Travel
DAY 1: ARRIVE INTO ISTANBUL
Merhaba! Welcome to Turkey. The tour commences in Istanbul, the continent-straddling metropolis that the Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and Ottomans have previously all called home.
You will be picked up from the airport and after checking-in to Operla Hotel near the airport, you will meet your fellow guests, tour leader and accompanying Turkish archaeologist Çiler Çilingiroğlu, who will give an introductory lecture on the tour ahead. Çiler will give both evening lectures and walking commentary throughout the tour.
Afterward, you will head out to enjoy dinner together.
DAY 2: ÇATALHÖYÜK AND AŞIKLI HÖYÜK
This morning, you will catch a short flight to Konya in the Anatolia region. On arrival, you will drive to Çatalhöyük. Founded 9,000 years ago, this UNESCO World Heritage Site is the first known city in the world. The first place where surrounding villages came together and formed a central location and began the sort of urban civilization that dominates the modern world. Research of 226 skeletons buried there found that the inhabitants weren’t organised into family groups, so there is still much to be understood about the site.
Your next stop is Aşıklı Höyük. Another village that harbours many firsts. It is the first settlement on the Central Anatolian Plateau where copper was mined. It was also the site where the earliest-known brain surgery and first autopsy were performed, as the skulls of two individuals recovered from the site provide crucial information about the history of medicine.
Then you will continue to Cappadocia. Over millions of years, rain and wind have shaped the soft white volcanic rock of the plain into an otherworldly landscape of dripping cones, pillars, pinnacles, and fairy chimneys soaring more than a hundred feet into the sky. Here, you will check into the Alfina Cave Hotel for two nights where the rooms are literally in caves carved within the rock.
DAY 3: CAPPADOCIA, GOREME AND KAYMAKLI
If you rise early, you can take an optional hot air balloon over the otherworldly Cappadocian landscape. The scene at sunrise is sure to take your breath away.
Then, start the day back on the ground with a walk along Red Valley. The amazing geology provides a base for historic cave churches and a uniquely formed sandstone landscape.
Afterward, you will visit the nearby Goreme Open Air Museum. It resembles a vast monastic complex composed of scores of refectory monasteries placed side-by-side, each with its own church, that present unique examples of rock-hewn architecture and fresco technique. The museum has been a member of the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1984 and was one of the first two UNESCO sites in Turkey.
You will then travel to Kaymakli. An underground city built around nearly one hundred tunnels during the 8th and 7th centuries BC. They were in continual use right up until the early 1900s and offer a fascinating insight into how a working city can be developed underground and the protection it provides the inhabitants.
DAY 4: HATTUSA AND YAZILIKAYA
Today, you will drive north via the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hattusa, the ancient capital of the Hittites. The Hittites were a remarkable civilization with a kingdom that stretched from the Aegean across Anatolia, northern Syria and to the Euphrates River. This is a particularly large site that demonstrates early urbanisation, rich ornamentation and construction that has stood the tests of time.
Afterward, you will visit Yazilikaya, an open-air religious sanctuary built over 3,000 years ago with stunning examples of Hittite art carved into the rocks. The meaning of the art is still being investigated but one theory is that it was created to embody the Hittites ideas about how the universe was organised.
In the late afternoon, you will check into the Eyuboglu Hotel in the capital city of Ankara for two nights.
DAY 5: ANKARA CASTLE, THE MUSEUM OF ANATOLIAN CIVILISATION AND GORDION
After breakfast, you will visit the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations with its extensive collections and works exhibited in chronological order from the Paleolithic Age, through the Neolithic, Bronze, Hittite, and several more right up to the present day. The collection includes many artifacts from the Çatalhöyük site you visited three days ago.
Next is Ankara Castle, a mountain top fortification that has hosted many different civilizations and can trace its first inhabitants back to the 8th century BC.
In the afternoon, you will journey west to the ancient town of Gordion to visit its excavation site. Occupied for over 4,000 years from the Bronze Age, this strategically important site is large, atmospheric and also includes the tomb of King Midas (remembered in Greek mythology for his alleged ability to turn anything to gold). The city was built on the ruins of a Hittite city, where the ancient Persian Royal Road, major trade routes across Anatolia between Lydia and Assyria-Babylonia crossed the Sangarius river.
After returning to Ankara, you will enjoy a nice dinner with the group in this cosmopolitan city.
DAY 6: ŞANLIURFA AND HARRAN
After an early breakfast, you will transfer to the airport for the flight to Gaziantep airport. From here, a short transfer to Şanliurfa city where you will visit the Şanlıurfa Archaeology Museum, one of the largest in Turkey. It exhibits works from the surrounding areas of sz`uch Göbekli Tepe and Harran, covering the Neolithic period in particular detail as well as the Assyrian, Babylonian, Hittite and Bronze ages.
After a tour of the city, your next stop is the archaeological remains of the city of Harran. Once surveyed by T.E. Lawrence, there is ongoing excavation of this site which has been the home of many different empires and dynasties since the Bronze age. You will explore its characteristic beehive houses, citadel, city walls and various architectural remains.
In the early evening you will check into the four-star Hilton Garden Inn Şanliurfa Hotel where you can enjoy a sauna.
DAY 7: GÖBEKLI TEPE AND MOUNT NEMRUT
Today, you will experience the UNESCO listed Göbekli Tepe, one of the world's oldest and most impressive archaeological sites. The history of Göbekli Tepe goes back to thousands of years, before major sites such as Stonehenge, the Pyramids and the Ggantija temples. It is considered the world’s first temple and also had significant astronomical use for monitoring the night sky. There is so much still to be discovered and radar-mapping of the site shows several more megalithic ring structures still to be excavated.
A three-hour scenic drive to the north is Mount Nemrut. Here you will trek up to the 2,000-metre summit where 2000-year-old giant statues of gods are placed around what is assumed to be a royal tomb. This one of the most atmospheric and iconic of UNESCO listed sites in Turkey.
By early evening you will arrive in to Adıyaman where you will spend the night at the Antiochos Hotel
DAY 8: PERRHE AND ISTANBUL
After breakfast, you will visit the ancient city of Perrhe. Occupied since Paleolithic times these remains are of a city that was an important staging point on ancient trade routes. The site includes remains of buildings, fountains, water channels and a vast necropolis. You will then continue on to the local airport to fly back to Istanbul, arriving mid-afternoon. After checking back into the Fer Hotel in the heart of the city, you will have some free time to explore the city before having a group dinner together.
DAY 9: BLUE MOSQUE, HAGHIA SOPHIA, HIPPODROME AND THE GRAND BAZAAR
After an early breakfast you will enjoy a tour of the most important and visually enthralling sites of the old city. This will include the Blue Mosque and Justinian the Great’s 1,500-year-old Haghia Sophia. Both monumental and awe-inspiring buildings next to each other in the heart of the city. Then onto the Hippodrome where chariot races once took place. Finally, the famed Grand Bazaar to explore the 3,000 local and independent stalls and shops.
In the evening there will be a farewell dinner with your fellow guests to toast your homeward journey.
DAY 10: DEPART ISTANBUL
After breakfast, you will be transferred back to the airport for your return flight. However, if you wish to spend some additional days in Istanbul, we can extend your stay.
