Alluvial burial of Gordion, an Iron-Age city in Anatolia

Geomorphic research at Gordion, an Anatolian Iron-Age city, shows alluvial burial and extensive levelling by the Sakarya River starting prior to the 4 th century B.C. The aggrading river eventually buried parts of the city und er 3-5 m of silt, beginning during occupation. Subsequent river movements e roded away substantial parts of the site, including 2 km of outer wall. Bur ied and removed parts of the site total three times the area now visible on the river plain. These alterations, not readily apparent from the surface, were not investigated during previous archaeological research. The site provides the most precise evidence to date about the Beysehir Occu pational phase, a widespread episode of sedimentation affecting SW and cent ral Anatolia beginning in the Iron Age, apparently caused by tree-cutting a nd over-grazing. The likely equivalent disturbance event at Gordion extends this episode into a new region, is associated directly with an archaeologi cal site, and has a later onset and end. Because the modern channel of the Sakarya has recently been dredged to seve ral meters below its floodplain, Gordion provides an unusually clear displa y of an alluvially buried city, whose occupants made numerous responses to the rapidly changing river.