Abstract:

In order to ensure their historical and geographical continuity, bees, need to use their hives in the best way. Therefore, different methods have been developed. Among these methods, sometimes natural and sometimes man-made hives have been used. Hive use can change depending on the region. The common purpose to do this is to protect hives and bees from climate conditions and negative environmental factors, use bees and bee products most efficiently and utilize the present material. Indeed, beekeeping and collecting applications have subsisted in various styles and methods since ancient times, and have been shaped following their purposes in the Byzantine Period and survived until today. Rockcarved apiaries, which were designed together with the structures of the valley they were located in Cappadocia during the Byzantine Period, are among the local architectural examples presented that the society provides and the important agricultural structures of rural context. “Rock-carved apiaries”, which are the subject of our research and that we can date to the Byzantine Period, are located in the Keşlik, Soğanlı, Uçhisar, Göreme, Kızılçukur and Güllüdere 2 valleys in the Cappadocia Region in their original form. In the study, the Byzantine Period the rock–carved apiaries determined during the field studies conducted in the Cappadocia Region and recorded were introduced, the typology was created, architectural drawings were made, and they were documented through photographs. It was aimed to handle the rockcarved apiaries as local architecture and to introduce them to the science world.

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