Abstract:

The fact that Bayburt, located in the Upper Çoruh Basin, is on fertile lands and is close to water resources, has caused the region to be a place for settlement since the prehistoric ages. The settlement activities that began in the region at the prehistoric ages have continued uninterruptedly until today. The contribution of the mounds in Bayburt and its surroundings to Bayburt's history cannot be denied. These mounds are important settlements also because they reveal out the settlement characteristics of the region at the Early Bronze Age and the Iron Age. There is also a very important culture in the region, which was influential throughout the Early Bronze Age. This culture, called as Karaz culture, has shown a progress that is completely different from other regions of Anatolia and has spread from the Trans-Caucasus in the east to the Urmiye Lake, from Divriği-Kangal area in the west to Malatya-Elazığ region, from Kahramanmaraş and Amik Plain in the south to Palestine and to the Black Sea Mountains in the north. Bayburt and its surroundings are located in the core lands of this culture, which is called by different names in the areas it is observed. This study will give answers to the questions about where the settlements in Bayburt and its surrounding were intensified and how they developed during the Early Bronze Age and the Iron Age, and will refer to the relations between the settlement activities and the surrounding cultures of the above-stated periods.

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