Karatay Municipality carries out many projects in order to bring rich cultural assets to tourism and to deliver them to future generations. Karatay Municipality, which is working on the Savatra Ancient City, Boncuklu Mound and the Seljuk period caravanserai Obruk Inn, which has become the centre of attention of local and foreign tourists as well as archaeology enthusiasts with its 10,300-year history, is making great efforts to bring both historical places to tourism.

Boncuklu Mound, located within the borders of Hayıroğlu District of Karatay, is the ancestor of the 9-thousand-year-old Çatalhöyük, with a history of approximately 10 thousand 300 years.

Boncuklu Mound to be a new tourism destination

Karatay Municipality, which has undertaken many important projects in order to further increase the number of tourists coming to Konya and increase the region’s share of tourism, especially in recent years, is making a special effort to promote Boncuklu Mound.

Karatay Mayor Hasan Kılca stated that they will always support the work in Boncuklu Mound and that the hidden history of Karatay has come to light with these works.

Mayor Hasan Kılca said that “Boncuklu Mound is the common heritage of humanity and an important value of Karatay and Konya. I believe that with the work to be carried out in the coming periods, this place will become an important place where history enthusiasts will go on a pleasant exploration. As Karatay Municipality, we will do our best to keep this historical value alive, promote it and bring it into tourism. As a municipality, we continue our efforts to further develop the region and build roads and landscaping. We predict that Boncuklu Mound will hopefully become a new tourism centre and the number of visitors will increase 20-30 times in the coming years.

Boncuklu Mound: The Ancestor of Çatalhöyük Head of Boncuklu Mound Excavations and Faculty Member of Liverpool University, England, Prof. Dr. Douglas Baird stated that they carried out studies in 4 different areas in the mound and said that “In our work here, we determined that grains such as wheat, peas and lentils existed 10 thousand years ago. Unlike Çatalhöyük, agriculture was less practiced here, but in terms of architecture and settlement practices, this place was founded about a thousand years before Çatalhöyük. In other words, Boncuklu Mound is the ancestor of Çatalhöyük. Again, as a result of DNA tests, we see that the society here has spread to Southeastern Europe. We can detect that there are people going to Europe for commercial purposes to exchange agricultural products.”

Obruk Inn and Kızören Sinkhole

In addition to the 10,300-year-old Boncuklu Mound, Karatay Municipality is also working to bring the Kızören Sinkhole, one of the deepest sinkholes on the plateau with a width of 180 meters and a depth of more than 145 meters, and the Obruk Inn, one of the Seljuk period caravanserais, located right next to the sinkhole, into tourism.

The restoration and landscaping work of Obruk Inn, one of the works of the Seljuk period, which is expected to be an important destination of Konya tourism, has been completed. The inn will become an important center of attraction in tourism. On the other hand, Obruk Lake was registered as a “Sensitive Area to be Strictly Protected” with the signature of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Obruk Inn and Kızören Sinkhole, located 75 kilometres away from the city centre and 4 kilometres north of the Konya-Aksaray highway, is one of the places frequented by those traveling to Cappadocia and tourist groups.

A PERIOD UNEARTHS IN THE ANCIENT CITY OF SAVATRA

Excavations in the Savatra Ancient City located in Yağlıbayat District continue uninterruptedly under the management of Konya Museum Directorate with the permission of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

The discovery of the ancient theatre, one of the elements of the ancient city and discovered through archaeological surface research, especially in Central Anatolia, created great excitement among archaeologists. Savatra Ancient City Scientific Advisor and S.U. Cultural Heritage Preservation and Restoration Department Faculty Member Assoc. Prof. İlker IŞIK has been conducting surface research around Bozdağ National Park since 2017 with the permission of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Işık also concentrated his work on this area. After the new structures and findings, especially in the ancient theatre section, came to light in the works carried out with the significant support of Karatay Municipality, Karatay Mayor Hasan Kılca closely follows the works carried out.