Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Spiritual Crossroads: Between Dogma and Heresy in the Medieval Mediterranean, Madrid, İspanya, 10 - 11 Şubat 2026, ss.0-1, (Özet Bildiri)
The ruins of Binbirkilise spread across the slopes
and peaks of Karadağ, an extinct volcano rising abruptly from the centre of the
Anatolian Plateau within the borders of Karaman province of Turkiye. Alongside
its two principal settlements, Değle and Madenşehir, the area is scattered with
numerous smaller settlements, chapels, churches, and the remains of possible
monastic complexes, making it one of the richest regions in Central Anatolia
where examples of Late Antique, Early, and Middle Byzantine civil and religious
architecture coexist.
During the surveys conducted by Metin Ahunbay
between the mid-1990s and the 2010s, a rock surface covered with cross
carvings—previously undocumented by earlier researchers such as Ramsay and Bell
(1907–1909) or Semavi Eyice (1968)—was identified but never published. Drawing
on Ahunbay’s unpublished data, my doctoral research, through fieldwork
conducted in 2021–2022 in Değle, documented and analysed the “Sacred Rock” marked
with carved and mounted crosses in situ, offering a contextual reinterpretation
of its form and function. In addition, a previously unknown, human-modified
natural cave, several new funerary chapels, several cup-marks located in front
of these chapels, and altar table bases within the churches were identified.
These findings, together with earlier evidence
that had mostly been treated at the level of inventories or catalogues, reveal
that the sacred topography of Karadağ cannot be explained solely through
architectural forms and that the “natural sacred” was deliberately and ritually
re-created through human intervention. Considering their topographic positions,
these data indicate the presence of a previously unrecognised sacred landscape
pattern in Değle. The study aims to reconceptualize these sites in relation to
ritual circulation, open-air worship, monastic periphery networks, and
pilgrimage movement.
Ultimately, the sacred landscape of Değle is
redefined as both a tangible expression of local piety and a provincial variant
of the Mediterranean pilgrimage geography. These sanctuaries offer a new
perspective on the continuity and transformation of religious practice, making
the processes through which sacredness was continuously re-produced within the
Karadağ landscape visible and intelligible.