Research Information System
Önal R. Ç. (Executive), Tali Ş., Özkan Koç E., Emir O., Çolak D., Terzi F., et al.
TUBITAK Project, 3501 - National Young Researcher Career Development Program, 2024 - 2027
Gravestones, which are small structures of various shapes and sizes that are placed at the head and foot of a grave to mark its location, have evolved beyond their functional purposes over time, differentiating themselves according to civilizations and regions, and transformed into art works that are significant in many ways. The Anatolian geography has had an increasingly rich accumulation of gravestones, particularly since the arrival of the Turks in these lands.
While the literary texts on gravestones reveal the literary understanding of the period, they also contain important information that shed light on the social structure by providing information such as the identity and family ties of the deceased, their occupations, and the causes of death. Studying the tombstones, which reveal the dominant style and taste, and the artistic orientations of the period, enable iconographic determinations to be made with the symbolic elements on them, and, if any, provide information about their artists, is also extremely important in terms of the Art History discipline.
The gravestones, unique in quantity almost in all provinces of Anatolia, are also too many in Trabzon. The gravestones in the central district of Trabzon (Ortahisar), have been excluded from the scope of this project as they have been the subject of a number of academic studies (thesis, article, book). This project on "Ottoman and Early Republican Period Gravestones in Trabzon Districts" was carried out to introduce the gravestones in the graveyards, cemeteries, tombs and martyrdoms, if any, as well as family cemeteries in other districts of Trabzon (Araklı, Arsin, Akçaabat, Beşikdüzü, Çarşıbaşı, Çaykara, Dernekpazarı, Düzköy, Hayrat, Köprübaşı, Maçka, Of, Sürmene, Şalpazarı, Vakfıkebir, Tonya and Yomra) within the scope of today's borders but whose existence is not even known, to have them inventoried and recorded and registered within the scope of the 11th Development Plan, to contribute to their sustainability by documenting their existence and to determine their place in Turkish art.
Determining the forms and titles of the gravestones, translating the Ottoman texts on them into modern Turkish, evaluating their artistic aspects, and examining them within their period will not only contribute to Art History field research but will also allow the project team to specialize in this field. The gap in the literature on Trabzon's gravestones will be closed after this project, which will be conducted with different disciplines such as "History" for the transcription of the texts, "Geomatic Engineering" for the processing of the data on the maps, and "Architecture" for drawing the facade views and the scaling of the measurements taken in the digital environment.
This project, which will
evaluate the quantity and quality of gravestones in the districts, will be
conducted within the framework of specific work packages in order to achieve
its goals. This study, which previously investigated the historical geography,
demographic structure, and Ottoman burial tradition of the region, rituals, and
techniques of burial in Turks until the Ottoman burial tradition, will be
completed after the completion of stages such as site visits, smart mapping,
and scaling, digitization of drawings, transcription of inscriptions, and
architectural and ornamental descriptions.
The "International Symposium on Gravestones" planned by Karadeniz Technical University in the last six months of the project will contribute to the project's widespread impact, and the project's data will be presented as a notice. Aside from the symposium notices, the data will be presented to the relevant community through articles to be published in journals that are indexed in international indexes, a book to be prepared for publication through an international publishing house, and a website to be established.