ABOUT BATMAN PROVINCE CULTURAL INVENTORY PROJECT

INTRODUCTION

Batman province, one of the distinguished places of ancient Anatolia, which has hosted many cultures and civilizations for centuries, hosts a great cultural heritage as a region where cultural interaction has been experienced most vividly from ancient times to the present, with its climate characteristics and many advantages provided by its geographical location.

Thanks to being a settlement dating back to about 15,000 years ago, which experts call the Upper Paleolithic Age, Batman, in a sense, also witnesses the story of humanity, from illustrated rock shelters to rock-carved mosques, from castles to tombstones. The work called "Batman Province Cultural Inventory" that you keep in your hands, which consists of three volumes and contains 1800 historical and cultural values, has emerged as a product of the studies started in 2017 in order to enable future generations to recognize this historical richness and cultural heritage, and also to record this story, which is the common heritage of humanity, and to shed light on the works to be done for the future.

This precious work, which was previously offered to the readers in Turkish, has been translated into English and presented to the use and information of foreign readers in order to make it reach beyond the readers of our country and to share the historical and cultural richness of Batman and our country with the world public opinion.

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who put forth their effort and work in presenting this valuable work, which records a part of the story of history and humanity, and hope that this work will contribute to the cultural richness of both Batman province and our country, and to future studies.

Batman Province Cultural Inventory Project was carried out and completed between May 2015 and November 2016 with a protocol signed by Batman Governorship and Batman University.

The project was carried out under the direction of Batman Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, with the financial support of Batman Governorship, Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Turkish Historical Society Scientific Research and Project Support. It was carried out under the scientific consultancy and coordination of Gülriz KOZBE.

It continued in the central, Hasankeyf, Beşiri, Kozluk, Sason and Gercüş districts.

Within the scope of the project, approximately 1800 cultural assets were documented in writing and visually.

Our work was carried out in two main branches as the Land and Office team. Our field team consists of mostly Archaeologists, Art Historian, Geographer, Map Technician, Museum Researchers and Experts from Batman Museum Directorate, Provincial Culture and Tourism Directorate staff and hosts who join us in some districts (Kozluk, Gerçüş and Sason).

Prof. Dr. Gülriz KOZBE Batman University

Akarcan GÜNGÖR Specialist (Batman University)

Hazal Ceylan ÖZTÜRKER Research Assistant (Batman University)

Muhammet Erşed TOKAT Research Assistant (Batman University)

Yunus AKGUN Archaeologist

Habip UCAR Archaeologist

Fatih BAYTAROĞLU Archaeologist

Süleyman ÜNLÜ Archaeologist

Mikail DEMİRKOL Archaeologist

Ahmet AVCI Archaeologist

Ali AKTAN Archaeologist

Ömer BALKA Archaeologist

Özcan ÇİÇEK Archaeologist

İbrahim ÇAKMAK Art Historian

Çimen TURAN Art Historian

Saadet ESMERAY Art Historian

Alaadin AL Geographer

Mehtap CEYRAN Office Staff

Selmete GÜMÜŞTEN Office Staff

Erkan BARLIK Mihmandar (for Kozluk district)

Bahattin DURMAZ Mihmandar (for Gerçüş district)

Ekrem AKTAŞ Mihmandar (for Sason district)

Feyzettin AYDIN ​​Mihmandar (for Sason district)

Osman KASIMOĞLU Driver

İmran PILATIN Driver

Halit TÜMENCİ Driver

Mehmet Emin EGE Map Technician (Batman Land Registry)

Emrah KARAKOÇ Map Technician (Batman Land Registry)

Alaadin ATMACA Map Technician (Batman Land Registry)

M. Cabir ALPER Museum Researcher (Batman Museum Director)

Şehmuz Young Museum Researcher (Batman Museum Director)

Ömer BARIŞ Art Historian (Director of Batman Museum)

Cemal ÇİFTÇİ Archaeologist (Director of Batman Museum)

Nezir ARI Archaeologist (Director of Batman Museum)

Ömer URAL Archaeologist (Director of Batman Museum)

Abdülkadir EKMEN Art Historian (Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism)

While the field team is documenting cultural assets in all districts, towns and villages of Batman province, which is divided into sub-regions in line with the civil administration divisions; The office team then transferred the recorded written and visual data to digital media by manually writing on the receipts prepared by us in a certain format in the field. Documentation was made on the receipts created by us with the database program FileMaker, based on the templates of the Council of Europe's Natural and Cultural Heritage Conservation Monument/Site Receipts. Cultural properties were introduced in the Monument and Site slips with their main lines under sub-headings such as their type, location, plan and architectural features, material and technique, ornamentation, inscription, dating, protection and property status. Apart from the definitions mentioned above, visuals showing the location of the cultural property, architectural plan and section drawings in most but not all of the rock houses and rock tombs, and three or four introductory photographs are given on the slips. The location of the cultural property has been documented with the help of satellite images obtained from the software called Google Earth, with GPS values ​​taken on-site in the field, or by sketching on cadastral maps over the Spatial Real Estate System (MEGSİS) at the Batman Land Registry Directorate.