Pteria (Kerkenes)

Kerkenes Dağ is a large fortified  Old Hittite Kingdom site - Middle Iron Age hilltop city. Pteria (wing, border line?), located to the northwest of the Şahmuratlı village in Sorgun district of Yozgat. Later in the 7th century, it was inhabited by Phrygians. A large palatial complex overlooking the environment was in the southern part of the city.  At the entrance to the palace stood two towers. This excavation in burnt debris yielded excellent evidence of  ragments of relief sculptures, a large portion of a human statue, and Phrygian inscriptions. The unearthed artifacts contain glass beads, glass bracelet fragments, bronze and iron fibula pieces, bronze arrow heads, bronze bands, iron nails, which vary from the Archaic to Byzantine periods.

Pteria of Herodotus was completely destroyed by the Lydian King Croesus during the campaign against the Persians around 540 BC. Then the city was was looted and burnt . 7 km long walls containing 7 gates were destroyed and the settlement was entirely abandoned. All these evidence seems to confirm the location of Pteria in there.

See:

1. Lisa Kealhofer at all., Patterns of Iron Age interaction in central Anatolia in: Anatolian Studies 2010, vol. 60 , pp. 71 − 92 - http://www.une.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/23444/kealhofer-et-al-2010.pdf
2. http://kerkenes.metu.edu.tr/
3. Abdulkadir Baran, Kerkenes Kazısı 2012 - 2013 Yılları Çalışmaları ve Yerleşimin Tanımlanması Üzerine Değerlendirmeler The 2012- 2013/ Excavations at  Kerkenes and Evaluations of the Settlement in: Mediterranean Journal of Humanities 2016, VI/2, pp. 49-87
4. Scott Branting, Yasemin Özarslan, Joseph Lehner, John M. Marston andSarah R. Graff, Kerkenes and Phrygia: old and new directions of research. In G. Tsetskhladze (ed.), Phrygia in Antiquity: From the Bronze Age to the Byzantine Period. Colloquia Antiqua. Leuven: Peeters,  2019
5. Geoffrey D. Summers, Keykavus Kale and Associated Remains on the Kerkenes Dağ in Cappadocia, Central Turkey in: Anatolia Antiqua  (IX), p.39-60 - http://www.persee.fr/doc/anata_1018-1946_2001_num_9_1_955
6. https://whitelevy.fas.harvard.edu/kerkenes-0
7. Stefan Przeworski, "Die Lage von Pteria". Archiv Orientalni I, 1929, pp. 312-315.
8. https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Battle_of_Pteria
9. Kerkenes Dag, The Archaeological Settlements of Turkey - TAY Project