Tire Kutu Khan Excavation, Principalities And Ottoman Periods Ceramics / Tire Kutu Han Kazısı, Beylikler Ve Osmanlı Dönemi Seramikleri

Abstract

Tire is a city, which was the capital city of Aydınoğulları Principality. The development of the city, which started to become a Turk-Islam settlement in this period, accelerated in the Ottoman period. The numerous religious, social and civil architectural structures built in those days in the city have reached the present day with great preservation of their originality. Kutu Khan, which carries the unique characteristics of the Ottoman city-inns, dating back to 1429. It was a remarkable structure in Ottoman trade life and it continued its function for centuries. Recently, excavations were carried out in the courtyard and barn area of the inn for restoration. A large number of ceramics reflecting the characteristics of both the Principalities and the Ottoman period were brought to the surface from underground. The presentations and evaluations of the red dough ceramics of both periods during the excavations are the contents of this article. When the ceramic finds are classified in chronological order, it is understood that the ones dated to the first half of the 14th-15th C. and those dated to the 18th-19th C. are high in number. The number of ceramics dated between these two periods is rather limited. This leads to different results. The first is that the area where the inn was built was also a settlement area in the Principalities Period; secondly, from the date of its construction until 18th-19th C., the inn was regularly operated; the third is that the centuries the cleaning work in the inn has not been given much importance and the broken ceramics have been sprinkled on the floor. 
 
 Ceramics spreading for about 600 years were evaluated in two main groups; glazed and unglazed. All lined ceramics belonging to glazed ceramics belong to Ottoman period and these ceramics are similar to those ceramics produced in Eyüp and Çanakkale. Underglazed painted ceramics belong to both periods. In these ceramics, in which style differences are observed completely, the samples belonging to the Period of Principalities are painted in one color and are parallel with the samples found in Ayasuluk. The findings of the Ottoman period are made up of Çanakkale ceramics. These ceramics are seen in many colors as opposed to the Period of Principalities. Among the monochrome glazed pottery, the open-formed vessels of the Period of Principalities and Ottoman Period have similarity in terms of glaze but they are different in terms of their form and height. While the high ring bases in the Period of Principalities are not seen in the other period, they are characteristic for the period of concentric rings in the inner faces of the Ottoman-era single-color glazed plates/pots/bowls. Candlesticks and lamps from lighting devices do not differ from the examples of 18th-19th C. which can be dated to the same period. Unglazed ceramics, one of the finds of Kutu Khan, contain samples from two periods, such as glazed ceramics. The most noteworthy finds are the pitchers. While the examples of the Ottoman period are fairly simple, the pitchers of the Period of Principalities have a special place among the finds in terms of their construction and decorations. Pitchers decorated with printing and scraping methods are in parallel with the pitchers found in other surrounding Principalities with the pitchers from Ayasuluk, the other capital of the Aydınoğulları Principality, in terms of form and appearance. The most important factor that attracts attention in the starting point of neck of these pitchers is the filters. It is emphasized that these filters, which are generally thought to be made for the purpose of not allowing foreign substances into the pitcher, may also have functions for infusion. The finds to be generally evaluated give clues about the distribution of the Aydınoğulları and the subsequent Ottoman ceramics in this region.