MRA-TUR-Yaz001

The Midas Monument is located in the Yazılıkaya (Turkish: “carved rock”) Valley, a location with traces of discontinuous settlement starting from the Bronze age and several important monuments from the 8^th to 6^th centuries BC associated with the Phrygian civilization. The Valley and its heritage gained attention from Western scholars and archaeologists beginning in the 1800s. It is to William Ramsey, a Scottish archaeologist, that the monument’s association with Midas can be credited, who noted the name on an inscription at the site. The 20^th century witnessed ongoing excavation campaigns, and a large survey in the 21^st century has provided indications of further monuments in the environs. The Midas Monument itself dates to the 6^th or 7^th century BC and presents a large rock-carved façade with bas relief embellishments. An “entrance” suggests the presence of an inner chamber, but in reality leads only to a shallow niche, perhaps originally used to house a statue.

Sources:

https://turkisharchaeonews.net/site/yazılıkaya-midas-monument

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazılıkaya,_Eskişehir

Further reading:

Topal, T., & SÖZMEN, B. (2001). Characteristics of the weathering zones developed within the tuffs of the Midas monument. Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences, 10(2), 83-91.

Kadioglu, S., Kadioglu, Y. K., & Akyol, A. A. (2015, July). Picturing monuments and cultural heritages with ground penetrating radar method including its half bird's eye view visualization. In 2015 8th International Workshop on Advanced Ground Penetrating Radar (IWAGPR) (pp. 1-4). IEEE.