An Evaluation of the Ottoman-Period Pipes in Bitlis Castle (2018 Excavation Seasion)
This study’s aim was to examine pipes, found in excavation works in 2018 in Bitlis Castle, which is located on a rocky region in the city centre of the Bitlis province. Pipe finds with a large number of different forms and decoration features were obtained in areas, called P and R 14-15 and a drilling in the excavation works in Bitlis Castle in 2018. As a base, out of these pipe finds sieve bowl pipes were examined in an earlier published study so they are excluded from the present one. Pipes, which were used to smoke along with coffee in coffeehouses, generally the socialization spaces in the Ottoman Empire, were also widely used in Bitlis, where tobacco was known to have been produced. The variety and abundance of pipe finds found during excavation works in Bitlis Castle indicate that pipes were used in the region to a high degree. Moreover, it is understood that different plants were used to smoke except for pipes, having distinct period characteristics in terms of form, size, additive, and decoration features. It is considered that pipe forms and types vary by local tastes and functional purpose. When pipe finds, composing the subject matter of the present study, are compared to other data collected in excavation works, and their similar samples, they may be dated to a period between the 17th and 19th centuries.
Bitlis Kalesi Osmanlı Dönemi Lülelerinin Değerlendirilmesi (2018 Yılı Kazı Sezonu)
Bitlis ilinin merkezinde kayalık bir alan üzerinde yer alan Bitlis Kalesi’nde 2018 yılı kazı çalışmalarında ele geçirilen lüle buluntuları çalışmamızda incelenecektir. 2018 yılında Bitlis Kalesi’nde yapılan çalışmalarda P ve R 14-15 olarak isimlendirilen alanlarda ve sondajda çok sayıda farklı form ve bezeme özelliklerine sahip lüle buluntularına ulaşılmıştır. Bu lüle buluntuları içerisinde kaideli, süzgeçli çanaklı lüleler ayrıca ele alındığı için çalışma konumuzun dışında tutulmuştur. Osmanlı Devleti’nde genellikle sosyalleşme mekânı olan kahvehanelerde kahve ile birlikte tütün içmek için kullanılan lüleler, tütün üretimi yapıldığı bilinen Bitlis’te de yoğun şekilde görülmektedir. Bitlis Kalesi’nde yapılan kazı çalışmaları sırasında ele geçirilen lüle buluntularının çeşitliliği ve çokluğu da bölgede yoğun lüle kullanımını göstermektedir. Form, boyut, katkı ve bezeme özellikleri bakımından farklı dönem özellikleri gösteren lülelerin tütün dışında farklı bitkiler için kullanıldığı da bilinmektedir. Lüle form ve çeşitlerinin yerel beğenilerin yanı sıra işlevsel amaçlarına göre farklılıklar gösterdiği de düşünülmektedir. Konumuzu oluşturan lüle buluntuları, kazı çalışmalarında ele geçirilen diğer veriler ve Anadolu’daki benzer örnekleri ile karşılaştırıldığında 17-19. yüzyıl arasına tarihlendirilmektedir.
Bitlis Castle is located in the center of the Bitlis province within the borders of the Eastern Anatolia Region. The Iskender Stream to its west and The Dideban Stream to its east form a natural moat around the castle on a rocky hill, which is higher than its surroundings dominating the region.
Pipe finds, which were obtained in excavation works in Bitlis Castle in 2018, will be examined and evaluated within the scope of the present study. Pipe finds in a large number of different forms and decoration features were obtained in the areas, called P and R 14-15 and a drilling in excavation works in Bitlis Castle in 2018. As a base, out of these pipe finds sieve bowl pipes were examined in an earlier published study, so they were excluded from the present one.
The most common groups of forms were comprised of sieve and non-sieve shallow rounded bowl pipes in the Bitlis Castle excavation in 2018. In addition to these groups, pipe samples with forms of disc bowl, round bowl, biconical bowl, lily bowl, sack-shaped bowl, cylinder bowl, and a great number of pipe finds only with flue were also found. Pipe finds in different forms were largely of clean paste, little and smallsized additive, and they were a little porous and hard-baked. The pipes, examined in the present study consist of 113 finds in total, including sieve, shallow rounded bowl pipes (24 pieces), disc bowl pipes (5 pieces), round bowl pipes (22 pieces), biconical bowl pipes (7 pieces), lily bowl pipes (3 pieces), sack-shaped bowl pipes (9 pieces), cylinder bowl pipes (3 pieces), shallow round base pipes (1 piece), and the pipes only with flue (32 pieces).
Besides these, a find, which was not examined in existing publications, and which is considered to be a cup for embers as may be inferred from coal dust and burns was also revealed. Some additives such as mica, lime, sand, and fireclay exist in the pastes of the examined pipes. The pipe pastes were in red, grey, pink, and brown with white colours having different tones of the mentioned colours. Different decoration techniques such as incised, imprint, roulette, and molding were applied on the pipes singly or along with a few of them. In addition to pipe finds; coffee cups, ceramic pieces, metal objects, and coins were also found in both exposals of the spaces. The place where a great number of finds, belonging to daily life, were attained, is considered to have been used as a public space. It is known that people used to go to coffeehouses after hammams in the Ottoman period. It is indicated that these places might have been used as coffeehouses as they were situated in the south of the castle near the hammam and particularly as pipes and coffee cups were intensively found. A space, which is considered to be a palace, and a hammam were found in the excavation conducted in Bitlis Castle today. The space, which was built with mortarless dry walls, is considered to belong to the 18th and 19th centuries. Some finds, which are considerably significant in terms of the history of Bitlis Castle, were detected in the drilling work in the excavation area. The entire discontinuance of pipe finds after reaching a definite depth in the drilling work provides notably important data in terms of dating.
Black, glazed sieve, shallow round bowl pipes and large-sized, red-lined, glazed disc sieve and lily bowl pipes were found right after digging approximately 20 cm in the exposals in the excavation; thus, the pipe finds, obtained in that section, which was a late Ottoman settlement, are dated to the 19th century which it is known to have been the last settlement in the castle. It is noted in the English consul J. Brant’s reports that the castle was brought into total use in 1836. One of the reasons for dating the pipes to the 19th century is that there were not any other available pipe finds following the similar samples in different areas and a 1810-11-dated coin, belonging to the period of Mahmut II.
The pipes that mainly belonged to the 18th century was sack-shaped bowl, biconical, shallow round bowl pipes and additionally, 1701-1702-dated Mustafa II-period, 1737-1741-dated Mahmoud I-period, 1788-dated Abdulhamid I-period coins were obtained. However, out of these pipe types, the ones with a paste colour in oyster white tones were attained in deeper parts than other pipe finds, predominantly in the drilling section, and they are considered to belong to the period between the 17th century and the first quarter of 18th century as the coin, found with the pipes, could not be read because of corrosion. Although obtaining coins along with the pipes provides significant data for dating, it became difficult to date the pipes more precisely because the coins were in juxtaposition and most of them could not be read because of corrosion. Besides the coins, many coffee cups obtained also confirmed the existing data. Apart from black pipe finds, the other samples, which are similar in terms of both form and decoration, were widely seen in Anatolia and out of Anatolia, thus indicating that only black glazed pipe finds, found out in Bitlis Castle, were local production and that the other samples, belonging to the 17th-19th centuries, were imported to the region through trade. In relation to Bitlis castle excavation pipes of the year 2018, it is noted that other finds besides pipes, obtained in two exposals covering a limited part of the excavation area of the drilling work support each other. A part of the area presents stratigraphically explicit data and permits the finds to be more precisely dated. The excavation work in Bitlis Castle in the forthcoming years will provide a significant contribution to a more extensive evaluation of the excavation work area and particularly pipes by means of stratigraphical data.
