The Mountainous Part of Giresun Province in II. Millennium BC in the Light of New Findings- Çamoluk District

Çamoluk district which is situated in the mountainous part of Giresun province containing our research field, is one of the area that is less researched in terms of Ancient History and Archeology.The most important factor in this,that the area has a mountainous nature and its land is covered with flora in four seasons of the year.The archaeological studies in Giresun province, founded in the borders of Eastern Black Sea Side of Black Sea Region, in which Early Bronze Age and II. Millennium cultures were existed intensely, have been made more about Giresun sea front and Giresun Island. The studies about mountainous part of the region were started in 1944 by İ.K Kökten but the knowledge was included that any accommodation units were encountered. Our research area is known as High Country in Hittite Period. In the researches made by us in Çamoluk, located in the mountainous part which we think that it can be connected with settlements belonging to Kaşka and Azzi-Hayaşa that we think they have border to mountainous part of Giresun, many important settlements belonging to II. Millennium have been reached. We know that Hittite Kingdom was established in Second Millennium B.C. in Anatolia in the curve of Kızılırmak. It is known that the settlements of Trabzon –Rize was named Hayaşa during Hittites period. However, no traces of settlements belonging to Second Millennium B.C. were found in Giresun. According to Hittite records we know that Hayasas lived in the region for some time, specifically in the interior parts of the coastline from Rize to Giresun and in the region between Erzurum-Erzincan-Bayburt. Depending on their political relations with Hittites, they sometimes enlarged their borders and impact area. Written resources of Hittites show the region inside the Azzi-Hayasa borders. Also, Kaskalar, whose traces were seen in the central Blacksea Region in Second Millennium B.C., lived in the mountainous parts of Blacksea which is now in the region of Sinop and Giresun. Kaskalar are also mentioned as the northern neighbors of Hittities in the resources. Our survey in the region brings light to the culture and history of the region in Second Millennium B.C.Our aim was to reach II. Millennium accommodation units in Çamoluk district founded in the inner part of Giresun province and composing its mountainous part and to detect road routes that these units have generated.