The history of Tekirdag should not be considered separately from the history of Thrace and the Marmara region. The most important feature of the region is that all kinds of relations such as migration, invasion, trade and cultural exchange between Anatolia, the Near East and Europe took place through Thrace. The second important feature of the region is that it is located at the junction of the main sea route from the Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea to the Black Sea and from there to Central and Eastern Europe and Asia via large rivers.
Tekirdag in Prehistoric Periods
Due to its strategic location on sea and land routes, it has been accepted that clues that will shed light on cultural relations between distant geographical regions are in the Thrace region. In addition, considering its mild climate, soil suitable for agriculture and farming, and the richness of vegetation, water and land animals, it can be thought that the Thrace region has always been a very suitable environment for human settlement. Archaeological research on prehistoric periods in Turkish Thrace is very new. After the 1970s, a team formed by Prof. Dr. Mehmet OZDOĞAN, a faculty member of the Prehistory Department of Istanbul University, began prehistoric research in Thrace. After these researches, this team also began short-term rescue excavations in Edirne and Tekirdag in the late 1980s. Since 1990, Tekirdag Museum has been systematically continuing its excavations and researches on prehistoric periods in Thrace together with this team.
The Yarimburgaz Cave near Istanbul is known as a Paleolithic (old stone) settlement in Thrace and the Agacli region is known as an open settlement on the Black Sea coast of Thrace. In the recent researches of Tekirdag Museum Directorate, caves were identified in Guneskaya and Gungormez valleys formed by Ergene and Galata streams in Saray district. Pottery pieces dated to 5000-3000 BC were found in the upper parts of these caves. Most probably, as in Yarimburgaz Cave, the upper layers of the Old Stone Age (200,000-10,000 BC) can be encountered under the surface layers in Guneskaya and Gungormez Caves.
In the excavations and researches carried out on the Tekirdag coastline, settlements belonging to the Neolithic period (the first period of settlement on land, accepted as a revolution in the development of human society. 8000-5000 BC), the Chalcolithic age (the development of village-shaped settlements, the beginning of copper and mining. 5000-3000 BC), and the Early Bronze Age (the emergence of bronze and the development of mining, the formation of principalities) were found.
In the Neolithic age, materials contemporary with those found in Burun Eren Farm in Sarkoy and Burdur Hacilar were found. The same materials were also found in the excavations carried out by Istanbul University in the Hoca Cesme area in Enez. These findings show how widespread the cultural relations were in those periods. The most important finding place in the Chalcolithic Age is Toptepe in Kargaburun area near Marmara Ereglisi. It was found by chance while passing by the director of the British Institute of Archaeology in 1963 and published and announced to the scientific world.
However, it was subjected to the massacre of the second housing construction in 1988. In the excavation carried out by Prof. Dr. Mehmet OZDOĞAN in a small area left over from the houses in 1989, only a part of the most important works and cultural layer of Thrace could be revealed. A very important work found in this excavation, the Mother Goddess Figure made of terracotta, dating back to 4300 BC, is exhibited in Tekirdag Museum. In the excavations carried out by Tekirdag Museum Directorate and Istanbul University in Menekse Catagi located on the coast of Gazioglu Village, contemporary remains with Toptepe layers were found in the lower layers.
In Menekse Catagi, huts made with elliptical fence technique and stoves and ovens inside the huts were found. In 1938, Prof. Dr. Arif Mufit MANSEL had found jugs with Toptepe material in Alpullu. The emergence of this cultural layer in the excavations carried out in Kirklareli Asagipinar also reveals the relations between the cultures on the sea coast of Thrace and the cultures in the interior regions at that time.
Tekirdag in the Early and Middle Bronze Ages
Recent research has revealed that settlements extended along the coast of Marmara Sea in Thrace during the Early Bronze Age. There were quite dense settlements between Istanbul and the Gallipoli Peninsula at the beginning of the Early Bronze Age. These settlements are even more dense on the Gallipoli Peninsula. These settlements, which are contemporary with the first floor of Troy, date back to 3000-2700 BC. The Menekse Catagi excavations conducted jointly by the Tekirdag Museum and the Istanbul University Prehistory Department have yielded a large number of remains from this period.
While Menekse Catagi shows great similarities with the first floor of Troy in the early stages of the Early Bronze Age, relations with the Sveti Krilova cultures of the Balkan cultures have also been identified. The Second World War of the Early Bronze Age Although the (2700-2400 BC) and III. (2400-2000 BC) phases are not encountered intensively in Thrace, Depas type (double-handled cups) cup pieces that emerged in the II. phase of the Early Bronze Age were found in Troy and many settlements in Anatolia in the Menekse Catagi excavations.
There are no settlements belonging to the III. phase of the Early Bronze Age within the borders of Tekirdag. KIn the excavations carried out by Prof. Dr. Mehmet OZDOGAN from Istanbul University in Asagipinar Kanligecit in irklareli, a colonial settlement belonging entirely to Central Anatolian cultures was unearthed during the 2nd phase of the Early Bronze Age and the transition phase to the Middle Bronze Age. Megaron type structures, which are the original architectural type of Anatolia, and religious and daily use items were found in this excavation. This excavation documents that there was a commercial and cultural exchange between Anatolia and Thrace in the last phase of the Early Bronze Age, and also proves that Anatolian people established small colonial settlements on Thracian lands.
No findings were encountered except for a few small ceramic finds from the Middle Bronze Age to the end of the Late Bronze Age (2000-1300 BC). A great wave of migration came from the west towards the end of the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age (1400-1000 BC).
After this wave of migration, traces of which can be found in the Ergene and Meric Basins, a dark period began. Although ancient sources and archaeological findings have been insufficient until recently, a dense settlement from the Middle Iron Age was revealed in the recent Asagipinar excavations in Kirklareli. With the continuation of systematic excavations that have recently begun in Thrace, the periods known as dark will gradually be illuminated.
A significant bronze collection from the Iron Age taken from the village of Sarkoy Igdebaglari to the Istanbul Archaeology Museum and a few bronze metal artifacts brought to the Tekirdag Museum show that mining played an important role in this period. However, the most important difference between the cultures of Anatolia and Thrace in this era is that, while there were institutionalized states (Hittite) in Anatolia, there were communities in Thrace that were defined as Proto-Thracian and had much lower levels of social organization.
