Salih KAYMAKÇI

In the surveys that we started in 2015 and continued until today in the Eastern Black Sea Region, we detected a small number of settlements with Late Iron Age pottery in Giresun Province and its districts. A group of sherds on the Karadikmen Castle Settlement (a mountainous area in Giresun) that we identified in our surveys in Çamoluk district in the mountainous area of Giresun province had the characteristics of the Late Iron Age ceramics that we know in terms of technique and form. We believe that this pottery group consisting of floral, band and geometric decorations on burnished slip and dating to the Late Iron Age show characteristics of Anatolian Iron Age Pottery, and will be important for re-determining the boundaries of the region in the Iron Age. It is not clear when the Bronze Age ended in the region and when the Iron Age began. In our study, we compared the cultures of Iron Age with previous studies in the Çoruh and Kelkit Basin near the region. As a result of the researches in the region, we can say that there are settlements belonging to the Iron Age in the eastern part of the Kelkit Basin, which constitutes the southern hinterland of the Eastern Black Sea Region, but the written evidence related to the region is still insufficient.

Key words: Eastern Black Sea Region, Giresun, Çamoluk, Late Iron Age, Karadikmen Castle, Pottery.