1967 Yılı Van-Hakkari Araştırmaları Tirşin Kaya Resimlerinin Bulunuşu : Arkeoloji, Etnografya ve Doğal Çevre

This publication is the book version of the report Mehmet Özdoğan wrote in 1967 regarding his survey and trip, partly with Muvaffak Uyanık and partly on his own, in the Van-Hakkari region. The report in question is an interesting document in that it reflects a period in 1967 when there was almost no information about the prehistoric cultures of the Van-Hakkari region and provides a snapshot of the archaeology of 50 years ago.

In the first of the two sections added while this report of Özdoğan was being turned into a book, Muvaffak Uyanık (1905-1975) is discussed as a person and his Tirşin researches that he pioneered, his personality dedicated to the principles of the Republic and his contributions to the development of our education system are introduced to our archaeological world in general terms. The most important result of this study he carried out with Mehmet Özdoğan was the detailed determination of the Tirşin rock paintings. As it is known, Muvaffak Bey was later followed by other researchers, especially Ersin Alok, and in time some of the Tirşin rock paintings were removed from their place and moved to the Van Museum. Ersin Alok's assessment of the region is also included at the beginning of the work.

The second part of the report, written by Mehmet Özdoğan as a brief evaluation of the 1967 studies from today's perspective and defined as the "Introduction", mostly tells the background story of the 1967 studies, which has not been reflected to the outside world until now, in full detail.

The important ethnographic photographs taken by Mehmet Özdoğan in the mountainous region during the Van-Hakkari surface surveys in 1967 are included in an album in Appendix 4, with those related to Van-Hakkari Villages; Children, Adults and Life, and those related to Zomas Used as Summer Pastures in the Mountainous Area Between Van Çatak, Gürpınar - Hakkari Beytüşşebap, Nomads and Nomadic Life.

This work, which we, as Arkeoloji ve Sanat Yayınları, published as the first book of a new series, is about Mehmet Özdoğan's 1967 Van-Hakkari Research. With its rich content, it contributes to ongoing and future studies in the region, while also providing detailed documentation that provides an interesting cross-section of 50 years ago to those writing Turkish archaeological history.

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