Sacred Places and Sacred Landscapes: A Biographical Approach to Landscapes of Beşparmak Mountains and Lake Bafa

Abstract

Sacred places and landscapes are created and developed by human actions. Such landscapes are dynamic and complex landscapes where people connect with the past and re-enact narratives. Although studies have shown that sacred landscapes have an effective role in strengthening social memory by combining the place where rituals take place and actions in transferring this memory by combining to generation, it remains incomplete to explain how the perceived structure of the landscape is transformed by human actions. In this study, the sacred areas and landscape around Beşparmak Mountains and Lake Bafa, which have been preserving their sacredness for thousands of years, have been biographically examined. Sacred areas and landscapes created by anonymous actors in the region from the Prehistoric Period to the present have been determined using historical maps and documents belonging to the Prehistoric, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Periods. How the anonymous actors who contributed to the transformation of the landscape in each period perceive the landscape with a landscape biography approach. It has been among the important results of the study that sacred landscapes are the result of common human activity and therefore culturally constructed. Another noteworthy result is that Lake Bafa and its surrounding sacred sites were discovered and used extensively in 3^rd -4^th BC and 12 AD. It shows the dominance of different religious beliefs periodically over the inhabitants of the region. The landscape biography approach discussed in this study will constitute an effective example of how the landscape is integrated with natural and cultural elements, that the landscape affects people in the long term while the human transforms the landscape, and how this approach shapes the decisions to be taken in future planning and cultural heritage conservation studies.