HISTORICAL GRANARIES AT TASKALE (TURKEY) UNDER RISK: A GEOTECHNICAL ANALYSIS

Granaries are bioclimatic conservation structures with various forms using in different countries. In the past, granaries have been an important structure in both the storage and conservation of products (such as like wheat, barley, oats). According to the historical documents, the Taskale village includes the studied granaries have been using as a settlement area since the Byzantine period. Recently, rockfalls have observed on the walls of the northeastern parts of these historical granaries. The geological and geotechnical features of the rock units used in these areas were determined to understand such problems. In the field, the rocks with different colours and textural characteristics have taken into account and sampling has carried out from three different levels. Laboratory studies were conducted for determining the mineralogical, chemical, petrographic and geomechanical properties. The granaries in the region carved in the fossiliferous reefal limestones and clayey-sandy limestones. These limestone levels are more sensitive to atmospheric conditions than the overlaying travertine. The aim of the study is to provide geotechnical data to use in the conservation processes of the ancient Taskale granaries.