Examples from Datça-Cumalı Gravestones

Located in the southwest of Anatolia, the peninsula where Datça is located in Muğla Province has a mountainous geography. The region, which has hosted many civilisations from ancient times to the present day, is mainly known for its tourism sector and the agriculture of cultivating olive and almond trees. If people need places for finding shelter and protection to continue their lives in this world, it is thought that they need such places for the next world with the same feelings after death. For this reason, they mark their final locations by placing identifying stones at the head and foot parts of their graves. In this work, the gravestones in the cemetery of Cumalı village of Datça district are examined. In total, twenty-six samples of graves in an eligible and decipherable condition are reviewed. Eleven of the headstones analysed belong to men and fifteen to women. Five of the footstones belong to men’s graves and nine to women’s graves. These samples identified in the field study are grouped as male and female headstones and footstones and are listed chronologically in catalogues. The inscriptions on the stones were read on the spot, and the people to whom they belonged were determined. Headstones and footstones are compared according to their shapes and ornaments. The study aims to reveal how long the people in the region have existed in that geography and to hand down these historical documents that are title deeds to future generations.