Döğer Valley, located 40 km north of Afyonkarahisar and 10 km northwest of Göynüş Valley, is a residential area used extensively by Phrygians. There are many Phrygian fortresses around the valley along with several monumental façades such as Aslankaya, Burmeç, Büyük Kapıkaya, and Küçük Kapıkaya. The vast majority of the monuments are located around Emre Lake to the east of the valley.
Döğer Asar Kale, Façade, and Niche
Döğer Asar Kale is a Phrygian fortress located 3 km northeast of Döğer town. The majority of the visible remnants carved into the rocks on this high plateau belong to the Byzantine period. There are large and small rock masses spread over a wide area on the southern skirts of the kale. There is a small façade on one of the rocks located about 80 m southeast of the kale. It is like a small copy of the Deliklitaş monument with its curved side walls and steep roof. The niche is empty. There are three steps leading to the façade. Two other carved rock blocks (A and B on the map) stand about 25-50 m south-southwest of this monument. Haspels describes them as sculpture bases. The southernmost one has been classified by Berndt-Ersöz as a niche built without a roof. The other one is also classified as a stepped altar by G. de Francovich.
Üçlerkayası
It is a small fortress located on the southern tip of the hill to the northeast of the village of Üçlerkayası (formerly Leğen). Carved into the rocks are structures like rooms, silos, and cisterns.
Kırkmerdiven Kale
Rocky remnants of the kale are in front of Yunus Emre Tekke on the southern shore of Emre Lake. Its middle part was destroyed; four separate sections remain, two in the north and two in the south. The site was also in use during the Byzantine period.
Nallıkaya, a fortress and a lost altar
Nallıkaya fortress is located approximately 3 km north of Kırkmerdiven Kale, overlooking the plain of Emre Lake. The small structure might have served more like a watchtower or outpost. Although Haspels mentions a small and rather worn-out stepped altar with a single idol on the southern slope of Nallıkaya, no traces of this monument are visible anymore.
References:
Berndt-Ersöz, S. 2006. Phrygian Rock–Cut Shrines. Structure, Function and Cult Practice, Leiden.
de Francovich, G. 1990. Santuari e Tombe Rupestri dell’Antica Frigia, e un’indagine sulle tombe della Licia, Roma.
Haspels, C. H. E. 1971. The Highlands of Phrygia. Sites and Monuments, Princeton.
Haspels, C. H. E. 2009. I am the Last of the Travellers, Midas City Excavation and Surveys in the Highlands of Phrygia, (Ed. D. Berndt with contributions by H. Çambel), İstanbul.
Tüfekçi-Sivas, T. 1999 Eskişehir-Afyonkarahisar- Kütahya İl Sınırları İçindeki Phryg Kaya Anıtları, Anadolu Üniversitesi Yayınları No:1156, Eskişehir.
Image sources:
C. H. E. Haspels, 1971
C. H. E. Haspels, 2009
Üçlerkayası Köyü Frig Vadisi
Bora Bilgin, 2020
Ertuğrul Anıl, 2020, 2021
Tayfun Bilgin, 2020, 2021