A Discovery That Sheds Light on History in the Central Anatolian City of Develi: The World’s Only Roman-Era Agricultural Calendar

In the Gereme region of Develi district in Kayseri, an agricultural calendar discovered by chance in 2013 and determined to be from the Roman Era holds a unique place in world archaeological literature. This discovery provides significant evidence that Gereme was a center for agriculture and agricultural education during that period.

The stones, preserved by the Kayseri Museum Directorate, hold great historical and touristic importance due to being the only known example of their kind in Anatolia. This 1,700-year-old agricultural calendar shows that the tradition of Anatolian people farming according to astronomical alignments and lunar phases for thousands of years continued in the Roman Era and was even put into writing.

Research conducted by Dr. Bilgin Yazlık, a faculty member at Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University’s Institute of Social Sciences, revealed that the stones have points arranged in a specific system resembling lunar phases and constellations. These points were identified as belonging to a biodynamic agricultural calendar used to time agricultural activities according to the positions of the moon and stars. Yazlık emphasized the uniqueness of this discovery, saying, “We created interconnected diagrams of the 5 pieces. A similar example has never been seen before. Because we know the existing examples, we were able to find the relationship between the two when we saw this past example.”

This discovery provides significant evidence that Gereme was a center for agriculture and agricultural education in the Roman Era. The existence of the calendar shows how advanced the region’s agricultural activities were during that period and how astronomical knowledge was integrated into agricultural practice.