Ottoman tombstone along the Giresun coast area

In our master thesis called ?Ottoman Tombstone along the Giresun Coast Area ?, tombstones in Giresun city center and its districts Piraziz, Bulancak, Keşap, Espiye, Tirebolu, Görele and Eynesil have been examined. 162 graves from the Ottoman period and one from the Cumhuriyet period have been found. The Cumhuriyet sample also contained Ottoman letters. Of them, 99 graves belonged to men and 61 of them to women. It hasn?t been determined which gender the persons lying in the last three graves had. 118 tombstones could be found at the grave?s head ends but only 3 could be found at the grave?s foot ends. The last 42 graves had tombstones on both sides of the graves. Among the total number of 163 graves 8 were found which only contained empty coffins. According to the stems three different groups of tombstones could be established. The first group which includes 87 samples has a head-like top and a rectangle shaped body. The second group which includes another seven samples almost has a square body. The final third group of five stems does not have a head-like top and has got a cylindrical stem. Among the women?s tombstones 3 different types could be established, too. 16 samples could be found with a head-like top and a rectangle shaped body. The second group consists of 21 samples which top ends have vegetal motives and a rectangle shaped body. The last group including 14 samples has got a triangle top and has got a rectangle shaped body. The top of seven tombstones found were broken. Of the vegetal motives found on the tombstones 22 samples show roses,7 samples show tulips, 4 samples show verbenas, 3 samples show carnations, 4 samples show wild flowers, 1 sample shows a fuchsia, 2 samples show palmettes, 1 sample shows a flower?s blossom only, 14 show curled branches, 8 samples show rose branches, 7 samples show cypresses, 4 samples date palms, 12 samples show wine branches, 1 sample shows a tuba tree, 2 samples show fruits, 8 samples show cardoons and 23 samples show abstract leaf motives. Of the tombstones which have objects as a motive 15 samples show vases, 5 show necklaces, 10 show ribbons, 1 shows a sword, 2 show curtains and 2 fruit plate motives. There also is one sample with geometric decoration and 4 samples with column motives. Among all the samples which we examined, 12 tombstones were made out of stone and 151 were made out of marble materials. For the production of all these tombstones engraving technique was used. The epitaph was written in different writings. Three samples were written in Naskhi, 30 samples in Taliq and another 123 samples in Thuluthcaligraphy. On the last seven samples no writing could be found. Of these, 2 tombstones were found at the grave?s top ends and three at the grave?s foot ends. Stone Tombstones from the Ottoman period found in Giresun were usually made of stones from the close by area. Whereas the marble material used for the production of several tombstones was from İstanbul sent to Anatolia. Because the transportation of heavy tombstone materials via the sea way from İstanbul to Giresun brought several advantages, the trade of these materials from İstanbul to Giresun flourished. As a result the material made in İstanbul also brought along motives and styles from 18. Century Europe to Giresun which especially influenced the outlook of women?s tombstones in the Giresun area.