Damage assessment of rock-cut water structures: Gaziantep's livas' and kastels

Gaziantep, a town on the historic Silk Road, has been home to many civilizations since prehistorical times. The communities who lived here contributed to the formation of the city by their monuments and art work. Kastels and Livas are rockcut water structures that make a great contribution to the formation of the city. However, today, due to the damages caused by nature and man, some of these structures have perished and some of them are about to be destroyed due to lack of maintenence. This thesis aimes at documentation and assessment of the damages of Kastels, which are listed as temporary World Heritage sites by UNESCO. In the first chapter of the thesis, the aim, importance and method of the thesis was explained and the literature written about Kastels, Livas and stone damages were summarized. In the second chapter the rock carving water structures, Livas and Kastels, in Gaziantep were explained. In the third chapter the stone damages was investigated in general. In the fourth chapter, method of procedure the damage assessments were explained. In this method the determination of the axis of rock-cut water structures and the naming of the construction elements are mentioned. In the fifth chapter, the existing damages on the Kastels that reached today are documented by considering the stone damage mentioned in the third chapter. Damage types on these structures were explained on the plan and sections of these structures. In the last part of the thesis, in line with the damage assessments made, the current situations of the Kastels and proposed future studies are mentioned. Keywords: Gaziantep, kastel, livas, rock-cut water structure, stone damages.