Çivril

History

During an excavation carried out by the British archaeologists Prof. Seton Lloyd and Prof. James Mellaart between 1953 and 1959 at Beycehöyük, south of the town of Çivril, several artefacts dating back to the Copper Age (circa 3000 BC) were found. It is assumed that Beycehöyük was the centre of the Arzawa kingdom, contemporaries of the Hittite Empire. Later on Phrygians, Carians, Lydians, Persians and Macedonians passed through the region during recorded history but left very few traces. It is assumed that the relics of raiders and chariots in mounds and on rocks found at Yavuzca farm, from Çivril, date back to the Phrygians in whose time the most notable settlement here was called Eumeneia. A tomb located on Beycehöyük dates from Seljuk era. A village in Hüdavendigâr vilayet depending from Sandıklı until the 1880s, Çivril gained importance once it became the terminus of a branch of the İzmir-Dinar railway which reached here in 1889. The railway was later extended from Dinar further east to Eğirdir in 1912. Çivril continued to grow by becoming a township with its own municipality in 1892 and a district center in 1910, attached at first to Afyonkarahisar and to Denizli after 1925. The railway line was closed in 1988 and the transportation relies today on intercity buses.

Most-observed species

• Little Egret/Western Reef-Heron

  Egretta garzetta (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  129
• Eurasian Coot

  Fulica atra Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  116
• Eurasian Magpie

  Pica pica (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  115
• Great Cormorant/European Shag

  Phalacrocorax carbo (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  114
• Gray/Purple Heron

  Ardea cinerea Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  113
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  104
• Squacco Heron

  Ardeola ralloides (Scopoli, 1769) · Aves
  102
• Eurasian Marsh-Harrier

  Circus aeruginosus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  101