The Ambarkaya rock tomb is cut into a limestone face twenty metres up, at Karadigin in the Durağan district of Sinop, east of the town on the southern bank of the Gokirmak. In front are the faces of three columns and a triangular pediment; behind the columns an antechamber was cut into the rock, and a small door on the right side leads into the rectangular burial chamber, also cut from the rock, where there are two couches. The ceiling and floor are flat, and the cornices of the pediment are indicated very simply by incised lines.
There is no relief or ornament anywhere on the monument, which makes it very difficult to date. Its position opposite the Terelek rock tomb and its similar treatment, however, suggest that it too was made by the Paphlagonians in the seventh century BC. You need your own vehicle.
Getting there
- Access
- Reached by private car.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Sinop as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 6.8 °C in February to 23.4 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in May, June, July, August, September and October; rainfall is heaviest in December (92 mm) and lightest in July (34 mm). Long-term means for 1936-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
