The first results from the excavation at Pınarbaşı mound, in the village of Süleymanhacı inside the province, establish that Karaman and its surroundings were settled by 8000 BC. Under the Hittites the province was a military and trading centre, and it later passed to the Phrygians and the Lydians. In 322 BC it was invaded and plundered by Perdikkas and Philippos.
Under Byzantium Karaman was one of the important cities of Christianity, and the remains show it. On Karadağ there is a site known as Binbir Kilise — a thousand and one churches — with a great many churches, monasteries, basilicas and chapels. Derbe, in the village of Ekinözü, and the Manazan caves on the road to the town of Taşkale were important settlements of the same period.
