Physical geography has always played a determining and guiding role in where societies live from past to present. This is seen in the chosen locations for shelter, protection (security), gathering, hunting, livestock, agriculture, transportation, and trade of human settlements. The geomorphology, climate, water resources, soil, and vegetation characteristics of the area are the main determinants. This study has been prepared to guide archaeological surveys in Bartın province and its surroundings (Map 1, 2), to understand the past and make inferences based on the physical geographical features of the region, and to compile a database for the reconstruction of the past.

1/25000 scale topography maps, 1/100 000 scale soil maps, 1/500 000 scale geological maps, and Google Earth images were used as the base for analysis and evaluation. The geomorphic features (Map 3), slope analysis (Map 4), lithology (Map 5), and soil maps (Map 6) of the study area were prepared by creating a database of 10 m spatial resolution and using ArcGIS 10.7 analysis tools. In addition, 3D images (Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) were produced from Google Earth images on different dates and on different scales for this purpose.

Due to the circumstances of civilizations, changes have caused societies to prefer mountainous areas to plains and watersides, to settle on hills or slopes that control natural morphological corridors, which are strategically easier to defend than caves, or in river sub-basins surrounded by high and steep slopes. This change in the living environment of mankind has been realized selectively according to physical geographical characteristics based on the slope of the land, altitude, roughness, agricultural productivity, easy access to water, and so forth. Therefore, for archaeological surveys, physical geographical features such as the geomorphology, hydrography, soil, and vegetation of that region are directly or indirectly significant as an archive of the habitat chosen by communities in the past.

Based on this approach, the physical geography features such as geomorphology, hydrography, soil, vegetation, and paleoclimatology of the Bartın province and its surroundings are discussed with the aim of enabling archaeological surveys. It is understood that the lush forest cover, geomorphology (slopes, roughness, elevation), hydrography (surface water and water resources), and climatic features belonging to previous periods in Bartın province and its vicinity offer natural shelter, nutrition, and security for “hunter-gatherer cultures”.

It is also understood that soil with high agricultural productivity, rich vegetation, and geomorphological and hydrographical features provides important opportunities for the "production culture” that cultivates and harvests the crops and livestock in Bartın province.

In addition to the above-mentioned needs and the advantages of the physical geography for the communities of the 1st millennium BC and beyond, strategies involving transportation, trade, war, and defense became meaningful for human life and urban preferences in this period. When the research area is evaluated within the framework of this approach, it is understood that the geomorphological features of the area offer remarkable advantages from the past to today.

In the interior of the study area, the compartment valleys of the river sub-basins surrounded by high slopes providing security, fertile land suitable for farming, and ease of access to water are important advantages for agriculture and settlement. In addition, the fact that it is surrounded by high mountain ranges from the north, northeast, east, southeast, south, southwest, and even the west creates a natural defense line for this area. The narrow-high coasts to the north and northwest facing the Black Sea offer natural defense and protection against enemies and dangers from the sea. At the same time, the Bartın Strait is a strategic morphology feature that provides the advantage of preventing the advance of enemies, as well as making use of the sea, when necessary.