When in 1993 the Kerkenes Project was inaugurated to study the Iron Age capital that had once stood on the Kerkenes Mountain, which overshadows the village of Şahmuratlı, Sorgun, Yozgat (Fig. 1), a central concern was, and continues to be, that any impact, social, cultural or economic, should be for the benefit of the village and the region.

  The purpose of the Kerkenes Eco-Center is to promote sustainability through environmental studies. It pursues the following objectives:
   • To advocate the use of renewable sources of energy;
   • To act as a stimulus and a catalyst for environment-friendly building with appropriate materials and energy efficient designs;
   • To act as a dynamic experimental base for testing designs, materials and activities suitable for viable and sustainable village life.
   • To encourage village development and income generating activities that might halt and even reverse migration from rural areas to the cities.