Lower Göksu Archaeological Salvage Survey Project, the Second Season

Anatolica XLI, 2015 LOWER GÖKSU ARCHAEOLOGICAL SALVAGE SURVEY PROJECT, THE SECOND SEASON Tevfik Emre Şerifoğlu, Naoíse MacSweeney and Carlo Colantoni1 Abstract This article presents the results of the 2014 season of the Lower Göksu Archaeological Salvage Survey Project, in the Mersin Province of Southern Turkey. In 2014, the team continued the work begun in 2013, documenting as many archaeological sites and monuments in the Lower Göksu valley as possible before the scheduled construction of the Kayraktepe Dam. During the course of the two-week season, we were able to discover several new sites in the flood zone, as well as returning to several known sites to undertake more detailed work. This more detailed work included initial resistivity surveying and the documenting of illegal excavations. A short summary of the field season and a discussion about our methodology and the local settlement patterns are provided here. The 2014 season of this Bitlis Eren University project, which is conducted in collaboration with the University of Leicester, was funded by the Bitlis Eren University Scientific Research Projects Commission and the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara. The survey project will continue for another season in 2015 and we will most probably start excavating one of the major sites in 2016 in collaboration with the Silifke Museum. Introduction The Lower Göksu Archaeological Salvage Survey Project (LGASSP) aims to document, as far as possible, the archaeological heritage of the Lower Göksu valley, which lies in the Mersin Province of Turkey (Şerifoğlu et al 2014). This section of the river valley is scheduled to be flooded with the construction of a hydroelectric dam at Kayraktepe in 2018, approximately 10km northwest of the town of Silifke (ancient Seleucia ad Calycadnum). As a result, the rich archaeological record of this area will be lost, submerged beneath the waters of a new lake. During the first LGASSP season in summer 2013, the team both identified several new sites from extensive survey, and collected more data from previously known sites in intensive survey. The team was able to push back the date of earliest known occupation to the Chalcolithic period; uncover more about settlement patterns in the prehistoric period; and illuminate the relationship between military and domestic sites in the Roman to Byzantine periods (Şerifoğlu et al 2014). In autumn 2014, the LGASSP team returned to the Lower Göksu valley for a second survey season. The focus of the two-week season was, once again, twofold. Firstly, we attempt- ed to discover new and previously undocumented sites through a combination of examining satellite images; seeking information from local inhabitants; and traditional extensive field 1 Bitlis Eren University and the University of Leicester. 178 Tevfik Emre Şerifoğlu, Naoíse MacSweeney and Carlo Colantoni walking. Secondly, we undertook more detailed work at several known sites, in order to better establish the nature of these sites; clarify their chronology; identify potential patterns of trade and exchange; and document the remains of illegal excavations and looting activity. The Extensive Survey and the New Discoveries The second season of our project was conducted in between 28th October and 10th November 2014. The active participants were Tevfik Emre Şerifoğlu (field director), Nazlı Evrim Şerifoğlu (fieldwork assistant, illustrator and photographer) and Doğukan Bekir Alper (the government representative). Naoíse MacSweeney joined the team for almost a week to help with the resistivity survey. Carlo Colantoni and Bengi Başak Selvi, who could not join the actual fieldwork, formed the remote sensing team, providing the list of site candidates to visit and mapping the recorded sites. Of numerous site candidates that were visited during the season, only a few could be identified as archaeological sites. As discussed earlier, the main reason for this is the rough topography, which makes it very hard to differentiate an archaeological site from a natural geo- logical formation (Şerifoğlu et al 2014: 74). Seven new sites were discovered during the season, of which one was shown to us by the local villagers, and three sites, which were recorded earlier, were visited for more detailed observations (Fig. 1). Fig. 1. A map of the Lower Göksu Valley showing the sites recorded in 2013 and 2014. Sites according to LGASSP record number: 16 Örentepe, 18 Dağ Camii, 19 Pamuklu Cave, 20 Pamuklu 1, 21 Pamuklu 2, 22 Ardıçlıtepe, 23 Ekşilekalesi, 24 Evkafçiftliği, 25 Şarlaktepe and 26 Göceklertepe. Anatolica XLI, 2015 179 All the archaeological sites that were visited and documented during the 2014 season were post-Classical settlements, except the mound of Örentepe, which was occupied with interruptions from the Early Bronze Age until the Medieval period, and possibly Ardıçlıtepe, which may have been occupied during the 3rd millennium BC based on a small number of red lustre burnished sherds, and also occupied during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Örentepe, which was visited and documented by David French in 1963, was revisited by our team this season (Fig. 2; French 1965: 180). Örentepe is located on the village road, that links the town of Mut to the mound of Görmüttepe, which is located where the Ermenek River meets the Göksu River and which was visited in 2013 (Şerifoğlu et al 2014: 77). The slopes and the summit of the mound, which were badly damaged by the local villagers while they were planting olive and fruit trees, were walked systematically, and diagnos- tic sherds were recorded by drawing and photograph- ing for future analyses. As also indicated by French, the mound was first settled during the Early Bronze Age and our investigations have shown that it was occupied with interruptions Fig. 2. Örentepe. until the Medieval period. The owner of a two-storey house, which was built in the early 20th century near the mound, has in- formed us that the house was constructed using the stones of the fortification walls that were present on top of the mound, which must have belonged to the Byzantine or to the Medieval period. After we concluded our observations at Örentepe, our team decided to pay a short visit to the small mosque that was built on top of a hill called Kilise Tepesi (the Church Hill), which is visible from Örentepe and is located to the southwest of Mut town centre. The square planned mosque, which the locals refer to as Dağ Camii (the mountain mosque), had a dome in the past, and was constructed using the rem- nants of an old church that was present here, as both indicated by the stones carved with Byzantine ar- Fig. 3. Dağ Camii. 180 Tevfik Emre Şerifoğlu, Naoíse MacSweeney and Carlo Colantoni tistic elements, and by the name of the hill (Fig. 3). The mosque is believed to be built either during the late Seljuk or the Karamanid period (Arel 1962: 246-247; Köse and Atlay 2005: 576-577, Fig. 19). A small number of glazed pottery sherds found in the vicinity of the mosque and recorded by our team support this dating. One of the main aims of this season was to investigate areas around water sources to see if these were preferred zones of habitation in the past. To achieve this goal, many water sources marked on maps and at relatively accessible loca- tions were visited during the field season, around which our team conducted systematic walks. Strange- ly enough, almost none of these areas had any archaeological material, except the area around Pamuklu Village, which is located on top of the plateau, to the Fig. 4. A high column base with carved motifs northeast of Kargıcak Vil- found close to the village of Pamuklu. lage. An agricultural field near this village had pottery scatters and there was a small cave just near it, with niches carved into its walls. Another field to the southeast of the village had pottery scatters and the remains of an old church, which included numerous roof tiles, roughly dressed stones, and one high column base with carved floral and anthropomorphic motifs (Fig. 4). The sherds that were studied imply that these sites were occupied from the Late Roman until the Medieval period. The fields around Damtepe, which is a multiperiod mound that was discovered by our team in 2013 (Şerifoğlu et al 2014: 75), were also investigated with the same aim as topographical maps indicated that there were springs in this area. Although we could not find the springs marked on the old maps, probably because they were dried out as a result of excessive water usage for agriculture, we still conducted systematic walks at the fields to the west and northwest of Damtepe. These fields had pottery scatters all across them that could be dated to the Hel- lenistic, Roman and Byz- antine periods, which show that the settlement on top Fig. 5. A large rock with a rectangular cavity at Ekşilerkalesi. Anatolica XLI, 2015 181 of the mound grew in size with the Hellenistic period and the land surrounding the settlement, was used more intensively after this period. Another site candidate along the river valley that was visited in 2014 was a high rock outcrop located to the northwest of Silifke town centre and near the village of Ekşiler. We de- tected a small number of sherds on top of the rock outcrop and at its less steep southern and western slopes that could be dated to the Hellenistic, Roman and Medieval periods in terms of general characteristics. Several round holes with diameters ranging from 20cm to 30cm, which were carved into the rock, were found at different parts of the rock outcrop, and a large rock into which a rectangular cavity was carved, and which may have had a small room built into it or which might have been a large basin, was recorded at the northeastern corner of the rock outcrop (Fig.

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