Introduction

The mound of Kilise Tepe dominates the valley of the River Göksu (Classical Calycadnus) as it prepares to cut through the southernmost ridge of the Taurus mountains on its way to the Mediterranean at Silifke, about 45 km to the south-east. From its location it offers a prime opportunity to monitor the changing relationship between the Anatolian interior and the coast at different times. When the site was threatened by a hydro-electric barrage downstream a team from Cambridge mounted a five year rescue project jointly with the local museum at Silifke in the 1990's, and the results were finally published in 2007 (click here for information on the initial project). In the same year a second five-year project was launched jointly from Cambridge and Newcastle Universities. We have now completed three excavation field seasons, in 2007, 2008 and 2009 and some of the salient results for the pre-Classical period are described on this website.
The monograph of "Excavations at Kilise Tepe, 1994-98" is available from the McDonald Institute.

Directors: Prof. Nicholas Postgate of Cambridge University and Dr Mark Jackson of Newcastle University who directs the Byzantine arm of the project.
Assistant Director: Dr T.E. Şerifoğlu, Çanakale Onsekiz Mart University.
Research Associate (AHRC): Dr Carlo Colantoni, Cambridge University.

The work at Kilise Tepe in 2007-2010 is sponsored by the British Institute at Ankara, and the Cambridge team has received generous financial support from The British Academy (2007), the Institute for Aegean Prehistory (2007-2009), the National Geographic Society (2007-2008), the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research (2007-2009) and the Cary Robertson Fund (Trinity College).  For 2010-2012 the project is supported by a Senior Research Fellowship held by Prof. Postgate from the Leverhulme Trust and by a grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Website construction by Sue Poll, photography by Bob Miller.