Kilise Tepe: A Rescue Excavation in the Göksu Valley, Turkey

Introduction Research Aims and Current Results Project Directors Project Phase Project Members Financial Support Publications

Introduction

The Göksu Valley is located between Karaman and Silifke, in south-central Turkey. Surveys in the valley in the 1950s and 1960s, by James Mellaart and David French, did not locate many pre-Classical sites. One multi-period site that was found, however, was Kilise Tepe. Kilise Tepe, which means Church Mound, was a small but important site which controlled a major route between Western Cilicia (and the Mediterranean) and the central plateau, and dominated a rich agricultural enclave.

In the early 1990s, a barrage, which would have flooded much of the Göksu valley, was planned. at Kayraktepe, downstream from Kilise Tepe. The resultant lake would have submerged Kilise Tepe and other sites in the vicinity and destroyed some of the beautiful scenery and villages in this area, as well as a considerable amount of archaeology. Rescue excavations at Kilise Tepe, consequently, started in 1994 and continued annually until 1998.

Project Directors:

• Prof. J. N. Postgate, University of Cambridge
• Sn. Ilhame Öztürk, Director of the Silifke Museum, Turkey

Project Phase:

The definitive report on all five seasons of excavation is in the final stages of preparation. It will appear under the joint imprint of the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara and the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at Cambridge, later in 2004.

Project Members include:

Dr P. Baker, English Heritage - faunal remains specialist Ms J. Bending, University of Sheffield - archaeo-botanical remains assistant Dr S. Colledge, Institute of Archaeology, London - archaeo-botanical remains specialist Dr D. Collon, British Museum - small finds specialist Ms C.K. Hansen - ceramic specialist Dr M.P.C. Jackson, University of Newcastle - Byzantine remains specialist Dr C. Knappett, University of Exeter - ceramic petrologist Dr C.S. Steele - assistant director Dr D.A. Symington - ceramic specialist Mr D.C. Thomas, University of Cambridge - research associate

Financial Support:

• British Academy
• British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara
• McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge
• Trinity College, Cambridge
• The Leverhulme Trust

Publications:

1. Baker, H.D. et al (1995): Kilise Tepe 1994. Anatolian Studies 45, 139-191.
2. Postgate, J.N. (1995): Excavations at Kilise Tepe. Anatolian Archaeology 1, 7-8.
3. Postgate, J.N. (1996): Kilise Tepe. Anatolian Archaeology 2, 10-11.
4. Postgate, J.N. (1996): Kilise Tepe 1994: A Summary of the Principal Results. XVII. Kazi Sonuçlari Toplantisi I, 419-431, Ankara.
5. Postgate, J.N. (1997): Kilise Tepe 1995: A Summary of the Principal Results. XVIII. Kazi Sonuçlari Toplantisi I, 441-456, Ankara.
6. Postgate, J.N. (1998): Kilise Tepe 1996: A Summary of the Principal Results. XIX. Kazi Sonuçlari Toplantisi I, 209-226, Ankara.
7. Postgate, J.N. (1998): Between the Plateau and the Sea: Kilise Tepe 1994-1997, in Matthews, R. (ed.): Ancient Anatolia: Fifty Years' Work by the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, 127-141, London: BIAA.
8. Jackson, M.P.C. & J.N. Postgate (1999): Kilise Tepe 1997: A Summary of the Principal Results. XX. Kazi Sonuçlari Toplantisi I, 541-557, Ankara.
9. Hansen, C.K. & J.N. Postgate (1999): The Bronze to Iron Age Transition at Kilise Tepe. Anatolian Studies 49, 111-121.
10. Matthews, R. & J.N. Postgate (1998): Contextual analysis of the use of space at two Near Eastern Bronze Age sites On-line report on the Tell Brak and Kilise Tepe Leverhulme Project.
11. Knappett, C. (2000): The Provenance of Red Lustrous Wheel-Made Ware: Cyprus, Syria, or Anatolia? Internet Archaeology (on-line).
12. Symington, D. (2001): Hittites at Kilise Tepe, in Jean, E. (ed.): La Cilicie: espaces et pouvoirs locaux (2e millénaire avant J-C. - 4e siècle ap. J-C). Varia Anatolica XIII. Istanbul: Ege Yay.-De Boccard.

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