Level III

The mound of Kilise Tepe consists of 13 m of occupation strata on a natural conglomerate promontory overlooking the valley of the Göksu. It was first settled in the Early Bronze Age (early 3rd millennium BC) and was probably continuously occupied into the Late Bronze Age (approximately 1600-1200 BC). At this time at the NW corner of the mound there was a building with large rooms, assigned to our stratigraphic Level III. This went through five consecutive architectural phases (IIIa-e), all associated with "Hittite" ceramics, without any major disruption.

In 2007-2010 we have been seeking greater clarity about the nature of this building, by expanding the excavated plan, and recovering stratified bio-archaeological and ceramic materials. Also, recently revised approaches to the dating of "Hittite" ceramics, stemming from the work of the German team at Bogazköy, meant that any evidence for the absolute chronology of this building would be extremely helpful.

We succeeded in defining the limits of the best preserved IIId phase of the building in three directions, and the lucky recovery of an official's stamp-seal from the main reception room is welcome confirmation of our suspicion that this was the seat of the local administration under the Hittite empire.

The ceramics recovered from this phase remain distinct from the repertoire associated with the Stele Building, although more by virtue of the absence of certain wares. They include familiar standardized vessel types, in particular internal rim bowls, but they differ enough to constitute a local variant. In particular, they do not resemble the very late LBA repertoire at Tarsus with its large numbers of shoddily made bowls (named "drab ware" by the Tarsus team).

One very helpful discovery was a large assemblage of animal bones behind an oven in one of the rooms: this clearly illustrated dietary habits in the IIId phase, with a strong bias towards sheep. After a rebuild in phase IIIe, which is badly preserved, the whole site was levelled, to provide an open space serving an entirely new construction further East, assigned to Level II and known now as the "Stele Building".