Department of Archaeology

Kilise Tepe Logo

Introduction

Map of turkey showing bronze Age sitesClick map to see satellite view
Click here to see larger map
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. This phase came to an end in summer 2012, after four excavation seasons, in 2007-2009 and 2011, and a study season in 2010, and the site has now been back-filled to protect the exposed architecture from environmental decay and human interference. The full report on this second phase of the project is now actively in preparation. 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.


The mound of Kilise TepeThe mound of Kilise Tepe (foreground) from the East.

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, Bitlis Eren University.
Research Associate (AHRC): Dr Carlo Colantoni, Cambridge University.

The work at Kilise Tepe in 2007-2012 was sponsored by the British Institute at Ankara,and was a joint project with Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University (in 2010-11) and Bitlis Eren University (in 2011-12). In 2007 to 2009 the Cambridge team 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).  For 2010-2012 the project was supported by a substantial grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, amplified by a Senior Research Fellowship held by Prof. Postgate from the Leverhulme Trust, a grant from the Cary Robertson Fund (Trinity College), and a grant in support of Dr Şerifoğlu's work on the Early Bronze Age from the Mediterranean Archaeological Trust (2012).AHRC logo




Website construction by Sue Poll, photography by Bob Miller.