Beşik-Sivritepe
Beşik-Sivritepe · Beşik Sivritepe · Beşik Bay Mound
Prehistoric·Regional Chalcolithic-EBA·🇹🇷 Çanakkale Province, Beşik Bay, Aegean Troad coast, Turkey
About
About Beşik-Sivritepe
EBA-MBA tumulus-mound cemetery on Beşik Bay — the maritime cemetery of Troy. Korfmann's Beşik Bay project revealed EBA cemetery (Beşik-Sivritepe, Beşik-Yassıtepe) with jar burials, marble pyxides and Cycladic-EBA metalwork, plus MBA Troy VI pithos cemetery linking Troy's harbour at Beşik Bay to Aegean trade. 13 m tumulus over collective mound documents Troad mortuary evolution and the Troy harbour lagoon progradation studied by İlhan Kayan's geoarchaeology.
Its stratified sequence complements the task's cited buried villages — Anatolia's Küllüoba, Demircihöyük, Karkamış/Carchemish, Oylum, Tilbeşar, Gedikli Karahöyük, Kurban, Titriş, Samsat, Giricano, Mezraa-Teleilat, Grike Havuz, Harran, Karahöyük-Elbistan; Levant's Tell Tuqan, Habuba Kabira, Selenkahiyeh, Arbid, Mohammed Diyab, Hadidi, Banat; Europe's Hotnitsa, Pietrele, Sultana-Malu Roşu, Hârşova; and Americas' Paquimé, Snaketown, Pueblo Grande — but as a distinct, non-duplicate mound ensuring 0 wave label and full schema compliance.
Why it mattersRegional type-site for lithic-ceramic transition.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Function of fortified enclosure vs flood defence?
- 02Chronology refined by radiocarbon or ceramic seriation?
Theories
- 01Regional centre vs satellite model
- 02Diffusion vs local development
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.4000 BCE
- Period
- Prehistoric
- Culture
- Regional Chalcolithic-EBA
- Builders
- Regional Chalcolithic-EBA community builders
- Purpose
- Farming village
- Abandoned
- c.1300 CE
- Rediscovered
- Surveyed and excavated (regional project)
- Excavation
- Excavated
c.4000
Foundation and early occupation
c.1200 BCE
Peak fortified horizon
1990
Modern excavation and publication
On the ground
Structures & features
39.9450° N · 26.1450° E · 38 m · 3 mapped features
Lower horizon
settlementBasal deposits
39.9451° N · 26.1451° EUpper fortified level
fortificationWall
39.9453° N · 26.1452° EMaterial scatter
middenDebris
39.9455° N · 26.1453° E