Kilise Tepe
Kilise Tepe · Kilise Tepe, Silifke, Göksu
Late Chalcolithic through Byzantine; Hittite peak·Cilician Plain → Hittite Kizzuwatna frontier → Rough Cilicia Luwian·🇹🇷 Mersin Province, Silifke—Mut Valley, Göksu (Calycadnus), Turkey
About
About Kilise Tepe
Göksu River terrace tell controlling Mediterranean-to-plateau pass, excavated British Institute Ankara (Cambridge, Nicholas Postgate/J Nicholas) 1994–2011. Sequence c.3300 BCE Late Chalcolithic through Byzantine with key MBA-LBA Hittite frontier town (Ura?) and Iron Age Rough Cilician settlement. MBA levels burnt, LBA Hittite fortified warehouses with pithoi and Luwian seals, Iron Age casemate walls. Buried extramural industrial zone with kilns and slag (copper) beyond mound. River terrace now partly eroded.
Why it mattersCandidate for Hittite port Ura; clarifies Hittite control of Göksu route to Konya and Mediterranean metal trade.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Is Kilise = Bronze Age Ura? Textual–ceramic match uncertain
- 02Scale of buried east industrial area from geophysics only
Theories
- 01Postgate Ura identification vs more coastal Soli-Ura
- 02Tarhuntassa vs Kizzuwatna provincial boundary debate
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.3300 BCE Late Chalcolithic; Hittite LBA town c.1600–1200 BCE
- Period
- Late Chalcolithic through Byzantine; Hittite peak
- Culture
- Cilician Plain → Hittite Kizzuwatna frontier → Rough Cilicia Luwian
- Builders
- Hittite-Luwian frontier officials and Iron Age local chieftains
- Purpose
- River pass fortress-emporium linking port Ura to Konya plateau
- Abandoned
- c.1180 BCE Sea Peoples destruction; Iron reoccupation
- Rediscovered
- Surveyed 1960s Mellaart; excavated 1994–2011 Postgate/BIAA
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1200 BCE
LBA warehouse destruction with Uluburun-like pithoi
1994
BIAA-Cambridge sondage reopens Hittite frontier question
On the ground
Structures & features
36.4760° N · 33.8490° E · 60 m · 3 mapped features
LBA warehouse block
warehousePithos storerooms with Luwian sealings (burnt)
36.4761° N · 33.8492° EIron Age casemate wall
fortificationIron Age dry-stone wall capping Hittite level
36.4759° N · 33.8489° EEast industrial zone (buried)
workshopKilns and copper slag field outside wall
36.4763° N · 33.8495° E