Kinet Höyük (Issos)
Kinet Höyük · Issos · Izziya (Hittite) · Yeşilköy Höyük
Early Bronze III through Medieval (EBA, MBA, LBA Izziya, Iron Age, Classical, Byzantine)·Cilician coastal / Hittite (Izziya) → Syro-Cilician → Classical Greek/Roman·🇹🇷 Hatay Province, Dörtyol District, Issic Bay, Turkey
About
About Kinet Höyük (Issos)
Kinet Höyük is a 26 m high coastal tell identified as Bronze Age Izziya (Hittite seaside rites of Queen Puduhepa) and Classical Issos where Alexander defeated Darius III (333 BCE). Bilkent University excavations (1992–2012, Marie-Henriette Gates) revealed Early Bronze III port strata, MBA/LBA Cypriot and Mycenaean imports, Hittite LB I ceramics (Period 15), Iron Age through Medieval harbour levels, and Ottoman reoccupation. Core drilling shows prograding bay and buried harbour basin. Oval mound 350×250 m with deeply stratified harbour town documenting Cilician coast trade, LBA collapse and Iron Age recovery.
Why it mattersType-site for eastern Cilician harbour evolution and Hittite Izziya identification — longest Cilician coast sequence linking Cypriot Mycenaean trade and LBA collapse recovery.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Harbour located via lagoon or open beach — Izziya rites imply beach?
- 02Why LB I abandonment vs continuity elsewhere on Cilician coast?
Theories
- 01Gates harbour progradation model vs Jean- coastal retreat
- 02Puduhepa Izziya pilgrimage as Hittite thalassocracy 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.2900 BCE EB III founding; MBA-LBA port flourishing; Classical Issos 4th c BCE
- Period
- Early Bronze III through Medieval (EBA, MBA, LBA Izziya, Iron Age, Classical, Byzantine)
- Culture
- Cilician coastal / Hittite (Izziya) → Syro-Cilician → Classical Greek/Roman
- Builders
- Cilician harbour communities, Hittite coastal administration, Issic Greek settlers
- Purpose
- Harbour town controlling Issic Bay anchorage, timber and metal trade with Cyprus/Levant
- Abandoned
- c.1400 CE harbour silting after medieval
- Rediscovered
- Excavated 1992–2012 Gates (Bilkent Univ)
- Excavation
- Excavated
1992
Gates opens Bilkent Kinet Project, LB I Puduhepa tablet horizon identified
2012
Corings map buried harbour and 12 m stratigraphic sounding bedrock
333 BCE
Battle of Issus on coastal plain below mound (Alexander vs Darius)
On the ground
Structures & features
36.7525° N · 36.1923° E · 14 m · 3 mapped features
Harbour basin (buried lagoon)
harbourCore-drilled harbour lagoon below LBA levels
36.7528° N · 36.1920° ELB I Izziya level (Period 15)
settlementHittite-period ceramics with Puduhepa connection
36.7525° N · 36.1923° EBattle of Issus plain
battlefieldCoastal plain where Alexander-Darius battle located
36.7530° N · 36.1930° E