Yumuktepe (Yümüktepe)
Yumuktepe · Yumuktepe, Yümüktepe, Mersin Höyük
Neolithic through Byzantine; Cilician corridor·Cilician Neolithic → Hittite Kizzuwatna → Neo-Hittite Que → Greco-Roman·🇹🇷 Mersin Province, Toroslar, Demirtaş, Turkey
About
About Yumuktepe (Yümüktepe)
Coastal Cilician tell (Neolithic c.7000 BCE to Medieval) inside Mersin suburbs, excavated by John Garstang 1936–39/46 and Vagnari Sevin/Caneva since 1993. Key rotary sequence: Aceramic Neolithic, Halaf-Ubaid Chalcolithic, EBA fortified town, MBA Hittite Kizzuwatna port, Iron Age Neo-Hittite Que, Classical Anchiale and Roman Zepyrium. Shows Cilician Neolithic-to-Bronze transmission between Levant and plateau: obsidian, white-painted ware and EBA street drains survive. Deeply stratified 25 m of deposit in 300×200 m mound, now truncated by railway and city.
Why it mattersGarstang’s type-site for Cilician Neolithic; bridges Levantine and Anatolian Neolithisation and anchors Kizzuwatna/Hittite chronology.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Correlation of Yumuktepe Neolithic to Levantine PPNB vs Central Anatolian?
- 02Extent of buried Hittite harbour — silted inland?
Theories
- 01Neolithisation via maritime diffusion vs inland Konya route
- 02Kizzuwatna as Hittite vs Hurrian cultural affiliation
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.7000 BCE Aceramic Neolithic; Hittite Kizzuwatna c.1600 BCE; Classical anchiale
- Period
- Neolithic through Byzantine; Cilician corridor
- Culture
- Cilician Neolithic → Hittite Kizzuwatna → Neo-Hittite Que → Greco-Roman
- Builders
- Neolithic farmers; Hittite-Kizzuwatna; Quwian Luwian; Roman builders
- Purpose
- Harbour tell at Göksu/Cydnus mouth controlling Cilician plain
- Abandoned
- c.600 CE Byzantine abandonment
- Rediscovered
- Excavated 1936–39 Garstang; 1993– Caneva/Sevin (La Sapienza/İstanbul)
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
1937
Garstang exposes Neolithic painted pottery sequence
1993
La Sapienza re-excavation reveals Hittite level
On the ground
Structures & features
36.7990° N · 34.6020° E · 10 m · 3 mapped features
Neolithic levels (XXXIII-XXX)
settlementAceramic to Painted Pottery houses
36.7991° N · 34.6021° EHittite bastion
fortificationKizzuwatna-period ashlar bastion
36.7989° N · 34.6019° EClassical Anchiale level
settlementHellenistic-Roman harbour structures
36.7990° N · 34.6020° E
Gallery