GÜNEY AİOLİS'DE BİR DAĞ YERLEŞİMİ: MELANPAGOS

Abstract

Melanpagos, in the Southern Aiolis, is located on a hill at the northern slope of Mount Amanara (Yamanlar Mount) overlo­oking the Hermus Valley. The primary purpose of this study is, to the best of our current knowledge, introduce Melanpagos, a small mountain settlement that existed from the beginning of the Archaic Period until the end of Hellenistic Period, to the world of archaeology by identifying and evaluating it. In the Archaic Period, the settlement had characteristics of a sanc­tuary shaped around a small Aiol Temple, and due to its strategic position was later used as a fortress checking the roads to Smyrna from the north in the Achaemenid Period. In the various researches carried out in the region since the end of the 19th century, boundary stones providing the location and exploration of Melanpagos were found. Those boundary stones show that a large part of the plateau belonged to Melanpagos in the Hellenistic Period. As a result of examining the pottery on the settlement, it is understood that the settlement was abandoned in a period that we can accept as an early date for the archaic age : in other words, by the second half of the 2nd century BC, when the Romans began to dominate Anatolia. The main purpose of this study is to introduce the Melanpagos settlement and remains that can be seen in the area to the world of Archaeology in detail, by also considering the researches carried out in the area before. The boundary stones of Melan­pagos and the remains showing that the settlement was used as a sanctuary in Archaic Period were served in the light of the former researchers. Melanpagos defensive walls belonging to various periods are handled for the first time and examined in detail with the help of comparative examples. Finally, some stone-cist graves of the settlement are briefly introduced.