Prehistoric Sites on the Cilician Coastal Plain: Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age Pottery from the 1991 Bilkent University Survey

Abstract

The ceramic material discussed in the following paper was collected during a survey conducted by the Dept. of Archaeology and History of Art at Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey. The survey, under the direction of Doctors Ilknur Özgen and Marie-Henriette Gates, was undertaken in the summer of 1991 and covered the coastal area from the site of Yumurtalık, southeast of Misis and Misis Dağ, and continued along the coastal plain to include the site of Kinet Höyök, near Dörtyol north of the Iskenderun Plain (The Hatay). This entire region can be considered the eastern half of the Cilician coastal plain (Fig. 1).The objectives of the survey were two-fold: to surface collect ceramic remains from mounds in the investigation area, and to conduct a geomorphological study of the plain and its relation to the surrounding topographical regions (alluvial plains to the east and west-foothills of the Amanus and Anti-Taurus to the north and northeast). A detailed report on the geomorphology of this region has been published by the geomorphologist who accompanied the survey team, Dr. Sancar Özaner, of the Maden Tetkik ve Araştırma Enstitüsü (Mineral and Research Exploration Institute).