Bone figurines depicted with vaulted heads are the common types since the middle of the fifth millennium BC in the Eastern and partly Central Balkans, primarily in the Varna Cemetery. Excavations carried out in Anatolia and Turkish Thrace have not yet encountered these figurines that are typical of Balkan prehistory. At level V of İnönü Cave on the Black Sea coast in northwest Türkiye, archaeologists unearthed a figurine during the 2022 excavation season. The protruding bone formed the head of the figurine. The aforesaid figurine, similar to the samples unearthed in the Balkans, represents the first example unearthed in Anatolia to date. In the present study, we will discuss the technological and typological characteristics, production method, function, and the representation and context of this bone figurine. This figurine establishes a new connection between Anatolian and Balkan cultures.

This paper deals with an underground chamber tomb found at the Kızılkuyu area of Armutçuk Mahallesi in the Ula district of the province of Muğla and excavated in 2021. The rural area between today’s Çiçekli Mahallesi and the Ula district center was in antiquity part of the koinon of the Ola[i]es (Ολα[ι]ες), first attested in 453 / 452 BC. It gave its name to modern Ula. The grave is carved entirely into the bedrock and contains an entrance room, a two-room chamber with five sarcophagusshaped burials, and four niches for cremation urns or grave goods. The Kızılkuyu tomb is one of the important and unique examples in the region for several surprising and impressive reasons: the benches for ritual use in the entrance room, a relief with serpent and egg, the clockwise symposium-like arrangement of pillows on the burial beds, and the creation of the impression of a chamber tomb built of ashlar blocks in the first room. The grave seems to have belonged to a wealthy local family and was used for around 200 years between the late fourth / third century BC and the beginning of the first century BC. This dating is based on ceramic finds. During this time, the region was part of the mainland territory of Rhodes (Rhodian peraia).

The Carian city of Nysa ad Maeandrum was established during the Early Hellenistic period. Strabo mentioned the city where he was educated in his youth, defining Nysa as a dipolis - a double city. Excavations carried out in the city have unearthed a network of streets, numerous buildings, and sculptural fragments. The subject of this study is a marble head recovered as spolia in a Late Antique building located at the intersection of Street 1-plateia (western part) and Street 6W. Despite some discrepancies, the head is coherent with the male portrait types of the Julio-Claudian family. In this context, it represents a private portrait reflecting the public honoring practice of Nysa. The evidence for that period in the city is limited, and the existence of monumental buildings is known by indirect sources, mainly from Strabo’s accounts. Besides the public honorings of civic officers, imperial honoring is attested by an inscribed statue base. Numismatic data indicate the Nysaeans’ gratitude for Tiberius and provides insight into the city’s social context during the Julio-Claudian period. The typological classification of the marble head makes it the first Julio-Claudian sculpture of the city and sheds light on Nysa’s history during that period.

The subject of this study is the coin finds from the surveys and excavations in the region of Northern Pisidia carried out between 2014 and 2023. The settlements included in the surveys are Kapıkaya, Yalakasar, Sandalion, Mallos, Parlais, Prostanna, Yuvalı / Dreskene village, Timbriada and Tynada, whereas the archaeological excavations were limited to Timbriada and Zindan Monastery. During the research and excavations, a total of 111 bronze coins and one silver coin were discovered. The coins were catalogued and stored for further examination. The coin finds span a broad time, encompassing Hellenistic, Roman provincial, Roman imperial, Byzantine, and Turkish. Thus, the earliest coin dates back to the second century BC, while the most recent coin dates to the 17th century AD.

The use of bricks and roof tiles was prevalent during the ancient era. Brick production could be established wherever suitable clay was available. However, the production methods and demand for bricks varied regionally. In settlements abundant in stone, brick usage was minimal, while in regions with few stone resources, brick usage was widespread. The architecture of Alanya Castle prominently features the use of bricks, especially in the construction of the corner baths and large cisterns in the Inner Castle. Shops within the Middle Wall, such as the Seljuk Bath, Old Bazar (Arasta) and Old Bazaar (Bedesten), were also partially constructed with bricks. Due to its geographical location, Alanya Castle served as a bustling port city during the Hellenic, Roman, Byzantine (Eastern Roman), Seljuk, and Ottoman periods. There are no written records indicating whether the brick trade took place during these periods. This study aims to determine the formation process of imprints found on the bricks and roof tiles discovered in the excavations of Alanya Castle. It also seeks to interpret which animals these imprints belonged to and to analyze data regarding the local production of bricks. The study will therefore, contribute to ongoing ichnoarchaeological research. Imprints of both human and animal footprints, as well as those created by plants, can be found on bricks and roof tiles. In Alanya Castle, 22 bricks and one roof tile with animal footprints were identified and examined. The imprints belong to dogs, wild and domestic goats, and jackals. The most common group of imprints is from canids, particularly dogs. Imprints of wild goats and domestic goats represent another significant group on the castle’s bricks. Wild goats still reside in Alanya Castle today. Its steep rocky terrain, along with the presence of shrubs, has provided a suitable environment for these animals. This study aims to shed light on the formation of imprints on bricks and roof tiles found in Alanya Castle. It offers valuable insights into ichnoarchaeological research, while also providing information on the potential local production of bricks during different historical periods.

The subject of our study is the head of Heracles found during the 1932-1934 excavation season at the Çatal Höyük settlement in the Amik Plain within the borders of Hatay. It is exhibited in the Hatay Museum and carved from limestone. That Heracles is in an attacking position with his club raised behind his head has enabled the statue to be evaluated within the “Cypriot Heracles” or “Heracles-Melqart” typology in the literature. Although this type has been found to be widespread throughout the Mediterranean world considering examples from Cyprus particularly, then Egypt, Al Mina, and Attica, this singular example from Anatolia demonstrates the unique value of our study. As a result of stylistic evaluation, we conclude that the Heracles head was made in Cyprus in the last quarter of the sixth century BC in the Heracles-Melqart type. Its typology was shaped by the cultural influences in Idalion or possibly Gorgoi, but by a master who closely followed the sculpture styles of Rhodes and Athens. The typological difference between the head from Hatay and the Cypriot examples can be explained by locality. In terms of meaning, the Cypriot example indicates that the Heracles-Melqart typology may be a combination of a local cult and Heracles-Melqart iconography in Anatolia. Therefore, the Heracles head at Çatal Höyük was produced in a local workshop in the late sixth century BC. Although faithful to Cypriot typology, it appears more as an Anatolian artefact in terms of meaning.

This article presents a new funerary inscription on a stele from Mylasa. The stele was found in the area to the southeast of Esentepe during the sondage excavation held under the supervision of the Milas Museum in 2021. The text is the funerary inscription of 11 members of a thiasos who claimed to be buried together at the same place when they die. According to the inscription, Ouliades son of Euthydemos was heroized with divine honors after his death, and the thiasos was established in his honor. The members of the thiasos (θιασεῖται Ἡρωϊσταί) dedicated a bomos to the heros Ouliades on the street called “the street of Skorpon.” The heros Ouliades, who became the object of a cult, was the son of Euthydemos, the well-known leader of the city in the first half of the first century BC. Therefore the inscription is dated to the late first century BC - first century AD due to letter forms and prosopography.

Kelbessos is located in the area of Ağırtaş / Ağıltaş, 23 km west of Antalya. It is at the border of Pisidia, Lycia, and Pamphylia. The fortified citadel (phrourion) was established as a military settlement within the chora of Termessos, so was a garrison with the status of peripolion of Termessos. The settlement of Kelbessos has the structure of a mountain fortress in the nature of a “demos” rather than a fortified settlement. There are ruins in the settlement from the Hellenistic Period to the Byzantine Period. It experienced its brightest time during the Roman Period. Military buildings, religious buildings, a small number of residences, graves, cisterns, and workshops were identified in the settlement. The most important building in Kelbessos is a Principia, unseen in other settlements of the region. This military administration building reflects the military, political and urban status of Kelbessos. Ruins that could be an agora and a temple have been identified by us. Epigraphic and archaeological finds show that Artemis Kelbessis was the primary god of the city. Phallos reliefs and cult niches are other data obtained about its religious beliefs. The settlement’s necropoleis evidence various grave typologies including sarcophagi, monumental tombs, chamosoria, and rock-cut osteotheks. Kelbessos was an ancient settlement that underwent gradual change but did not undergo true urbanization. Rather it remained a secondary military provincial settlement throughout its history. Considering the construction techniques of the fortification walls surrounding the settlement, they were built during the Hellenistic Period, especially in the third-second centuries. The peripolion of Kelbessos was a permanent garrison in the territory of Termessos from the Hellenistic Period onwards. It served both as a part of the city’s defense system and as a safe, fortified citadel where the inhabitants of the surrounding countryside could take refuge in times of need.

The fame of the construction workers originating from Isauria (Rough Cilicia) is a wellknown phenomenon in Late Antique architectural history. In the late fifth and sixth centuries, textual evidence reported Isaurian architects, masons, quarrymen, and ordinary laborers in construction projects in North Syria, Palestine, and Constantinople. Their emergence coincided with the construction upswing across the Eastern Mediterranean. In Isauria, builders had easy access to ordinary building materials, as variations of limestone bedrock are ubiquitous. In this context, two coastal quarries are unique cases illustrating the development of the quarrying industry and trade in ordinary stones. The first example is Dana Island where settlement and quarries co-existed. Quarrying may have started in the early Roman period, while its transformation into an industrial and commercial endeavor is a Late Antique phenomenon. As large-scale quarrying subsided or ended at the end of antiquity, the infrastructure such as coastal ramps, warehouses, and stockpile areas fell out of use. Decrepit buildings were pillaged, their sites were excavated, and quarries were cut through the coastline that had long served the quarry industry. The second case is Kesiktaş, which functioned exclusively as a quarry of industrial proportions but did not have a permanent settlement. Unlike Dana, the chronology of quarrying at Kesiktaş cannot yet be dated. Nevertheless, the stone industry and trade in ordinary building materials were essential in the economy and crafts of Isauria. These two coastal quarries of industrial proportions are unique case studies to explore the use of local geology for stone extraction, the various techniques of quarrying, the size and types of stone blocks that circulated in the sea lanes, and the logistics of the quarrying industry and stone transport. They provide us snapshots of complex taskspaces where the protagonists were the quarrymen, quarry owners, stonecutters, metal workers, and other supporting laborers.

In this article 12 new inscriptions derived from both archaeological excavations at Diocaesarea (Uzuncaburç) and field surveys conducted in Rough Cilicia are introduced. Only one of the inscriptions is Hellenistic and concerns the honoring of the mother and sister of the priest Teukros, a member of the famous Teukros dynasty of the Olba temple state. Three of the remaining inscriptions are from Late Antiquity and carved on sarcophagi lids in arcosolium graves in the North necropolis of Diocaesarea. These inscriptions prove the existence of one monastery dedicated to St. Sergios and Konon, as well as one church dedicated to St. Rafael. The vast majority of the inscriptions belong to the Roman Imperial Period. One of them is, in fact, an addendum to an already known building inscription of the theater following the discovery of a new fragment which forms the first epigraphic evidence that the city took the title of Hadriane known from the coins. Two inscriptions are of religious content: one concerns the erection of statues of the gods by a priest called Mithradates, while the other provides information that a certain Chariton and some others, whose names cannot be read due to the break in the stone, erected an altar after having been warned by an oracle. The inscription attests further evidence concerning the worship of Athena Oreia Krisoua in Cilicia and ends with an acclamation.