Anna Collar | University of Southampton (original) (raw)

LOWER GÖKSU ARCHAEOLOGICAL SALVAGE SURVEY PROJECT (LGASSP) The LGASSP was started in 2013 with ... more LOWER GÖKSU ARCHAEOLOGICAL SALVAGE SURVEY PROJECT (LGASSP)

The LGASSP was started in 2013 with the aim of documenting the endangered archaeological heritage of the Lower Göksu valley in the Mersin Province of Turkey.

This heritage will be lost forever with the construction of the Kayraktepe Hydroelectric Dam, as this will form a huge artificial lake that will flood the whole valley. For this reason, our team surveyed the area between the towns of Silifke (ancient Seleucia ad Calycadnum) and Mut (ancient Claudiopolis) in 2013 and 2014. The extensive surveys conducted during these two seasons has allowed us to discover several new sites and we have been able to push back the date of earliest occupation in the valley into the Chalcolithic period.

These initial surveys have also allowed us to better understand the evolving settlement patterns in the valley from prehistoric times until the medieval period.

Data from previously known sites were also collected during the 2013 and 2014 seasons as a part of a more intensive methodological approach to the study of ancient settlements and their relationships with their environment, and our 2015 season has been mainly aimed at developing this approach through more detailed studies and more intensive investigations.

In 2015, the team continued documenting archaeological sites and monuments in the valley before the construction of the Kayraktepe Dam, which will submerge the heritage and the landscape. The 2015 season was almost totally devoted to intensive surveys conducted in two alluvial plains with relatively rich archaeological deposits: one in the area where the Kurtsuyu River joins the Göksu River; and the other where the Ermenek River meets the Göksu River.

These intensive surveys were accompanied by geophysical studies and aerial photography. This article presents a summary of the field season, a discussion of the different fieldwork methods that were applied and tested, the results of the intensive surveys, and a fresh consideration of the local settlement patterns and their temporal development in light of the findings.

The 2015 season of this Bitlis Eren University project, which is conducted in collaboration with the University of Leicester, was funded by the British Academy through a Newton Advanced Fellowship. The survey project will continue in 2016 with the generous support of the British Academy and we hope to start excavating the site of Çingentepe in 2017 in collaboration with the Silifke Museum.

The 2015 fieldwork team consisted of Tevfik Emre Şerifoğlu (director), Naoíse Mac Sweeney (co-director), Carlo Colantoni (field director), Nazlı Evrim Şerifoğlu (fieldwork assistant, illustrator and photographer), Anna Collar (Roman and Byzantine specialist), Stuart Eve (database and GIS manager) and Özlem Evci (the government representative). Graduate students Bengi Başak Selvi, Panagiotis Georgopoulos, Nevra Arslan, Songül Yetişir and Şıvan Ayus took part in all fieldwork activities.

UPCOMING PRESENTATIONS

Şerifoğlu, T.E., MacSweeney, N., Colantoni, C. 2016 April
Before the Flood. The Lower Göksu Archaeological Salvage Survey Project. The results of three seasons of survey along the Göksu River Valley of Mersin Province, Turkey. 10 ICAANE, Vienna (Austria).