SETTLEMENT IN SMOOTH CILICIA (CILICIA PEDIAS)
FROM THE ACHAEMENID-PERSIAN PERIOD THROUGH THE BEGINNING OF ROMAN ERA
The region known as “Cilicia” in antiquity, a very fertile land located at the interface between Syria, Cyprus, and Anatolia, has a long history from prehistoric ages through the medieval period. This dissertation aims to understand how the settlements developed and changed in Cilicia from the Achaemenid-Persian control through the beginning of Roman Era. Until recently, these periods were rarely the primary focus of archaeological studies in Cilicia. Researchers working in the multi-period sites were usually motivated to learn more about the earlier periods. Consequently, the Achaemenid-Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Periods were either ignored or not studied thoroughly. Thanks to recent excavations and new discoveries in Cilicia (such as Sirkeli, Kinet, Tarsus, Tatarlı, Soli-Pompeiopolis), it has now become possible to examine these periods. By focusing mainly on the multi-period settlements like mounds -in which changes and developments are better observed in a stratified context-, this project investigates urbanism and the nature of the Cilician settlements during the above-mentioned time span in a multi-disciplinary holistic perspective. Taking up a regional approach, this study makes use of various theoretical concepts including Christaller’s “Central Place theory” (1933) as well as Burghardt’s “Gateway Communities” (1971) with the recent modifications in order to determine the settlement patterns and the effects of geographical features and political events. With the help of ancient texts, all kinds of archaeological information (architecture, ceramics, single finds) will be analyzed thoroughly in order to see the changes in the material culture. The stratification of the settlements will be studied to clarify the chronological problems in dating artifacts.
