Soli-Pompeiopolis

In this paper, I evaluated the African Red Slip ware found in Soli Pompeiopolis, an important port city of the Plain Cilicia Region. African Red Slip Ware is the second common group among the Late Roman pottery from the 1999-2019 excavations of the Colonnaded Street, Necropolis and Soli Mound. These pottery groups were found mainly from the Colonnaded Street. 109 sherds were identified from this group. This rich group of finds leads to a form repertoire consisting of 20 forms. In this study, the form repertoire of the group is generally evaluated depending on the typology of Hayes. One form which isn’t in that typology is evaluated depending on the typology of Mackensen. All of the detected forms are plates, bowls and lids used in food service. If we evaluate the forms in this group according to their function, we can see plates, bowls and lids of different sizes,were preferred instead of the closed vases of the African Red Slip Ware. This pottery repertoire shows us that low-income people preferred these vases. Besides that, the lack of more elaborate barbotine, appliqué or moldmade relief wares provides insight on the life standards of the Soli Pompeiopolis people. These vases which imitated metal vases with both their forms and decorations were produced from the middle of the 1st century AD to the end of the 7th century AD in the workshops of central and north Tunusia in the North Africa. In Soli Pompeiopolis, African Red Slip Ware samples from the 1st century AD to the 4th century AD are few in number. This data shows that the city had a trade relation with the North Africa from the last quarter of the 1st century AD onwards. Quantity and form diversity of African Red Slip Ware in Soli Pompeiopolis began to increase in the 5th century AD. They are most common in the city during the 6th century AD. From the 7th century AD onwards, African Red Slip Ware number in Soli Pompeiopolis was seriously decreased. This situation is probably a negative result of the Arabic Raids of the 7th century AD. The data also shows us the city survived the Arab Raids and continued to use its port.

In this study, imported red slip ware finds from the excavations between 1999 and 2019 in the Colonnaded Street and Soli Mound in the ancient city of Soli Pompeiopolis were evaluated. Among the Roman Period imported red slip ware finds from the Soli Pompeiopolis, 14 samples belong to Eastern Sigillata B, Eastern Sigillata C, Sagalassos Red Slip Ware and Italian Sigillata were identified. Among the imported ceramics discussed in this study, the group with the most samples is Sagalassos Red Slip Ware, and the group with the least number is Italian Sigillata. While the Conspectus Form 22 of the Italian Sigillata group dated to the first half of the Ist century AD was the earliest example of imported red slip ceramics, Poblome Form V1B232 from the Sagalassos Red Slip Ware group dated to the first half of the Vth century is the latest example. All the examples are amorphous sherds of cups, plates and bowls used in serving food and drinks. There is a lack of abundant examples of imported wares between the Ist and the IIIth centuries AD in Soli Pompeiopolis. It must be due to the existence of the DSA group that was produced in the Cilicia for about 450 years, from the middle of the 2nd century BC until the early IIIrd century AD.

Mezitli İlçesi, 1980’lerde başlayan ikinci konut gelişimi ve ardından Mersin’deki kentsel gelişmenin batı yönünde ilerlemesi ile beraber 1990’larda yeni yerleşim alanlarının açılmasıyla birlikte hızlı bir biçimde kentsel sisteme dâhil olurken, sınırları içinde bulunan Soli-Pompeiopolis Arkeolojik Sit Alanı kentsel sistemin ve kent yaşamının bir parçası olamamıştır. Bütüncül bir anlayışla ele alınmayan koruma ve planlama kararları otuz yıl boyunca birbirinden farklı süreçler şeklinde işlemiş, bundan ötürü hem kentsel yapılı çevre, hem de arkeolojik sit alanı çeşitli problemlerle karşı karşıya kalmıştır. Çoğu zaman arkeolojik sit alanı kentsel gelişme önünde bir engel gibi görülmüş, planlama kararları koruma alanını yok saymış, koruma kararları yetersiz kalmış ve bütün bunların sonucunda arkeolojik sit alanı tahrip olmuş ya da görmezden gelinmiştir.  Günümüzde Soli-Pompeiopolis Arkeolojik Sit Alanı, yüksek katlı binalarla çevrilmiştir. Yoğunlukla tarım alanı olarak kullanılan alan, kentsel gelişme baskısı altındadır. Diğer yandan Soli-Pompeiopolis gerek bilgi değeri, gerek kullanım değeri yüksek önemli bir arkeolojik alandır. Bu çalışmanın amacı, Soli-Pompeiopolis Arkeolojik Sit Alanına ilişkin sorunları ve alanın sunduğu imkânları ortaya koymanın yanı sıra, mevcut sorunlar ve imkânlar göz önünde bulundurularak arkeolojik sit alanının etkin bir biçimde nasıl kullanılabileceğine ilişkin bir tartışma yürütmektir.

This thesis investigates the nature of the Hellenistic settlements in Smooth Cilicia from the perspective of five multi-period sites that give clear, stratified evidence for architecture and other aspects of material culture. Before the 1990s, such a study would have been impossible. The only excavation project in the region that could have contributed evidence was Tarsus. Otherwise, the Hellenistic period was known only from textual records and some surveys. Now, thanks to excavations at Soli- Pompeiopolis, Sirkeli Höyük, Tatarlı Höyük, and Kinet Höyük, in addition to those at Tarsus, sufficient data for examining the nature of Hellenistic settlements is available. This thesis first examines historical events and geographical features that might have effects on settlements. The main focus, however, is the architecture, its development through the Hellenistic centuries, and the ceramics and other cultural material recovered from stratified deposits. The data used in this study mainly comes from the excavation reports, which are either detailed, as for Tarsus, or, as for the recent excavation projects, short and preliminary. This thesis concludes that the Hellenistic period in the multi-period settlements of Smooth Cilicia was characterized by small towns with simple buildings in contrast with those yielding monumental and impressive structures in Greece, Western Anatolia, or Egypt. Occupation at these sites, except at Tarsus-Gözlükule, had been continuous from the previous Persian period. In the Roman era, most of these settlements were abandoned, to be reestablished at new locations nearby with monumental and impressive structures.

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 doctoral 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.