Gözlükule is a
tumulus within the borders of
Tarsus city,
Mersin Province,
Turkey. It is now a park with an altitude of 22 metres (72 ft) with respect to surrounding area.
History
Initially settled in the
Neolithic Period, Gözlükule became an important settlement and a port during the
2nd millennium BC.
[1]
It was located at the intersection of the main road systems, one following the
Mediterranean sea side, the other following valleys through
Toros Mountains to
Anatolian plateau (so called
Cilician Gates). Eventually the city of Tarsus was established just north of Gözlükule. But Gözlükule was still active as the port of
Cilicia. In 41 BC
Cleopatra VII and
Mark Antony entered Tarsus using the port of Gözlükule.
In later years, the coastline moved to south because of the sediment carried by the
Berdan River and Gözlükule lost its importance as a port.
Archaeology
Before the official excavations began, the tumulus had been partially damaged. During the
French occupation of Tarsus following
World War I, a French battalion had been deployed on Gözlükule. It is believed that this operation resulted in some depredation.
The initial excavations between 1934 and 1939 were carried out by a team from
Bryn Mawr College and the
Institute for Advanced Study led by
Hetty Goldman.[2][3][4]
She was the first officially sanctioned woman archeologist.[5] After being interrupted by
World War II, some additional work went on from 1947 to 1949. The stratification recovered at the site is important in Bronze Age Anatolian chronology.
In 2001,
Boğaziçi University began to work at the site, with excavations beginning in 2007.[6] Boğaziçi University announced that it will open a
research center in Tarsus on 18 February 2017.
Bronze Age: bronze weapons, stamps, ruins of adobe buildings, city wall,[7] part of the treaty signed between
Telepinu, the king of the
Hittites, and
Isputahsu of
Kizuwatna (Hittite vassal state), the stamp of Isputahsu, the stamp of
Puduhepa, the Hittite queen, a crystal sculpture[8][9]
^Asli Özyar, Field season 2001–2003 of the Tarsus-Gözlükule interdisciplinary research project, Ege Yayinlari, 2005,
ISBN975-8071-07-6
^Albrecht Goetze, Philological Remarks on the Bilingual Bulla from Tarsus, AJA, vol. 40, pp. 210–214, 1936
^Albrecht Goetze, Cuneiform Inscriptions from Tarsus, Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 59, no. 1, pp. 1–16, 1939
^H. Goldman, A Crystal Statuette from Tarsus, Archaeologica orientalia in memoriam Ernst Herzfeld, pp. 129–133, J J Augustin, 1952,
ISBN99911-832-5-6
References
Hetty Goldman, "Preliminary Expedition to Cilicia, 1934, and Excavations at Gözlü Kule, Tarsus, 1935", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 526–549, 1935
Hetty Goldman, Excavations at Gözlü Kule, Tarsus, 1936", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 262–286, 1937
Hetty Goldman, "Excavations at Gözlü Kule, Tarsus, 1937", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 30–54, 1938
Hetty Goldman, Excavations at Gözlü Kule, Tarsus, 1938", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 60–86, 1940