Turkey - Porsuk-Ulukisla

Anatolia

Location and exploration history

The archaeological site (höyük in Turkish), Porsuk-Ulukısla, also known as Zeyve höyük, is located on the main route which, at all times, has connected the south of the Anatolian Plateau with Syria (and even Mesopotamia), via the plain of Cilicia. Its exceptional location has made it a passing place for military expeditions and commercial trade in a wide valley stretching from east to west between two mountain chains, including the Taurus range in the south, where it reaches an altitude of 3 500 m at Mount Medetsiz.

Exploration history

The actual excavations only began in 1969, following a preliminary exploration in 1968. Until then, archaeologists (W. M. Ramsay in 1891 and 1902, E. O. Forrer in 1926 and P. Meriggi in 1962) were content to explore the surface, which was often productive but did not prove sufficient for a full understanding of the site’s history. In 1961, a bulldozer accidentally revealed the presence of carbonised beams and inscriptions, drawing the attention of the eminent French hittitologist E. Laroche, director of the French Archaeological Institute of Istanbul (later to become the French Institute for Anatolian Studies). Since 1969, the same mission headed by O. Pelon, professor of ancient Near-East archaeology at the Université de Lyon 2, has organised annual excavations, often interrupted due to a lack of funds or authorisation to excavation. Since 1992, the site has been classified by the Turkish authorities as a top category site, providing it with some protection from blasting, a common practice for many years at a nearby gypsum quarry. The excavations only really picked up again in 2003 when they were entrusted to D. Beyer, professor of ancient Near-East archaeology at the Université Marc-Bloch in Strasbourg and director of the CNRS’ UMR7044. This led to four excavation campaigns ending in the summer of 2006. The mission was assisted by Turkish researchers and a scientific partnership with the Eastern Institute of the Catholic University in Louvain-la-Neuve (Professor René Lebrun, hittitologist), a Belgian university providing precious financial support.