Karatepe-Aslantaş National Park (), established in 1958, is a

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

in southern Turkey. Situated on the banks of a dam reservoir, it contains an archaeological open-air museum.

Location

Karatepe-Aslantaş National Park is located in the

Kadirli Kadirli, historically Kars () or Karsbazar (), is a city in Osmaniye Province in the Mediterranean region of Turkey. It is the seat of Kadirli District.

and Düziçi districts of

Osmaniye Province Osmaniye Province () is a province in south-central Turkey. It was named Cebel-i Bereket () in the early republic until 1933, when it was incorporated into Adana Province. It was made a province again in 1996. Its area is 3,320 km2, and its p ...

. The provincial roads , and from Osmaniye to Kadirlı pass through the national park. The protected area is located at from north of Osmaniye and southeast of Kadirli. The nearest airport is Adana Şakirpaşa Airport at distance form the national park.

Background

The national park was established on September 28, 1958 as the country's second protected area of this type after the discovery and excavations of important archaeological finds here.

Geography

The national park is located on a slightly rugged terrain between the foothills of

Taurus Mountains The Taurus Mountains (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Toros Dağları'' or ''Toroslar,'' Greek language, Greek'':'' Ταύρος) are a mountain range, mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coastal reg ...

and the plains of

Çukurova Çukurova (), or the Cilician Plain (''Cilicia Pedias'' in antiquity), is a large fertile plain in the Cilicia region of southern Anatolia. The plain covers the easternmost areas of Mersin Province, southern and central Adana Province, western Os ...

, where

Ceyhan River The Ceyhan River (historically Pyramos or Pyramus (), Leucosyrus () or Jihun) is a river in Anatolia in the south of Turkey. Course of the river The Ceyhan River (Pyramus) has its source (known as ''Söğütlü Dere'') at a location called '' ...

runs through. The national park is partly on the banks of a reservoir formed by the Aslantaş Dam. The streams Hillik Creek, Kırağı Creek, Kışla Creek and Kaplan Creek, which are all tributes of the Ceyhan River and flow into the Aslantaş Dam reservoir, are at the boundaries of the protected area. Elevation of the national park area varies between above mean sea level, including notable hills as İncirlitepe: , Kalitepe: , Karadağtepe: , Garzedetepe: , Gavurtaştepe: , Bocayücetepe: , and Karatepe being the highest one at .

Open-air museum

The national park comprises Turkey's first established

open-air museum An open-air museum is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts outdoors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum. Definition Open air is "the unconfined atmosphere ... outside buildings" ...

as its centerpiece with the same name. It is situated atop Karatepe, on a peninsula of the Aslantaş Dam reservoir. The site, called locally "Hitit Yarımadası" ("Hittite Peninsula"), is reached by a -long stone-paved trail from the entrance of the national park. The open-air museum is an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

, an ancient walled settlement of the Neo-Hittites dating back to the 8th century. Excavated between 1946 and 1952, the artifacts, stone statues and reliefs inside the ruined fortification, are left at their original place. Lion statues on stone () give the site its name. The Karatepe Bilingual, inscriptions on stone with the same text in

Phoenician alphabet The Phoenician alphabet is an abjad (consonantal alphabet) used across the Mediterranean civilization of Phoenicia for most of the 1st millennium BC. It was one of the first alphabets, attested in Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions fo ...

and

Hieroglyphic Luwian Luwian (), sometimes known as Luvian or Luish, is an ancient language, or group of languages, within the Anatolian languages, Anatolian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. The ethnonym Luwian comes from ''Luwiya ...

, which enabled the decryption of the

Anatolian hieroglyphs Anatolian hieroglyphs are an indigenous logographic script native to central Anatolia, consisting of some 500 signs. They were once commonly known as Hittite hieroglyphs, but the language they encode proved to be Luwian language, Luwian, not Hitt ...

, is the most interesting piece of the open-air museum.

Ecosystem

;Flora The national park inhabits many typical flora species of the

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

Turkish pine ''Pinus brutia'', commonly known as the Turkish pine and Calabrian pine, is a species of pine native to the eastern Mediterranean region. The bulk of its range is in Turkey, but certain varieties are naturalized as far east as Afghanistan. It is ...

(''Pinus brutia'') and

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

(''Quercus'') form woodlands, and (''Quercus'') shrub groves in the national park. Other plants are turpentine tree (''Pistacia terebinthus'') and sumac (''Rhus''). Picnic areas of the national park were planted with umbrella pine (''Pinus pinea''),

walnut tree Walnut trees are any species of tree in the plant genus ''Juglans'', the type genus of the family (biology), family Juglandaceae, the seeds of which are referred to as walnuts. All species are deciduous trees, tall, with pinnate leaves , with ...

(''Juglans''), plane tree (''Platanus''),

mulberry tree ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of 19 species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 subordinate ...

(''Morus''),

melissa Melissa is a feminine given name. The name comes from the Greek language, Greek word μέλισσα (''mélissa''), "bee", which in turn comes from μέλι (''meli''), "honey". In Hittite language, Hittite, ''melit'' signifies "honey". Meliss ...

and hortensia (''Hydrangea''). ;Fauna 15 mammal, 12 reptile, 5 amphibian and 22 fish species are observed in the national park

Recreation

The national park is open to visitors on daily basis. Opportunities offered as recreational outdoor activities are

hiking A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time. "Hi ...

, picnicking and camping. Camping is permitted at designated picnic locations only. Accommodation is available in Kadirli and Osmaniye.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karatepe-Aslantas National Park National parks of Turkey Geography of Osmaniye Province Landforms of Osmaniye Province Tourist attractions in Osmaniye Province Kadirli District Düziçi District 1958 establishments in Turkey Protected areas established in 1958