Kestel is an archaeological site in the

Taurus Mountains The Taurus Mountains ( Turkish: ''Toros Dağları'' or ''Toroslar'') are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean coastal region from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğird ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

, with important finds related to the study of

Tin sources and trade in ancient times Tin is an essential metal in the creation of tin- bronzes, and its acquisition was an important part of ancient cultures from the Bronze Age onward. Its use began in the Middle East and the Balkans around 3000 BC. Tin is a relatively rare element ...

Archaeology

Kestel is a probable site of

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

in the Bolkar range of the

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...

(near the present village of Celaller, Çamardı district,

Niğde Province Niğde Province ( tr, ) is a province in the southern part of Central Anatolia, Turkey. Population is 341,412 (2013 est) of which 141,360 live in the city of Niğde. The population was 348,081 in 2000 and 305,861 in 1990. It covers an area of 7, ...

). Tin in the Bronze Age was as scarce and valuable as

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

is today. It was a vital ingredient of bronze, used with

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

to make the

alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductilit ...

. K. Aslihan Yener spent years in archaeometallurgy surveys together with the Turkish Geological Survey (MTA) and found cassiterite (tin

ore Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically containing metals, that can be mined, treated and sold at a profit.Encyclopædia Britannica. "Ore". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 7 Apr ...

)

crystal A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macro ...

s in a stream in the Taurus

foothills Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topogr ...

. This ore is

purple Purple is any of a variety of colors with hue between red and blue. In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, purples are produced by mixing red and blue light. In the RYB color model historically used by painters, ...

; previous searches had been looking for black ore because most tin ores are black. Near the site was a deserted valley with a hill called Kestel that proved to hold a tin mine. Additionally, fragments of Bronze Age

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...

were found in and near the mine. Inside, there were veins of bright purple tin ore. The Kestel mine has two miles (3 km) of

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

s, many of which are only about two feet wide, just large enough to allow children to do the mining work. In one abandoned shaft, a burial of twelve to fifteen children was found, presumably killed while working in the mine. In 1989, on the on top of a large natural hill called Göltepe located 2 km opposite the Kestel mine (), associates found piles of Bronze Age pottery, close to 50,000 ground stone

tool A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates ba ...

s and evidence that this site had been continuously occupied from 3290–1840 BC. The hill measures close to 60 hectares and is fortified at the summit, with cultural deposition throughout the entire extent of its surface. The size of the settlement is estimated to be 8-10 hectares, and combined with the Kestel slope occupation probably totals 60 hectares in a man+mine system. A great deal of the city was semi subterranean. The pottery at Göltepe provided the final proof of the tin industry in the Bronze Age. Many thick

crucible A crucible is a ceramic or metal container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures. While crucibles were historically usually made from clay, they can be made from any material that withstands te ...

s lined with slag were found at the site and tests revealed the slag to have very high concentrations of tin (30% to almost 100%). It is likely that after the ore nuggets were washed, stone tools were used to grind them to a

powder A powder is a dry, bulk solid composed of many very fine particles that may flow freely when shaken or tilted. Powders are a special sub-class of granular materials, although the terms ''powder'' and '' granular'' are sometimes used to distin ...

, and then the powder was heated to melt out the tin. All of this can be accomplished with Bronze Age tools and methods. The Kestel mine stopped producing at the end of the third millennium BC. J.D. Muhly has criticized the reconstruction proposed by Yener. He noted that no ores with high tin mineral contents were found; that the ores found may be more useful for iron mining; that the radiocarbon dating provided allows for setting the expansion of the mine in a much later time; that no significant bronze artefact are known from southeastern Anatolia in the Early Bronze Age; that tin extraction with the Kestel crucibles would require manipulation of microscopic slag particles; that Middle Bronze Age

Assyrian Assyrian may refer to: * Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia. * Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire. ** Early Assyrian Period ** Old Assyrian Period ** Middle Assyrian Empire ** Neo-Assyrian Empire * Assyrian ...

records point to tin trade - sourced in the east - that extended into Anatolia; that no textual evidence of any period refers to tin extraction on Anatolia.

References

THE 1993 EXCAVATION SEASON AT GOLTEPE, TURKEY. K. Ashhan Yener
* * Yount, Lisa (1996). ''Twentieth Century Women Scientists''. New York: Facts on File. . {{Coord, 37.812, 34.917, display=title Archaeological sites of prehistoric Anatolia Çamardı District cbk-zam:Kestel sw:Kestel ru:Кестель tr:Kestel, Bursa

Archaeology

See also

References