Gözlükule is a

tumulus A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones buil ...

within the borders of Tarsus city,

Mersin Province Mersin Province ( tr, ), formerly İçel Province ( tr, ), is a province in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast between Antalya and Adana. The provincial capital and the biggest city in the province is Mersin, which is composed of fo ...

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

. It is now a park with an altitude of with respect to surrounding area.

History

Initially settled in the

Neolithic Period The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

, Gözlükule became an important settlement and a port during the

2nd millennium BC The 2nd millennium BC spanned the years 2000 BC to 1001 BC. In the Ancient Near East, it marks the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age. The Ancient Near Eastern cultures are well within the historical era: The first half of the mil ...

. It was located at the intersection of the main road systems, one following the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

sea side, the other following valleys through

Toros 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 Eğirdir ...

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 re ...

n plateau (so called

Cilician Gates The Cilician Gates or Gülek Pass is a pass through the Taurus Mountains connecting the low plains of Cilicia to the Anatolian Plateau, by way of the narrow gorge of the Gökoluk River. Its highest elevation is about 1000m. The Cilician Gates hav ...

). Eventually the city of Tarsus was established just north of Gözlükule. But Gözlükule was still active as the port of

Cilicia Cilicia (); el, Κιλικία, ''Kilikía''; Middle Persian: ''klkyʾy'' (''Klikiyā''); Parthian: ''kylkyʾ'' (''Kilikiyā''); tr, Kilikya). is a geographical region in southern Anatolia in Turkey, extending inland from the northeastern coa ...

. In 41 BC

Cleopatra VII Cleopatra VII Philopator ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ}, "Cleopatra the father-beloved"; 69 BC10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler.She was also a ...

and

Mark Antony Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic from a constitutional republic into the autoc ...

entered Tarsus using the port of Gözlükule. In later years, the coastline moved to south because of the sediment carried by the

Berdan River The Berdan (also Baradān or Baradā), the ancient Cydnus ( el, Κύδνος), is a river in Mersin Province, south Turkey. The historical city of Tarsus is on the river and it is therefore sometimes called the Tarsus River. Originally the water ...

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 World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, 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 Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...

and the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholar ...

led by Hetty Goldman. She was the first officially sanctioned woman archeologist. After being interrupted by

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, 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 Boğaziçi University ( tr, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi), also known as Bosphorus University, is a major research university in Istanbul, Turkey. Its main campus is located on the European side of the Bosphorus, Bosphorus strait. It has six facult ...

began to work at the site, with excavations beginning in 2007. Boğaziçi University announced that it will open a

research center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

in Tarsus on 18 February 2017.

The finds

Neolithic age The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

: pieces of plaster,

obsidian Obsidian () is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Obsidian is produced from felsic lava, rich in the lighter elements s ...

tools, arrowheads, spears, ceramic *

Chalcolithic age The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and ''líthos'', "stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin '' aeneus'' "of copper"), is an archaeological period characterized by regular ...

: jars, pots, water jags *

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 pri ...

: bronze weapons, stamps, ruins of adobe buildings, city wall *

Ancient age Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cove ...

: part of the treaty signed between

Telepinu Telipinu was the last king of the Hittites Old Kingdom, living in 16th century BC, reigned c. 1525-1500 BC in middle chronology. At the beginning of his reign, the Hittite Empire had contracted to its core territories, having long since lost all ...

, the king of the

Hittites The Hittites () were an Anatolian people who played an important role in establishing first a kingdom in Kussara (before 1750 BC), then the Kanesh or Nesha kingdom (c. 1750–1650 BC), and next an empire centered on Hattusa in north-centra ...

, and

Isputahsu Isputahsu (also transliterated as Išputaḫšu) was a king of Kizzuwatna, probably during the mid 15th century BC (short chronology). He signed a treaty of alliance with the Hittite king Telepinu. Family His father was Pariyawatri, who maybe wa ...

of Kizuwatna (Hittite vassal state), the stamp of Isputahsu, the stamp of Puduhepa, the Hittite queen, a crystal sculptureH. Goldman, A Crystal Statuette from Tarsus, Archaeologica orientalia in memoriam Ernst Herzfeld, pp. 129–133, J J Augustin, 1952,

''Notes''

''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''

''External links''