Kestel is an archaeological site in the

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 ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, 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 elemen ...

Archaeology

Kestel is a probable site of

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

tin Tin is a chemical element; it has symbol Sn () and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored 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, a bar of tin makes a sound, the ...

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

in the Bolkar range of the

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

(near the present village of Celaller,

Çamardı District Çamardı District is a Districts of Turkey, district of the Niğde Province of Turkey. Its seat is the town of Çamardı.Niğde Province Niğde Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province in the southern part of Central Anatolia, Turkey. Its area is 7,234 km2, and its population is 365,419 (2022) of which 170,511 live in the city of Niğde. The population was 348,081 in 200 ...

). 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 chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

is today. It was a vital ingredient of

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

, used with

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) 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 pinkish-orang ...

to make the

alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which in most cases at least one is a metal, metallic element, although it is also sometimes used for mixtures of elements; herein only metallic alloys are described. Metallic alloys often have prop ...

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

cassiterite Cassiterite is a tin oxide mineral, SnO2. It is generally opaque, but it is translucent in thin crystals. Its luster and multiple crystal faces produce a desirable gem. Cassiterite was the chief tin ore throughout ancient history and remains ...

(tin

ore Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically including metals, concentrated above background levels, and that is economically viable to mine and process. The grade of ore refers to the concentration ...

)

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, macros ...

s in a stream in the Taurus

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

. This ore is

purple Purple is a color similar in appearance to violet light. In the RYB color model historically used in the arts, purple is a secondary color created by combining red and blue pigments. In the CMYK color model used in modern printing, purple is ...

; 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 raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

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 or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

s, many of which are only about two feet wide, just large enough to allow

children A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

to do the mining work. In one abandoned shaft, a

burial Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

of twelve to fifteen children was found, presumably killed while working in the mine. In 1989, 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 Physical object, object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many Tool use by animals, animals use simple tools, only human bei ...

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 container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures. Although crucibles have historically tended to be made out of clay, they can be made from any material that withstands temperat ...

s lined with

slag The general term slag may be a by-product or co-product of smelting (pyrometallurgical) ores and recycled metals depending on the type of material being produced. Slag is mainly a mixture of metal oxides and silicon dioxide. Broadly, it can be c ...

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 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 distinguish se ...

, 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 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

Archaeology

See also

References