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This article presents a preliminary comparative stratigraphy of excavated sites in Plain Cilicia and one in Rough Cilicia. It is the outcome of three workshops held in 2014, 2015 and 2017. Plain Cilicia at the junction of Anatolia, Syro-Mesopotamia and Cyprus is one of the most fertile regions of the Ancient Near East. In recent years, archaeological research in the region has intensified, re-opening questions of chronology. The comparative stratigraphy discussed in the workshops is presented here in form of a gazetteer of the participating sites and a chart. This is to be understood as a first step towards a more comprehensive chronology.Keywords: Cilicia, chronology, comparative stratigraphy Introduction (Fig. 1)Plain Cilicia (gr. Kilikia Pedias, lat. Cilicia Campestris) is an alluvial fan covering approximately 8000 km 2 and one of the most fertile regions in modern-day Turkey.1 It is located at the junction of Anatolia, SyroMesopotamia and Cyprus, defined by natural borders: the Taurus Range to the west and north, the Amanus to the east and the Mediterranean to the south. The plain is divided into a western part on the coast (Çukurova) and an eastern inland part (Yukarıova). Natural passes through the mountains give access to the neighbouring regions: the Göksu (gr. Kalykadnos) Valley connects Plain to Rough Cilicia (gr. Kilikia Tracheia, lat. Cilicia Aspera) to the west, the well-known Cilician Gates (Gülek Boğazı) north of Tarsus, the route from Kozan via Feke and the Gezbel Pass (Hittite-Kizzuwatnean Caravan Route) 2 connect the region with the central Anatolian plateau, the Bahçe (Amanus Gates) and the Belen Pass (Syrian Gates) with the İslahiye Plain and the Amuq respectively. A number of rivers, originating in the Taurus Mountains, cross the lowlands and discharge into the Mediterranean: the four most important are the Göksu (gr. Kalykadnos), the Berdan or Tarsus Çayı (gr. Kydnos), the Seyhan (hitt. Šamri/Sapara, gr. Saros) and the Ceyhan (hitt. Puruna (?), gr. Pyramos). The fertile alluvial plain allows both dry-farming and irrigation agriculture which have supported a dense settlement pattern since the Neolithic period.The archaeological richness of the region has been well-known since the early excavations by Hetty Goldman in Tarsus 9 Excavation has recently intensified in the region, although few projects have focused on new sites (Fig. 1). Nevertheless, new data has been steadily accumulating, providing insights into the cultural history and archaeology of the Cilician Plain. The importance of a solid chronology based on a thorough comparative stratigraphy of all investigated sites is apparent.The purpose of a series of workshops was to initiate a dialogue among active archaeological projects in the region. The first Cilician Chronology Workshop took place in the expedition house of Sirkeli Topography and Excavation AreasExcavation in the Bronze and Iron Age levels was largely confined to the north-western corner of the mound, and to a 40 m strip trench across the centre of the mound,...

The site of Sirkeli Höyük in the province of Adana in modern Turkey is one of the largest settlement mounds in Plain Cilicia. In 2012, a geophysical survey revealed that the ancient settlement was not confined to the höyük, but also encompassed an extensive lower town to the southeast of the main mound. To gain information on the dating and development of this part of the settlement, an excavation area (“Sector F”) was opened at a spot where the magnetometry survey suggested the presence of a city gate. Since then, archaeological work in this area has continuously produced new discoveries that help us understand how this residential area and its inhabitants developed throughout the periods of its occupation. Especially the Iron Age (Neo Cilician period) levels, which cover approximately the 11th–7th centuries B.C., provide important information on how this urban center of the Neo Hittite kingdom Hiyawa/Que changed over time and to which extent historical events impacted the people living in one of its residential areas. This contribution discusses the stratigraphic sequence, the pottery, and the archaeobotanical remains discovered in Sector F during the 2013–2019 campaigns, and concludes with a synthesis of the development in this area from a historical perspective.

Cappadocia, situated in the Central Anatolia Plateau in Turkey, is characterized by widespread volcanic rocks (lavas, ignimbrites and pyroclastic deposits) alternating with fluvio-lacustrine sediments of Miocene (around 10 million years) to Quaternary age. The evolution of the Cappadocian landscape starts with gently sloping plateaus, which are then dissected, usually along fractures of soft-unwelded ignimbrites, to form mushroom-like, cone-shaped structures known locally as 'fairy chimneys'. We present here a brief description of the stratigraphy of the Cappadocian volcanic succession and explain types of volcanic products. Different landforms created by the erosion of the volcanic rocks are also explained. Because of the favorable engineering properties of the ignimbrites, ancient populations have carved their houses, churches and even underground cities for centuries. Today, this unique cultural and morphological heritage site, classified under UNESCO World Heritage List since 1985, is one of the most visited regions of Turkey.

Enlighten -Research publications by members of the University of Glasgow http://eprints.gla.ac.uk 95O ur first programme of excavations at Kilise Tepe in the 1990s recovered evidence for settlement at the site over a succession of periods from the Early Bronze Age to the Byzantine. This gave us snapshots of the architecture and artefactual repertoire of the site at different times, and while these were similar to the material record of other settlements, indicating that Kilise Tepe participated culturally with neighbouring regions ( fig. 1), the similarities were not always with the same part of the region, and this of course raised the question of why the AbstractThe excavations at Kilise Tepe in the 1990s inevitably left a range of research questions unanswered, and our second spell of work at the site from 2007 to 2011 sought to address some of these, relating to the later second and early first millennia. This article gathers the architectural and stratigraphic results of the renewed excavations, presenting the fresh information about the layout and character of the Late Bronze Age North-West Building and the initial phases of the Stele Building which succeeded it, including probable symbolic practices, and describing the complex stratigraphic sequence in the Central Strip sounding which covers the lapse of time from the 12th down to the seventh century. There follow short reports on the analyses of the botanical and faunal materials recovered, a summary of the results from the relevant radiocarbon dating samples and separate studies addressing issues resulting from the continuing study of the ceramics from the different contexts. Taken together, a complex picture emerges of changes in settlement layout, architectural traditions, use of external space, artefact production and subsistence strategies during the centuries which separate the Level III Late Bronze Age settlement from the latest Iron Age occupation around 700 BC.