RCSP Ceramics Collections in the Gazipaşa Highlands, 2003-2011

<p>Beginning with the 2003 season, the RCSP survey team directed its attention increasingly to old growth cedar forests that stand in the Gazipasha highland (above 1500m elevation). The challenges of the rugged highland landscape and the need to coordinate activities with the work of the geological team constrained the ability of the survey team to investigate large tracts of terrain. During the 2003 season the team was directed by soldiers at the Karatepe Jandarma Station to five ancient sites in the highland basin of the Biçkici River (elevation 800-1200m). These include RC 0301 Sivaste (urban site), RC 0302 Akkaya Mahhale (Roman road settlement), RC 0303 Karaçukur (pre-Classical settlement), RC 0304 Kenetepe (urban site), and RC 0309 Ilica Kale (monumental village). The team conducted close-interval flag survey and detailed architectural recording at all five sites. It encountered one additional fortified site (RC 0308, Kilise Taş Mevkii) while investigating the crest of the mountain (Kara Dağı) that looms above the basin. In 2007, while excavating a pollen trench at Sugozu Yayla at the crest of the Biçkici Canyon (1687m elevation), the team encountered sherd scatters in the immediate vicinity (RC 0701, 0702). In 2008, the team conducted off-site, close-interval flag survey in the terraced fields that extend between RC 0301 Sivaste and RC 0304 Kenetepe. In the process the team identified additional sherd scatters (RC 0801, 0803), and most importantly, it encountered a lithic production center (possibly Chalcolithic) at Sivritaş Tepe (RC 0802). During the final survey season in 2011, the team concentrated its efforts on pollen trench excavations at the crest of the Taşeli Plateau, that is, the yayla district above the Biçkici Canyon (above 1500m elevation). Brief pedestrian surveys employing close interval flag survey techniques in the immediate vicinity of the trenches revealed a Pre-Pottery Neolithic production center for polished beads at Gunnercik Yayla (RC 1101) and a Hellenistic-Early Roman era settlement at Sugozu Yayla (RC 1102) and a small isolated settlement at Beobaşı (RC 1103). Seeking locations to Isaurian-styled cemeteries similar to the one found at RC 0304 Kenetepe, the team was directed by a retired Turkish Forestry worker to fairly distant sites at Armutlar Mevkii (RC 1104, isolated settlement) and Çoruş (RC 1105, monumental village). Although architecturally significant, neither site furnished significant ceramic remains.</p>
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