Middle Bronze Age structure uncovered at Tatarlı Mound
ADANA
A Middle Bronze Age structure with a plastered floor, thought to be sacred, has been uncovered at Tatarlı Mound, an uninterrupted settlement spanning from the Neolithic to the Early Roman period, located in the southern province of Adana.
The 17th season of excavations at the mound in the Tatarlı neighborhood in Ceyhan district is ongoing under the coordination of the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums of the Culture and Tourism Ministry, with the support of Çukurova University.
The work on the mound, part of the ministry's “Legacy for the Future Project,” will continue until the end of the year, while excavations this season focus on layers from the Hellenistic period, Middle Iron Age and Middle and Late Bronze Ages.
During the excavations at the mound, two rooms of an architectural structure from the Middle Bronze Age, with an outer wall measuring eight meters long, were revealed.
On the plastered floor of one of these rooms, a terracotta female figure symbolizing an important goddess cult with influences from northern Syria was found.
At the upper levels of the room where the figure was found, a bronze votive nail with a high-pointed cap, earrings, a necklace and a belt was uncovered. It is believed that the votive nail was placed to protect the structure from evil.
Associate Professor Kazım Serdar Girginer, lecturer at Çukurova University’s Department of Archaeology and head of the excavation, said that they discovered a nearly 4,000-year-old sacred structure in the first phase of this year’s work.
Explaining that the floor of the structure was plastered, Girginer said, “We can tell that the structure is sacred based on the careful plastering of its floors, as well as from the other finds. The artifacts are indeed special items. This is the first time we have uncovered such a structure from the Middle Bronze Age with an intact floor at Tatarlı Mound.”
Girginer mentioned that the excavation team continues to work in the area where the sacred structure was found.
Emphasizing the importance of the artifacts uncovered in the structure, Girginer said: “Apart from the information related to the sacred structure, we have also encountered significant artifacts. One of these is a nude female figure, which is a commonly found item in northern Syria. Of course, don’t think of Syria as the modern-day borders. We are talking about 4,000 years ago, a region where large, advanced cities existed around 4,500 years ago. These artifacts appear in Cilicia, just as they do in the cities of that area. Besides this, we have a bronze artifact. These artifacts would be buried beneath the foundations before sacred or administrative buildings were constructed, believed to protect the structure. They are protective figures.”
Girginer noted that excavations in the area are ongoing and that they are working to uncover new finds that will shed light on history.
