Cilicia Survey Project

In 2004 work continued on the Cilicia Survey Project under the direction of Giovanni Salmeri and Anna Lucia D'Agata. The principal aim of the project is to study the "Hellenization" processes of the Late Bronze Age and 4th century BC in the alluvial plain between the Ceyhan and Seyhan Rivers.

2008

The survey of Misis (Mopsuestia) continued in 2008. The circuit of the city walls has now been identified. They had been demolished, in most part, by the 1970s, but the 1879 publication of E.J. Davis was a useful guide for establishing their course. It is difficult to date the various phases, but the trapezoidal layout and the fact that the walls have been shown to overlie a 5th century mosaic suggest they belong between the 6th and 13th centuries AD.

On the acropolis three barrel-vaulted cisterns, two towers, buttressing and other parts of the citadel fortress have now been identified. The location of the Roman fortress has been made possible by mapping finds under the modern town.

Pottery of Early Bronze and 2nd millennium date has been found below the acropolis, indicating that the Bronze Age settlement was not restricted to the acropolis. In the Late Bronze Age there are clear differences between the material culture of Cilicia and that of Cyprus, but by the Middle Iron Age (10th-8th centuries BC) the two regions formed one cultural province.

Outside the city a necropolis with rock-cut tombs and a Roman aqueduct have been recorded near the modern Adana-Osmaniye road. A milestone dating from the time of the Roman emperor Severus Alexander (AD 222-235), found nearby and published in 1870, shows that the modern road follows the same route as the Roman road.

2006

In 2006 the team continued to concentrate on Misis (Mopsouhestia), surveying the Late Antique fortification wall. This year two more towers were investigated. One has a U-shaped or irregular superstructure, with one side preserved. Its marble facing included material from the theatre. In the second tower, west of the theatre, the U-shaped section has been preserved. The outer face of the city wall contains much spolia, probably from the theatre. Preliminary reconstruction suggests the walls enclosed a trapezoidal area. The 5th century AD mosaic found in 2003 beside the wall provides a terminus post quem for the system.

South of the site is a necropolis, which contains 100 hypogeum tombs, while north of the Adana-Osmaniye road was found the Roman aqueduct for the site. It was described in 1880 but today only half remains. Construction is of layers of stone and brick.

Study of the finds continues. Ceramics include sherds of the Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Early Bronze periods and confirm that the earliest settlement was on the acropolis. The Middle Bronze Age is well represented but little of Late Bronze date has been found. In the Middle Iron Age there was definitely a settlement at Misis, with black on red, bichrome, and red and white wares found. They are similar to Cypriot pottery but appear to be local. An archaeometric program will help to clarify this. A high percentage of the painted pottery of the 9th-8th centuries BC is similar to that from Kinet Höyük. Although Misis is not on the sea, it shows many similarities with coastal sites, suggesting that the river played an important part in its external connections.

2004

Work in 2004 concentrated on continuing the systematic survey of the centre of Misis (ancient Mopsouhestia).

On the slopes of the acropolis some sections exposed by villagers digging for mud for building material were surveyed, and the remains of a medieval kiln were identified as part of the excavations carried out by T. Bossert in 1957 (Arkeoloji Dergisi, 1958).
On the west side of the city the Late Antique and Medieval fortification walls were surveyed and two more towers located. Between a stretch of the city wall and another wall (presumably part of a tower) a 3 m long area of polychrome mosaic, located in 2003, was cleared and cleaned.

A series of structures dated to the Middle Iron Age were identified on the eastern slopes of the Lower Hill. Strong Cypriot influences are observable in the pottery of this period. At this time there was also systematic exploitation of the bedrock (mostly sandstone) on the southern and western slopes of the site and on the hills to the west of the acropolis.

In a steep area on the western slope of the acropolis a stratigraphic sequence of Middle to Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic date was observed. Burnished brown to reddish pottery and a quantity of obsidian cores and tools were found. This is the earliest occupation identified so far at Misis, and confirms Veronica Seton-Williams's conviction that the earliest occupation at Misis was on the acropolis.