Pednelissos (Antalya)

The ancient city of Pednelissos is located 75 km northeast of Antalya near the village of Kozan. It is on the lower slopes of the Taurus, overlooking the Pamphylian plain. The site has been investigated since 2000 by the Pisidian Survey project, now led by Lutgarde Vandeput, of the British Institute at Ankara, and Veli Köse, of the University of Cologne.

The project has documented the extent of the urbanism of Pednelissos, including its north and south necropoleis and the well-preserved Hellenistic fortification walls of its upper and lower cities. Pottery from surveys indicates occupation mainly from the 2nd century BC to the 7th century AD, with concentrations between the 1st century BC and 1st century AD, and 4th and 7th centuries AD.

2008

The survey of the Pednelissos area continued using a hand-held GPS and confirmed the pattern identified last year with a dense network of villages and farmsteads. As well, four Late Antique pottery production sites with kilns were identified. The ware produced appears to be that known as Cypriot Red Slip Ware.

Several sites were also recorded in detail. At Dumlutaş the site spreads over several peaks and the flat areas in between, with fortification walling erected around it wherever the natural defences are inadequate. Among the houses at the site were two "Herrenhäuser" (larger buildings presumably occupied by the important families of the settlement). One other large structure may have been a temple. Pottery suggests this settlement was occupied from the 4th/3rd century BC into the first centuries AD.

At Haciosmanlar the site appears to have been occupied in the Hellenistic period and then in Late Antiquity but has been much destroyed by agricultural activities. The fortification walls and a few buildings are all that remain.

A Hellenistic watchpost of the type identified near Sagalassos was found on the peak of Asarkaya. The slopes were also occupied from the 1st to the 7th century AD by a large farmstead. Four well-preserved stone buildings were found and at the foot of the peak was an olive press and other indications of a workshop. Another isolated villa or farmstead at Kaşanak was also recorded. 

2007

In 2007 work concentrated on the remains in the territory of Pednelissos, mapping them by GPS as a basis for intensive survey in future seasons. Over sixty sites in the southeastern part of the territory were visited.

In contrast with present-day use of the area, which is mountainous and forested, with settlement only in the flatter areas, every part of the arable land seems to have been used for cultivation in antiquity and remains were found at every water source. Much of this settlement was concerned with olive oil production, as evidenced by the number and variety of finds associated with its production. Several types of sites were identified.

Many isolated olive oil production workshops were noted. Some are tower-shaped, built from well-cut ashlar masonry and are almost square in plan. Others are built on levelled areas of rocky outcrops using unworked boulders, and the production installations are cut into the bedrock. Still other constructions, in two cases with mosaic floors, appear to have been villas or large farmhouses.

Six to eight villages (dense clusters of houses) were identified, and some of these had defensive walls. Other settlements consisted of small houses around a larger building ("Herrenhaus") constructed in a similar way to the tower-like olive oil workshops. At Arpalık Tepe, Yumaklar, houses clustered around a Doric temple that had been built over a cave. The votive offerings from the cave suggest use from the Archaic period. The villages each contained at least one basilica and close by were almost always several tombs and water installations such as cisterns.

At Akbaş Kısık Tepesi, Burgaz, are the remains of what seems to be an early Byzantine monastery and church.

Bibliography

Lutgarde Vandeput, "Pisidia survey project 2007: a survey in the territory of Pednelissos", Anatolian Archaeology 13 (2007), 33-5
Lutgarde Vandeput and Veli Köse, "Pisidia survey project 2008: research in the territory of Pednelissos", Anatolian Archaeology 14 (2008), 32-3

Website

The excavation website is at
http://212.174.26.236/psp/pednelissos.html