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©The Archaeological Settlements of Turkey - TAY Project
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Mentese / Yenisehir |
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For site maps and drawings please click on the picture...  |
For photographs please click on the photo...  |
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Type:
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Mound |
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Altitude:
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305 m |
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Region:
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Marmara |
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Province:
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Bursa |
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District:
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Yenisehir |
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Village:
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Mentese |
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Investigation Method:
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Excavation |
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Period:
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Ceramic |
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| Location: This site lies east-northeast of the city of Bursa; 500 m southwest of the village of Mentese. |
| Geography and Environment: The mound is small and is reported to be 4x100 m in size. It has been partially blocked by the road to Selimiye. In the 1960's there was a stadia-rod on top of the mound. It is 25 km from the settlement of Ilipinar. |
| History: |
| Research and Excavation: The site was researched in 1960 by J. Mellaart; in 1961 by D.H. French and in 1964 by C. Cullberg. The site was excavated in 1995-2000 with the scientific consultancy of J. Roodenberg who also conducted the Ilipinar excavations; and the directorship of T. Sevil from Iznik Museum. The excavations; of which the main goal was to recover the stratigraphy of the mound from the beginning; were carried out in a L-shaped sounding area. It takes place in the registered archaeological sites list prepared by Ministry of Culture and Tourism. |
| Stratigraphy: The virgin soil was not reached in all areas of the sounding trench. The layers representing the Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic consist of an upper layer with no architectural features. The ceramic culture determined in this layer is included in the Early Chalcolithic settlement phase of Ilipinar VA dating to 5500 BC. |
| Small Finds: Architecture: The first architectural remains of the Early Chalcolithic belong to a sigle roomed; rectangular planned house measuring 5x6 m or 6x7 m. Although most of the plans of these structures are outside the trench; they were determined to be of the typical building type of Ilipinar. This similarity is also visible in the usage of different construction techniques. The wall of one building was made from wattle and daub and the exterior walls of other two from grass or clay blocks. A wall fragment; made from green mudbrick and joined with a kind of mortar; was also encountered. The interior arrangement of the houses is not known. Outside a building; an area with shallow bowls and hearths dug into a mud plastered floor was recovered. This area was probably used for preparing food. The lower layers have yielded a structure with similar dimensions and construction techniques. Beneath this layer was found a series of courtyards and burnt debris deposits with no architectural remains. These finds have shown that the houses were built close to each other. Beneath them is the 1 m thick deposit that reaches the virgin soil has yielded animal bones; broken flint; bone and horn tools; grinding stones and pottery sherds. With these finds; the deposit has the characteristics of an inner court. [Roodenberg 2002:123;124]. Ceramics: Survey at the site yielded faded-looking Dark Burnished Ware. The surface color is gray; brown and faded-red. This hand-made; fine ware is grit tempered. It has been well burnished. Closed vessels are the most frequent vessel types. Fikirtepe ware was also found at this site. Human Remains: A total of 12 human skeletons were recovered in 2000. This number has reached 20 together with the ones found in 1997. Burials of a female and an infant were found beneath the house with wattle and daub walls. The relationship between these burials and the house is not known. The radiocarbon samples taken from the house have given the dates of 6100-6200 BC. According to this; it is thought that the house and the burials belong to the same chronological horizon. One of the burials has yielded a box with geometrical decoration which is similar to the examples found in Fikirtepe and Pendik. The three male skeletons found in 2000 and the ones found in 2000 were dated to the Early Chalcolithic and they represent Ilipinar VA. The other skeletons belong to earlier periods. They are all single burials except for one example. They were placed on their right or left sides and this orientation does not change according to age or sex. Bowls were found with some adult burials and some infants were buried with necklaces. Only one male burial has yielded a pointed bone tool on the side of the belly. An interesting feature is that the burials were placed on wooden stretchers as in Ilipinar. The graves have also yielded finds belonging to cattle such as shoulder blade; rib cage; and horn. [Roodenberg 2002:123;124]. |
| Remains: |
| Interpretation and Dating: The earliest dates of Northwestern Anatolia comes from Mentese. The earliest level of the settlement is contemporary with the Fikirtepe Culture. The late phase is accepted to be contemporary with Ilipinar VA. |
