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©The Archaeological Settlements of Turkey - TAY Project
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Tuzla |
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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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Flat Settlement |
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Altitude:
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40 m |
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Region:
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Marmara |
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Province:
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Istanbul |
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District:
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Tuzla |
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Village:
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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: The site lies west of the city of Istanbul; on the Asian side; in the northwestern part of the town of Tuzla. It was immediately west of the Tuzla Elementary School (Ilkokul) in the vegetable garden that lay in the Kale Kapisi-Ayazma District. The site has now been completely destroyed by modern development. It is possible to get to the area by taking the E5 highway from Kadiköy or by taking the shore road. The site was found accidentally when the elementary school was being built [Kansu 1972:31]. |
| Geography and Environment: There are fresh water springs 3-4 km from the site; which lies in the flat plain that the town of Tuzla (which used the be a village) was built on. There is a fresh water spring represented on a 1:100;000 map; 1.5 km north of the site. Kemikli Stream flows east of the site. Today; the site is covered beneath a 1 m thick alluvial deposit. Therefore; the exact measurements of the site could not be determined. The open-air site covers a 100 square-meter area approximately 500 m from the sea (Firatli reports that it is only 150 m from the sea). This publication refers to this site as Tuzla; since this is the name that most archaeological publications have used. Firatli; who studied the profiles of the elementary school construction pit; notes that virgin soil is only 1.5-2 m beneath the surface [Firatli 1958:30]. |
| History: |
| Research and Excavation: The initial deep sounding trench was opened in 1965 in the back garden of the Tuzla Elementary School; 20 m from the school building; under the direction S.A. Kansu. Another trench of unknown dimension was opened in the vegetable garden near the school garden. |
| Stratigraphy: The deep sounding in the school garden yielded a 1 m thick mixed rubble and fill layer lying above a layer with ceramic fragments. The soil; down to the depth of 2 m; had a large quantity of mussel shells. The trench opened in the vegetable garden; on the other hand; yielded a 90 cm thick layer of humus completely void of archaeological finds. Beneath the first 90 cm is a layer of mussel shells followed by a layer with ceramic fragments. The stratigraphy of the site could not be determined by this deep sounding. It has been suggested that there are at least two different layers that can be dated to a more recent period than the Fikirtepe horizon. In the footnotes; it is mentioned that the excavation never reached virgin soil. Kansu mentions neither wattle and daub houses nor other architectural structures. |
| Small Finds: Architecture: No architectural remains were found. The cultural material found and comparative studies with other contemporaneous sites suggests that the houses here may have been wattle and daub. Pottery: The ceramics collected from the surface and uncovered during the excavation are characteristically Fikirtepe type material. The validity of the comparison cannot be ascertained because no complete ceramic profiles were found in the excavations. Publications are scarce. M. Özdogan; who studied Fikirtepe material for his doctoral thesis; mentions that the Tuzla Ware shows close affinity with Fikirtepe type wares including grit tempered; dark surface colored burnished ware; mottled-ware; sintered coarse clay ware; well burnished ware with red surface color; sand tempered; black slipped and burnished ware [Özdogan 1979:77]. The Tuzla grit temper is not as coarse as the Fikirtepe ones. The clay in Tuzla; on the other hand; has more mica temper. Tuzla ware is often buff in color as well. The thick red slip also does not appear at Fikirtepe. Deep open vessels with necks [Firatli 1958:fig.11/7]; high and closed vessel forms [Kansu 1970:fig.23; Firatli 1958:fig 12-13]; deep closed jars [Firatli 1958:fig:11/3]; as well as short; lipped and neckless closed vessels have been found. Although there are a number of flat bottomed vessels; no footed vessels have appeared. Chipped Stone: Flintstone tools are reported to have been found. Fauna: Sheep-goat bones have been found. A detailed analysis of the fauna was not conducted. It was visited during TAYEx Bizans Marmara in 2008 and was found that it contained Byzantine and Roman period sherds in addition to silex (TAYEx 2008). |
| Remains: |
| Interpretation and Dating: Even in prehistory; Istanbul and the surrounding region attracted more inhabitants than many other regions in Turkey. Tuzla is one such settlement. This site has been completely destroyed by modern development. This site; also known as Tuzla Kale Kapisi District; is believed to be contemporaneous with the sites of Fikirtepe-Pendik; Temenye. |
