Anatolian Civilizations and Historical Sites - TEDA

ANATOLIAN CIVILIZATIONS:10x19 antik kentler 8/1/11 10:50 AM Sayfa
Karatepe
In the summer of 1945, a team from ‹stanbul University led by Prof.
Bossert began an expedition on the Hittite roads originating from
Kayseri and leading to Çukurova after surpassing the Tauruses.
During this discovery expedition, they found the existence of Aslantafl
in the east of Kadirli. In February 1946, they ventured on to find
possible remnants, led by Bossert with the participation of his assistant
Halet Çambel and the manager of Adana Museum Naci Kum. Under the
guidance of a teacher named Emin Kuçcu, the team reached the region
through quite a challenging journey. While they were examining the
sculpture called Aslantafl, which actually is of a bull, they realized there
were also various epitaphs in the surroundings.
After the Hittite Empire had been demolished around 1200 BC, the
customs and traditions of this empire continued to exist in the city
states known as the Late Hittite States. This place which was discovered
was not very far from Late Hittite city states such as Zincirli and
Karkam›fl found in Gaziantep. This place was also very likely to have
been a Late Hittite city state.
In 1946 the excavations started with these considerations in mind and
were completed by 1951. However, Halet Çambel resumed the
excavations and restoration activities in 1952. This excavation site,
which they named Karatepe, was given the name Karatepe-Aslantafl to
differentiate it from other sites having the name of Karatepe in the
future.
The antique city which today has been turned into an open air museum
is situated 20 km. from Kadirli, and to the west of Seyhan River. In order
to protect about 100 artefacts, uncovered in the antique city, from
natural conditions, they were covered with fringes and were exhibited
this way as an open air museum. With the declaration of this 7715 hectare
area as a National Park, the security of the relics has been insured.
Today, the waters of the Aslantafl Dam, lightly touch the foot of the
castle. In Domuztepe too, which is across the river and which is
understood to have been an old settlement from the excavations
conducted, the waters reach the edge of the antique city.
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