Yumuktepe

Yumuktepe (or Yümüktepe) is a tell (ruin mound) at 36°48′5″N 34°36′14″E / 36.80139°N 34.60389°E / 36.80139; 34.60389 within the city borders of Mersin, Turkey. In 1936, the mound was on the outskirts of Mersin, but after a rapid increase of population, the mound was surrounded by the Toroslar municipality of Mersin.

Discovery and excavations

Excavations during 1936-1938 by a British archaeologist

There are 23 levels of occupation dating from ca. 6300 BC. In his book, Prehistoric Mersin, Garstang lists the tools unearthed in the excavations. The earliest tools are made of either stone or ceramic. Both agriculture and animal husbandry (sheep, cattle, goats and pigs) were among the economic activities in Yumuktepe.[5] In the layer which corresponds to roughly 4500 BC, are found the remains of one of the earliest fortifications in human history to exist. According to Isabella Caneva, during the chalcolithic age an early copper blast furnace was in use in Yumuktepe. This was probably a coastal settlement, but because of the alluvion carried by the nearby Efrenk River, the mound is now 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) north of the Mediterranean shore.

Historical era

Yumuktepe was a part of

References