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Gözlü Kule Mound (Tell)
The Tell occupies and important place in the history of Tarsus and the surrounding region known as the Çukurova Plain. It is located near city center in the Cami-i Nur District. Excavations began in 1935 by an American team of archaeologists and were completed in 1939, its findings later published.
The Tell consists of two mounds, contained in an area 300 meters square. (Picture) The city has been continuously inhabited from the Early Bronze Age until the Ottoman Period. However, after the Helenization Period, the city was moved to the surrounding plain and not much could be found in the layers following that period. The American team published its findings in a three-book volume; the excavation results provide us with the most comprehensive knowledge of Tarsus’s past. Despite the trenches on both mounds later being covered up, the knowledge that Prof. Hetty Goldman brought to light of the various layers was substantial. Important information (apart from the early Hittite Period) included increased knowledge of Eastern Mediterranean, Cypriote, and Egyptian relationships. The layers belonging to the Hittite Period provide important evidence revealing the first known use of horizontal beams for wall strengthening in the Anatolian Region.
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