3. Cilt - Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı

and the regulated river bed. Both modern constructions cut into the fortifi cations.The remaining parts lie today on both sides of the river and on both sides of themodern road. In their summary of the antiquities of İskenderun, Hellenkemper andHild give a detailed description of the fortifi cations (Hellenkemper and Hild 1986:113-115). In the 1930s Chammas (1931: 31, 58) saw a polygonal castle with eightsides built with large limestone boulders. Chammas’ soundings exposed wallsstanding up to ca. 5 m high and 2.30 m wide, and the diameter of the castle was97 meters. Built into the walls and between the stones were late antique roof tiles.According to Hellenkemper and Hild (1986: 112-115) the plan of the building isclearly later than Medieval and was most probable constructed during the Ottomanperiod. Since there are no installations for artillery, the castle might have been builtduring the 16th century. As a dated comparison, an octagonal tower at Yumurtalık(Ayas) has a building inscription of Süleyman I (Hellenkemper and Hild 1986: 114n. 77). Janke (1904) also mentions that in 1802 the traveler Colonel Squire sawheavy iron rings attached to the castle for tying ships. The fortifi cations were closeto swamps that were drained only in the late 19th and early 20th century.Corona satellite images of 1967 show an intact southern half of an octagonalcircle of fortifi cations around a point where presently the bridge of the Arsuz roadstands. Heberdey and Wilhelm (1896: 19) mention an abundant spring at the footof the Çankaya hill. This is apparently the “Ain” that appears on the French mapof the Syrian coast published by Chasseloup-Laubat (1828). This spring is drawnnext to a symbol for fortifi cations, most probably İskenderun Kalesi.In the cemetery of an Orthodox Christian church at 246377.4052024 we founda scatter of pottery and roof tiles. The earliest fi nds seem to date to the late Roman/early Byzantine period, other fi nds are Medieval and Ottoman. Although a carefulsurvey was carried out in the modern city center no further archaeological remainswere discovered. Only very few foundation pits at current construction sites wereopen and in the yards and gardens of the city only very few artifacts were visible.In a pit at 246293.4053429 settlement debris was observed in-situ to a depth ofca. 1.70 m. Another pit, at 246250.4052570, was found without any settlementremains buried in it. In gardens at 245698.4052519 column drums, many roof tilesand a pottery concentration was found. The garden owners told us that the materialwas not in-situ and came from construction pits within the modern city aroundthe present courthouse in the city center (246934.4053218). More remains of thedigging of foundation pits for modern buildings in İskenderun were found dumpedin a vast area of the airfi eld west of the city around 245000.4052400. These dumps175