3. Cilt - Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı

As fi elds were surveyed, 27 points of interest were identifi ed according tothe method described above, and these include the following sites: 14 sites withsettlement remains (including one recently abandoned village); six sites with gravesof rock-cut or cist tombs; two ancient marble quarries; one site with architecturalfragments; one isolated lithic scatter; one isolated inscription; one ancient well;and one site associated with a fresh water spring. Other sites mentioned by localinformants but not accessible due to the high water level of the Gygaean Lakeinclude Kiremit Tepe (nearest Hacıveliler) and Dede Tepe (nearest Sazköy). Theseare probably occupation mounds fl ooded by the Gygaean Lake, and we hope toinvestigate them in future years.Of particular importance for the purposes of this project is the new discoveryof settlements of diverse periods. The settlements appear to be somewhat evenlydistributed throughout the landscape of central Lydia, from the shoreline of theGygaean Lake, west towards the foothills of the Gür and Lale Dağları, and northtowards the foothills north of the lake. Occupation periods range from Early BronzeAge to Ottoman times, with only one possibly earlier stray fi nd (Table: 1). TheOttomon and Byzantine periods were fairly well represented throughout the areain 15 survey units, with seven sites of varying sizes represented by architecturalremains and/or dense surface material that provided a rich assemblage ofdiagnostic wares; the largest and most complex of these was POI06.20, locatedbehind the Yandımoğlu Zeytinyağı Fabrikası just south of Gölmarmara. WhileLate Roman, Roman, and Hellenistic period material was clearly attested in 25survey units, it was never found in high density, perhaps suggesting the use of thearea in these times primarily for dispersed rural production, while larger hamletsand urban centers were located in other areas, at Gölmarmara and Sardis, forexample. Only one survey unit (SU06.23) produced possible evidence from theNeolithic period—a ceramic body sherd with triangular impressions—but muchmore abundant were remains of the Iron and Bronze Ages, specifi cally the Lydian–Late Lydian (Persian) periods and the Middle–Late Bronze Ages.Lydian and Persian period evidence was attested in at least 18 survey units,at least four of which bore evidence for small, hamlet-sized settlements located inboth upland and lowland situations, the latter both along the southwestern shoreof the lake and along the edge of its northern fl oodplain (Table: 1; Map: 2). Theselowland sites, POI06.22 (Buğdaylık) and POI06.27, were also the most denselycovered by diagnostic materials and probably represent the largest and mostprosperous sites of the period discovered in 2006.310