3. Cilt - Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı

In this respect, the area around Niğde and Kemerhisar appeared one of themost interesting, as the presence of numerous inscriptions of the Neo-Hittite periodand the attestations of place names related to this area in the written sourcesfrom Hattuša point out. In fact, two ancient cities of greatest importance at thattime have been identifi ed: the city of Tuwanuwa, classical Tyana, identifi ed withmodern Kemerhisar, and the city of Tynna, very likely to be identifi ed with Porsuk.However, many other localities rose in the Hittite age in this area, which are still tobe localized (a.o. Tupazija, Šappalanda, Tiwanzana) 3 .Therefore, it has been decided to ask for a survey permission and in this way torestart the research begun by Meriggi some 50 years ago. Of course, the purposesof this new survey differ from those of the travels of Meriggi. His “Anatolian travels”were carried out when little of this region was known from an archaeological pointof view. The situation today is changed, and various missions work here on preclassicalsites: among these I will remember the French excavation of Pursuk 4 , andthe Turkish excavations of Acem Hüyük 5 , and Köşk Höyük 6 . The results of theseexcavations, some quite recent, others still in preparation, make now possibleto go through the reports written by Meriggi, inquiring not only the presence ofarchaeological sites but also their dating and development.As previously mentioned, it has been decided to concentrate the survey onthe northern part of the Tyanis, and on the valleys through the mountains of theHasan Dağı and Melendiz Dağları. In fact, from the old time the Tyanis has beencrossed by a N/S main line of communication; this road, which linked CentralAnatolia to the Mediterranean and the Levant through the “Cilician Gates” reachedTuwanuwa/Tuwana/Tyana and then branched off 7 . Running towards the N, onebranch founds its natural exit in the valley between the Melendiz Dağları and thePozantı Dağı, where today the cities of Bor and Niğde lie. A second branch, foldingtowards W/NW, skirted the northern profi le of the Tyanis, and either continuedtowards the W, beyond the Meander, until the Aegean coast, or folded naturallytowards the N, followed the guideline of the slopes of the Hasan Dağı and crossedthe region of modern Aksaray.The main scope of the survey is to bring to light the presence of Middle Bronze,Late Bronze and Iron Age sites situated on this latter branch of the road, and to3 On this s. lastly Börker Klähn 2007, with reference to previous studies.4 S. lastly Beyer 2006 and 2007.5 S. lastly Öztan 2007.6 S. lastly Öztan et alii 2007.7 On this road s. a.o. Forlanini 1988, 132-140 and Berges-Nollé 2000, 14-18.2