SİLİFKE KALESİ KAZI ÇALIŞMALARI (2011- 2022)
Authors: BORAN Ali 
Published: November 2023

Silifke is a district of Mersin province, currently located in the Mediterranean Region. Silifke Castle is located in the south of the region called Rough Cilicia in history, on the west side of the city, on the route that provides passage from the Mediterranean coast to Central Anatolia, at the intersection of land and sea trade. Silifke Castle was built at a point overlooking all roads, controlling both the trade route and the port. After the Silifke Castle excavations (2011-2022); Four periods have been identified: Roman, Byzantine, Karamanid and Ottoman Periods. It is understood that Silifke Castle was built in the Roman Period, and that it took its final shape by adding the defensive moat around the castle, the B-1 entrance gate, the A-16 military place adjacent to the walls, the church, the chapel, and some of the public and civil buildings in the Byzantine Period. After Silifke Castle was conquered by the Karamanids, the church in the center of the castle was converted into a mosque as a symbol of the Conquest, and the walls, moat, fortress veil and the spaces inside the castle began to be shaped according to the needs of the Turks. During the Ottoman Period, the settlement pattern inside the castle took its final shape. Thus, the castle, which is an important element of the medieval Turkish urban fabric, shows itself in the Silifke castle settlement pattern with the general characteristic of Turkish-Islamic cities. The settlement structure inside the castle was renewed according to need during the Ottoman Period. Rough-cut masonry, which is the traditional masonry of the region and built without the use of mortar, was applied in the interior spaces of the castle. With the excavations, the texture of the settlement inside the castle; It has been determined that the residences and social buildings belonging to the administration in the west, the mosque and the commercial buildings developed around it in the middle, and the residences and social buildings belonging to the public and the military in the east. Excavation findings are one of the most important data in identifying the castle. Excavation findings provide us with a wide range of data, from the art environment to daily life and aesthetic tastes of the Roman, Byzantine, Karamanid and Ottoman periods. The majority of the findings reflect the Turkish- Islamic period, and how the settlement pattern developed in every area we work can be followed.Each piece, especially architectural plastics, ceramics, metal, glass, stone, bone and wooden findings, is of great importance to us. These findings allow us to establish a bond with the master who made the work and the person who used it, understand their practices, and share this with today’s people.It also tells us about the social taste of that period, the technology they used, the exchange and solidarity between societies or different tastes. After the Silifke Castle excavation (2011-2022); It has been revealed that the castle has been used since ancient times and continued its effectiveness in the Roman and Byzantine periods. From the architectural remains and small artifacts identified, it is understood that Silifke Castle was inhabited until the last times of the Karamanoğlu and Ottoman Periods. Thus, it was revealed that Silifke Castle is one of the rare ruins in Anatolia that display the castle-city feature of the Turkish period. For more detailed information, please refer to the Extended Abstract at the end of the text