New Data on the Byzantine Period and the Winery of Beycesultan

Abstract

Beycesultan Mound, one of the significant mound settlements in Western Anatolia, was excavated by the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara between 1954 and 1959, during which Byzantine-period layers consisting of three phases were uncovered. However, a detailed publication regarding these phases has not been produced to date. Previous studies mentioned the existence of a 6^th century church and argued that the settlement at Beycesultan lost its significance as a result of political and social instability caused by Arab raids in the region during the 7^th to 9^th centuries. Based on these evaluations, it was also proposed that a fortified Byzantine settlement existed at Beycesultan in the 10^th and 11^th centuries. New excavations initiated in 2007 revealed three phases of Byzantine occupation dating from the 9^th to the 11^th centuries on the Western Cone of the mound. Although no institutional buildings were identified in these layers, multi-room domestic structures were uncovered along with numerous small finds, including glazed and unglazed ceramics, glass, metal, ivory, and bone objects. Following the results of the initial and recent excavations, it was long accepted that there was no Byzantine settlement on the East Cone of the mound. Excavations carried out in 2020-2021 on the southern slope of the East Cone have revealed significant data necessitating a reassessment of this view. These studies demonstrate that the area in question was used a workshop area as early as the 6^th century and maintained this same function in the 10^th and 11^th centuries after a long hiatus. It is highly probable that this workshop area, located on the southern outskirts of the settlement, was established at this point to benefit from the water resources provided by the Meander River. In particular, the wine workshop dating to 6^th century represents an early example of the viticulture tradition that maintains its importance in the region today