Porsuk Höyük (Zeyve Höyük)
Zeyve Höyük · Porsuk-Zeyve · Tynna
Middle Bronze to Hellenistic (Karum → Neo-Hittite/Tabal, Iron Age, Hellenistic)·Hittite/Luwian → Tabal → Neo-Hittite (Luwian-Phrygian contact)·🇹🇷 Niğde Province, Ulukışla District, Taurus foothills, Turkey
About
About Porsuk Höyük (Zeyve Höyük)
Porsuk Höyük (Zeyve Höyük, ancient Tynna/Tunna) is a multi-period tell on the Cilician Gates corridor at the northern foot of the Taurus — Assyrian Colony (karum) through Neo-Hittite, Iron Age (Tabal) and Hellenistic levels. French excavations (Olivier Pelon) revealed Hittite-Luwian hieroglyphic inscriptions, Late Bronze citadel with casemate walls, Iron Age fortifications and Classical reoccupation. The 25 m high mound with lower town controls the Bor-Ereğli-Ulukışla pass linking Anatolian plateau to Cilicia. Buried mudbrick on stone socle with timber lacing; lower town geophysics shows 30 ha extramural expansion.
Why it mattersKey Tabal Neo-Hittite gateway documenting Luwian continuity after Hittite collapse and Cilician Gates trade — hieroglyphic corpus reference for southern Central Anatolia.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Was Porsuk the Tynna of Assyrian Colony texts or a later refoundation?
- 02Source of iron bloom at Tabal level — local Taurus ore or traded?
Theories
- 01Pelon Luwian principality model vs Hawkins Tabal confederation
- 02Cilician Gates karum-colony hybridization debate
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.2000 BCE (MBA karum); Hittite citadel 1600 BCE; Neo-Hittite/Tabal floruit 1200–700 BCE
- Period
- Middle Bronze to Hellenistic (Karum → Neo-Hittite/Tabal, Iron Age, Hellenistic)
- Culture
- Hittite/Luwian → Tabal → Neo-Hittite (Luwian-Phrygian contact)
- Builders
- Luwian/Hittite, Tabalian princes, Cilician Gates communities
- Purpose
- Fortified gateway town controlling Cilician Gates pass and silver/iron trade from Taurus
- Abandoned
- c.100 CE Hellenistic abandonment as road shifts to Tyana
- Rediscovered
- Surveyed 1950s Mellaart, excavated 1969–present Pelon (French-Turkish Ulukışla)
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
1969
Pelon opens French-Ulukışla trench, Luwian hieroglyphic stele found
1992
Hittite casemate wall and Iron Age gate published (AMS C14)
2015
Magnetometry maps 30 ha lower town and karum suburb
On the ground
Structures & features
37.5144° N · 34.5794° E · 1320 m · 3 mapped features
Hittite citadel (Level IV)
citadelLate Bronze casemate citadel with Luwian block
37.5146° N · 34.5796° ENeo-Hittite Iron Age gate
fortificationTabal period gate with hieroglyphic orthostat
37.5142° N · 34.5792° ELower town karum anomaly
geophysical anomaly30 ha MBA lower town + karum street grid (magnetometry)
37.5149° N · 34.5800° E