Old Smyrna dig finds six Early Bronze Age building phases where two were known

Excavators at Bayraklı Höyük, the mound of Old Smyrna in Izmir in western Türkiye, now count six architectural phases in its Early Bronze Age settlement, which had been thought to have only two. The excavation director, Prof. Aylin Ümit Erdem, said on 14 October that the team had reached levels of the 3rd millennium BCE, with radiocarbon dates confirming how early the settlement began. The dig is a joint project of Ege University and the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, supported by Izmir Metropolitan Municipality.

The excavators have also told apart three phases of the city wall, dated to the 9th, 8th and 7th centuries BCE, all of interlocking stone blocks laid without mortar. The eastern wall and a monumental gate were known before; this year's work followed the northern line, to date its building phases and find how far the settlement reached. Smyrna's streets crossed at right angles from the 7th century BCE, with water channels running through the houses and a large channel beneath the gate. The team also worked on a public building of the 4th century BCE.

Smyrna's 3rd-millennium levels overlap the start of the Early Bronze Age in Cyprus, c. 2500 BCE, when Red Polished Philia ware appeared on the island with shapes and techniques paralleled in Anatolia. The three wall phases span the late Cypro-Geometric and early Cypro-Archaic periods.