The extensive plain, that borders the south coast of Asia Minor from Antalya to the river Melas, is the ancient Pamphylia. To the east of this, where the Taurus mountains gradually approach the coast, lies the geographically contrasting region of Rough Cilicia. The borders of Pamphylia, especially the eastern extremity which interests us mainly, have always been a matter of different concepts among the ancient authors[1]. We accept the general fact that Side is the last Pamphylian city, and so the cast of the river Melas should be regarded as Rough Cilicia.
The region, which the present work deals with, is the part of the coast lying between Alara Çay and Kargı Çay in west Cilicia. The accounts of the early explorers, such as Beaufort, Heberdey and Wilhelm, Rott, Keil and Wilhelm, Paribeni and Romanelli, Mitford and Bean, are still interesting to read but hardly sufficient[2]. Beaufort’s attention was attracted by a cape which is located to the east of cape Karaburun and about 20 km. to the west of Alanya (Corecesium). He believed he had found the site of Ptolemais here on this promontory, where he saw extensive remains of walls and buildings. From the artificial harbours, which he believed must have stood one on each side of the cape, there was nothing left to see at all. In the accounts of the above mentioned explorers we do not find anything added to that of Beaufort about the site indicated here. As a brief summary of the explorations done in the coastal region between Alara Çay and Kargı Çay or a little further to the east of the latter, we can name the following ancient sites that are probably identified, or suggested to be so, lying from west to east : Cibyra (?) or Justinianopolis (?), Ptolemais, Augia and Aunesis. The locations of these cities according to Stadiasmus m.m. and the estimations of distances given there do not in all cases suit the accounts given by the explorers. The conclusive identifications of the sites mentioned remain therefore problematic.
On the road from Antalya to Alanya, about 2 km. from İncekum, there is a wide and broad beach forming a gentle curve where Motel Aspcndos is situated. It extends for a kilometer and then ends up with a rocky premontory on the east. The greater part of the promontory, called Fığla Burnu, which extends for more than a kilometer into the sea, is covered with banana plantations today (Pl. 1). It lies 21 km. to the west of Alanya.
During my stay in Motel Aspendos in the summer of 1974, I made a short excursion in the district and saw many remains of rather late construction. On the east side of Fığla Burnu, in a neatly shaped small bay, I was surprised to discover an ancient harbour with its admirably well preserved mole above the surface (Pl. 2-6). The main mole starts from the east end of the bay and lies in east-west direction. There is another but smaller one taking place in north - south direction (Pl. 7-8). They are built of large blocks of conglomerate. The blocks are fitted without mortar and secured by means of horizontal clamps. Dovetail clamp holes arc still to be observed very clearly.
Some weeks later, as I took part in the excavation works done in Perge, the director of the excavation, Prof. Arif Müfid Mansel, found the subject very interesting, and so an expedition trip was made to Fığla Burnu with Prof. Mansel, two other members of the team and the present writer. For the accomplishment of this present work I am indebted to the assistance and advice of our deeply lamented Prof. Arif Müfid Mansel.
At present the water is very shallow, and the inner half of the harbour has become sanded up. The passage through the middle of the two moles is about 25 m. today. The main mole, as far as one can walk over it, is almost 60 m. long, and in the middle where the blocks reach the maximum size, it is 2 m. wide. The approximate height of the blocks is 0.50-0.60 m (Pl. 5-6). The blocks are fitted without mortar, and there can be no doubt that the structure is of a respectable antiquity; they are bonded with dovetail clamps of 0.51 m in length (Pl. 9-10).
The second mole, which extends in north-south direction, is preserved for some 25 m. (Pl. 7-8). It seems to be very probable that a good portion of it remains still under the sand. The blocks are of the same sort of material, but rather smaller and more worn out.
Various types of wooden, lead, iron or bronze clamps were employed for bonding blocks of stone, instead of mortar, in antiquity. A certain kind, called dovetail clamp, was used all over the Greek world for many centuries, from the beginning of the archaic till the end of the Hellenistic age[3]. Temple Q in Side can be given as an example from the region that interests us[4].
As a result of rather recent researches, moles of heaped stones going back to a date as early as the 6th century B.C., are identified[5]. Structures of orderly masonry are to be found among the ones belonging to the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. The harbours of Peiraeus and Aegina are the earliest known examples[6]. Jörg Schaefer and Helmut Schlaeger discovered an ancient mole showing different stages of construction in the harbour of the Aeolian city Kyme[7].
From the ancient Attaleia, once the chief harbour of Pamphylia, almost nothing remains that belongs to the original city and harbour[8]. Before Attaleia replaced it, Side was the leading port of the region. The harbour of Side lies at the end of the promontory. It is an artificial harbour protected by a rather long mole of Roman date[9].
Close to the Fığla Burnu there are scattered ruins of buildings and walls of a rather late date. The fertile soil and the climate of the coastal part of the region provide the much sought condition for banana plantations. Fığla Burnu is almost wholly covered with them today. Heap of stones of later masonry with mortar and some small pieces of pottery of post-Roman date can still be found. Pieces of pottery arc also to be seen under water in abundance.
It is quite certain that this site represents an ancient settlement. The good-sized harbour, built in the familiar ancient fashion, seems to be a sure indication of this fact.