Kelenderis Bat Nekropolünden Bir Mezar n Buluntular üzerine De erlendirmeler

Kelenderis is one of the important port cities in the Middle Rough Cilicia. It is now within the modern city in Ayd nc k,Mersin. Although it is located on a mountainous region, it managed to form commercial, social, political and cultural relationswith both inner cities and coastal cities in each period through its natural port and favourable location. It was a commonly visitedcity as it was on the Eastern Mediterranean trade route. It is needless to say that the significance and the period of the relationswith those regions varied.The tomb presenting the findings that are the subject of our study is within the West Necropolis. This area is the necropolisthat has been studied the most since the day the Kelenderis excavations started. The main reason that makes the West Necropolismore important is that the oldest tombs in the city are found here. However, the findings that are studied here completelydifferentiate this tomb from the others in West Necropolis as the works to be analysed here in detail are the latest examples in thisnecropolis.An underground tomb destroyed by treasure hunters was discovered in the West Necropolis of the city in 1989. The tomb isan underground tomb chamber with dromos. It consists of an uneven rectangular dromos with a slope and a rectangularchamber. The entrance of the tomb in southeast-northwest direction faces southeast. Unfortunately, the exact shape and the sizeof the door opening could not be determined as the entrance of the tomb chamber was completely destroyed by treasure hunters.The ceiling of the tomb chamber was mostly destroyed. Therefore, it is not possible to define the shape of the ceiling clearly.However; considering the similar tombs, it must be slightly concave. The walls of the tomb chamber were not built evenly like thewalls of the dromos. Another significant fact about the tomb is that the dromos and the tomb chamber are not on the same axis.As can be understood from the plan, the western walls of the dromos and the tomb chamber are on the same line. Accordingly,the tomb chamber was expanded towards the right side of the entrance. Normally, as the dromos is on the same axis with theentrance of the tomb chamber, it should have centred the tomb chamber. The most important reason for this must be thedifficulties encountered while digging the tomb chamber. That means the form of the main rock that the tomb chamber was to becarved into must have caused the shift in the structureNothing other than a few pieces of ceramics that do not present a particular form has been found in the dromos during theexcavations