Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
OLBA, cilt.27, ss.189-206, 2019 (AHCI)
Archaeological excavations at Karamattepe and Ballicaoluk (Kemalpasa), Dagkizilca and Baspmar (Torbali) which are spots spread on Mount Nif (Olympos), which is located in the North of Smyrna where the Ionian, Aeolian and Lydian Regions intersect, continue since 2006 and present significant results regarding the rural settlement of this Western Asia Minor upland area with its nercopoleis. Researches conducted in Karamattepe has shown that there has been a settlement in the aforesaid sector since the Geometric and Archaic Periods and that it was used as a necropolis from the beginning of the Late Classical Period onwards. KM2, with its context, which is one of the rare graves that is undamaged and has a single phase comprises the subject of this paper. Gifts found in the grave consist of an unguentarium and a single handled cup which are both dated to the Early Hellenistic Period. The last finding which makes the grave context is a silver drachm minted in Sardeis in the name of Alexander III and it was found in the oral cavity of the skeleton which is considered to be the Charon's fee. When the data obtained from the ceramics, which indicates a chronological record, and the coin used by archaeologists as a fundamental dating tool - based on the minting date, wear and circulation- are evaluated jointly, both better deduce the grave's dating and the narrowing of the dates of terra-cotta artefacts. The same situation helps us to determine the circulation duration of the coin in the context by means of the well-dated terracotta objects which are often of limited lifetime. In the light of these deductions, although the minting date of the coin found in the grave KM2 is given as 334-323 BC. in the catalogues, the dating proposed for the grave is between 325 and 300 BC. based on the coin's wear, dates suggested by hoards and the data obtained from other grave fmdings.