Historical Places of Seydikemer: Çaltılar Mound

While the magnificent cities of Lycia may take center stage in Seydikemer's history, the excavations at Çaltılar Höyük, located in the Çaltılar neighbourhood, push the story of these lands much further back, to a full 5300 years ago. This is not a site with monumental standing structures like Tlos or Pinara, but a living archaeological area that whispers the region's oldest secrets with every piece unearthed from the ground. Çaltılar Höyük is a priceless time capsule that allows us to understand who lived in the Eşen Plain thousands of years before the Lycians, what they ate and drank, and what kind of life they led.

A Window into Life Before the Lycians

Meticulous work by archaeologists has revealed that the mound was an important settlement dating back to the Early Bronze Age, around 3300 BC. This information pushes the known beginning of settled life in the region much further back. The findings unearthed in the excavations give us striking clues about the people of that period:

• Architecture: The strong fortification walls surrounding the settlement and multi-roomed buildings indicate that an organized and defensive community lived here.
  


• Daily Life: Pottery fragments, obsidian and flint tools, and spindle whorls (used in weaving) prove that the people of 5300 years ago had a sophisticated village life engaged in agriculture, animal husbandry, and textile production.
  

As a visitor to Çaltılar Höyük, you should not expect magnificent columns or theaters. This is a place where you need to use your imagination and consider the story that archaeologists read in every layer of soil. Even just walking around the excavation site and seeing the ceramic fragments on the ground is like touching thousands of years of history. The mound is located in a higher, mountainous region of Seydikemer, which places it in a different geographical and historical context than the Lycian cities of the plain. During your visit, you can ponder why the earliest known inhabitants of the region chose this strategic spot.