The excavations at Bayraklı Mound have uncovered traces of an organized urban layout dating back to the seventh century BC. (AA Photo)
Archaeological excavations at the ancient city of Smyrna in İzmir’s Bayraklı district are shedding light on the region’s 5,000-year history, revealing evidence of early urban planning, metalworking and trade.
The excavations at Bayraklı Mound, one of İzmir’s earliest settlements, have uncovered traces of an organized urban layout dating back to the seventh century B.C., including intersecting streets, public buildings, production areas, wastewater channels and defensive walls built without mortar.
One of the most significant discoveries was a silver jewelry hoard unearthed in 2019. Weighing approximately 406 grams, the collection was found inside a pot in an Early Bronze Age layer and includes spiral rings, forehead bands and jewelry made using granulation techniques.
Aylin Ümit Erdem, head of the Bayraklı excavations and a professor at Ege University, said the finds provide important evidence of the settlement’s early economic relations and metalworking activities. Similar objects have been found in the treasures of Troy, offering clues to connections between ancient settlements.
The city’s layout developed particularly from the seventh century B.C., with main streets intersected by smaller roads and areas allocated to different functions. The arrangement is considered an early example of the grid plan later associated with the ancient Greek urban planner Hippodamus.
Athena Street, one of the city’s main thoroughfares, connected the settlement to a monumental eastern entrance gate and remained in use along the same route from the seventh century B.C. until the late fourth century B.C. The nearby Temple of Athena, used from the seventh century B.C. onward, is among the early stone temples of western Anatolia.
The defensive walls also reveal sophisticated construction techniques. Archaeologists have identified three phases of fortifications dating from the ninth, eighth and seventh centuries B.C. Stone blocks were fitted together without mortar, while the eastern entrance featured a distinctive gate supported by a single tower and connected to the city by a ramp.
Excavations have also uncovered wastewater channels running through houses and a large water channel beneath the ramp leading to the monumental gate. Some terraces in the eastern part of the settlement may have been built to protect the area from flooding.,
Evidence of trade and production
Finds including wheat, barley, animal bones, grinding stones and storage vessels point to the importance of agriculture and animal husbandry in ancient Smyrna. Burnt seashells found in hearths and ash deposits indicate that seafood was also part of the diet.
Spindle whorls and loom weights made of terracotta and stone provide evidence of textile production, while the silver jewelry suggests advanced metalworking.
According to Erdem, archaeological evidence indicates that Smyrna maintained contacts with inland Anatolia, mainland Greece, the Aegean islands, the Balkans and the Levant coast.
The ancient city is also associated with Homer, traditionally regarded as the author of the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey.” Some ancient writers said Homer lived in Smyrna in the eighth century B.C., when the settlement was located at Bayraklı Mound, before the city later moved toward Kadifekale.
Excavations in 2026 are focusing on Bronze Age layers, a large public building dating to the fourth century B.C. and the city’s northern defensive line. Researchers aim to clarify the settlement’s earliest phases and establish the extent and development of its fortifications.
