Ḥiṣn al-Tīnāt on the Islamic-Byzantine Frontier: Synthesis and the 2005–2008 Survey and Excavation on the Cilician Plain (Turkey)

Abstract

Cilicia on the Islamic-Byzantine frontier, or al-thughūr, in southeastern Anatolia and northern Syria has been traditionally viewed as an isolated, embattled buffer zone. Yet, it was also the main transportation corridor linking Islamic and Byzantine lands, situated between the Cilician Gates, connecting to the Anatolian plateau, and the Syrian Gates, connecting to the lands of bilād al-shām. Recent survey and excavation of a fortified site occupied from the Early Islamic to Middle Byzantine period (8th to 12th centuries c.e.) in the eastern Cilician Plain offers a different perspective on the frontier. The site can be identified with Ḥiṣn al-Tīnāt, mentioned in sources as a frontier fort and timber depot and port. Its environmental context, architecture, and material culture establish links to local thughūr and wider Near Eastern networks of exchange. Further, the frontier site alludes to the complex symbiotic relationship of a militarized and economic resource-based frontier landscape.

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