The place and importance of finds in Kuşadası Yılancı Burnu Mound and its surrounding in Western Anatolian archaeology

Yılancı Burnu Mound is located at the Kuşadası Province, Hacıfeyzullah District. The settlement is a tombolo with appearance of a natural peninsula and its archaeological potential was found remarkable by many researchers. First informations about Yılancı Burnu Mound was given by the travelers. The reason why travelers talk about Yılancı Burnu Mound is the Neapolis-Marathesion exchange that took place between Samos and Ephesos, which Strabo mentioned. In this context, the first archaeological studies on Yılancı Burnu Mound were carried out by J. Keil in 1908. J. Keil named Yılancı Burnu Mound as Marathesion. In 1910, Phillipson marked the Yılancı Burnu Mound as Marathesion on the map of Asia Minor. Afterwards, no archaeological works were carried out at Yılancı Burnu Mound until 1978. M. Büyükkolancı found building remains between the Archaic-Roman Periods and ceramic finds from the Classical Period during the excavations he carried out in cooperation with the General Directorate of Antiquites and Museum at Yılancı Burnu. Later, in the archaeological studies carried out in the surrounding areas, Yılancı Burnu Mound was mentioned a little but its archaeological potential was ignored. In none of the studies in question, it was determined that Yılancı Burnu Mound was a settlement established with the mound logic. Within the scope of the Kuşadası District and Samsun (Mykale) Mountain Surveys carried out between 2020-2022, Yılancı Burnu Mound was examined and was determined that the settlement in this region was the subject of discussions, Marathesion, as well as an important mound settlement. Yılancı Burnu Mound, which is understood to have trace of settlement from the Late Neolithic Period to the present, helps us to understand the early period settlements in Kuşadası as well as to understand the Prehistoic Period marine culture in Western Anatolia.