Living areas are emerging from the castle excavations: A 700-year-old toilet found in the walls.

Excavation works at the Korikos Castle, known as the outer castle located opposite the Kızkalesi in the middle of the sea, often referred to as the pearl of Mersin, have begun to reveal living spaces. Besides the living spaces, the discovery of a toilet built on the walls 700 years ago has drawn attention.

The excavation works are ongoing at Korikos Castle (outer castle) under the coordination of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and led by Associate Professor Dr. Şener Yıldırım, a faculty member of the Department of Art History at Mersin University, within the borders of the Kızkalesi neighborhood in Erdemli district. In this ancient city of Korikos, dating back 2,200 years, excavation works are revealing living spaces in the outer castle, the first part of which is known to have been built a thousand years ago. In the excavation area where a mosque and a church were previously uncovered, this year many living spaces have been discovered, and interestingly, a toilet dating back 700 years was found on the walls.

“A medieval toilet built right on top of the wall”

Expressing that they completed the excavation of a mosque and a church in previous years, Excavation Director Associate Professor Dr. Şener Yıldırım stated, “We have been working for 2 years to uncover the residences and living units in the castle. In addition, we are following traces of what life was like here. With the ongoing works, as the number of residences increases, we will finalize data in the coming years and make a population estimate alongside an estimated number of residences. Besides the living units, we also have works related to the walls. This year, we uncovered a space at the base of the wall and interestingly saw that it was a toilet. It is a medieval toilet built right on top of the wall,” he said. Mentioning that they have better funding under the ministry’s ‘Heritage for the Future’ project and that they are working with 15 workers this year, Yıldırım said they aim to complete the works in the inner castle over 4-5 years in stages.

“We date the solid phase of the first wall to the early 12th century”

Emphasizing that they know the existence of the ancient city of Korikos since the Hellenistic period, Yıldırım stated, “It continued to exist during the Roman and Byzantine periods. With the beginning of the Arab invasions in the 7th century, a dense defense structure is observed in Anatolia. Ancient sources indicate that a castle was built here in the 8th century. In the ongoing process, the castle became somewhat ruined. Because at the very beginning of the 12th century, an order was given by the emperor to repair the castle in Korikos. We date the solid phase of the first wall here to the early 12th century,” he said.

“The founding of the city dates back 2,200 years”

Referring to the castle on the island when mentioning Kızkalesi, Yıldırım noted, “We use the name Korikos Castle for the castle here. It is the land equivalent of the castle on the island. They are interconnected and were built in the same period. The founding of the city has a history of approximately 2,200 years, but the current state of the castle is 700 years, and the first construction phase is a thousand years old,” he concluded.