I. The site and its environs
The site of Old Smyrna lies on a low spur at the foot of the Yamanlar Daği, or Mountain of Unco Things, at a distance of 450 metres east of the present coastline. The spur is 365 metres long on a north-south axis, with a maximum breadth of 250 metres. On the north-east and east its outline is marked by a bank, revetted in large part by a high terrace wall of small stones. The elevated north-west corner of the site is encircled by superimposed terraces leading up to a circular platform or belvedere, which dominates the site, at an altitude of 21·3 m. above sea-level (Plates 2c, 6a, Squares G–Hix). On the west side the spur is bounded by a cart road leading inland to Bornova, and at the south tip it merges into the low-lying pasturage by a sluggish stream. The terracing of the hillock, which in the north-west presents a picturesque aspect, is believed in the main to be the work of a landowner named Turlita in the nineteenth century. A zone along the north side of the site, corresponding in width to the main sector of our excavations there, is planted with olive trees, of which we were obliged to cut down a score; there is also a narrow fringe of olives along the eastern edge of the site. The greater part of the surface of the hillock is divided between two vineyards, the upper on the north and the lower on the south, separated by a bank which is bordered near its east end by a row of fig trees (Squares Nxvi to Gxix); there is also a smaller vineyard of triangular outline on the slope between the upper vineyard and the Bornova road.