AL MINA Turkey (Hatay province).
A site at the mouth of the Orontes, thought by some scholars to be the ancient Posideion. There are slight signs of Bronze Age occupation, with Mycenaean pottery, at a nearby hill site, Sabouni. The main period of occupation begins in the later 9th c. B.C., continuing with a break at about 700. In this period the finds indicate the existence of a trading post manned by Greeks (Euboians), Cypriots, and natives. In the 7th c. Greek interest is dominant, with plentiful East Greek and Corinthian pottery finds. The period of Babylonian supremacy in the 6th c. saw a recession, followed by reoccupation by Greeks until the later 4th c. and the eclipse of the site's prosperity by the foundation of Seleucia. The architecture of the last period best illustrates the town's commercial role in the prevalence of courtyard buildings, like warehouses, some with rows of shops along the street fronts. There was no evidence for public buildings or religious structures, but it has been suggested that the center of the site had been washed away. Some intramural burials in stone sarcophagi were found. The finds were distributed between Antakya Museum, the British Museum, and other museums in Britain.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
L. Woolley, “Excavations at Al Mina, Sueidia, I, II,” JHS 58 (1938)MPI; id., A Forgotten Kingdom (1963) ch. X; J. Boardman, The Greeks Overseas (1973) 37-56.J. BOARDMAN