In the excavations carried out in the
Yumuktepe tumulus in the north of the city many layers have been found. The oldest of these dates back to 6300 BC whereby the latest one dates back to
Seljuk period. The opuses obtained from the excavations are displayed in
Adana Archaeological Museum and in
Mersin Museum. In the museum stone opuses, opuses belonging to the
Neolithic,
Calcholitic and
Old Bronze Age, cooked earthenware , glass and bronze objects belonging to the
Classical,
Hellenistic,
Roman and
Byzantine periods and golden and silver coins belonging to Islamic period are displayed. The museum has a hall where ethnographic opuses are displayed.
Mersin’s emergence as a turkish city was in the mids of the 19th century. The district which was a village at that time was hosting a
Turkmen tribe and took its name from this tribe. The growing cotton production in
Çukurova to overcome the worldwide shortage of cotton which occured especially during the civil war in
America, the connection of the region to the railway network changed
Mersin’s destiny. During this period Mersin rapidly became a harbour and a trade center from which the agriculture products of Çukurova were exported. The role of the Levantines , even if small in number, cannot be ignored in the current improvement of the city. Currently there are two churches belonging to the Levantines; the
Latin-
Italian Church and the
Arab-
Orthodox Church.
Mersin is the biggest harbour of the Mediterranean owing to the
Gap project which was rapidly implemented , the
Ataş refinery and the rather broad hinterland. Besides there are many important factories producing goods such as glass, soda, fertilizer, textile and fruit juice.
