A basalt object in Side Mpseum is noteworthy for the material from which it was made, as basalt is not native to Pamphylia and it is a rare basalt item from the region. The piece was discovered near the Apollon and Athena temples to the east of the harbour. It is 1.20 m tall and hollow like a cone. Its outer side is decorated in relief with lotus flowers and buds connected to each other by thick circular stems.Closely parallel examples known from Neo-Hittite sites show this piece was first carved to form a base. The base comprises a rectangular plinth and a torus. The lotus flowers and buds with thick circular stems on the torus are typical for their period (Fig. 3). Such items may have a flat top or one with a hole to insert a wooden post as seen on an example from Tell Halaf. The Side example has a two-stepped funnel-like deep hole in its top (Fig. 4). The funnel-like hole is encircled by a band. The fact that this hole is two-stepped and funnel-like suggests that it could have been used not only for locating a statue or a column but it could also have been used for libation directly or for libation through placing a vessel in it. Further, the body decorated with lotus flowers together with the two-stepped deep hole, as well as the upper surface with a bossed frame suggest that a stele could have been placed on top öf this base. It is not important whether or not this base was meant for a column or a statue rather, what is important in this context is that this piece provides evidence for the transportation of architectural pieces via the Mediterranean trade from the Neo-Hittite cities. The pieces shipped as architectural elements could have served as a column base at Bayraklı and for other purposes at Side. The singularity of this piece at Side and its find-spot near the temples suggest it could have been a votive offering."Side was the most important port city of Pamphylia and the only one until the foundation of Attaleia". Scholars have always mentioned the clouds shrouding the foundation origins of such an important city as Side, and have tried to ascribe Hellenic myths as per tradition to its foundation. For Pamphylian cities, Hellenic foundation myths are told and also attention is drawn to the local motifs. The dates of foundation of these cities are not clarified as to whether they date to before or after the Hellenic migrations. It has become customary that first Eusebios' account on Side is mentioned and then, citing Strabo, Side is reported to have been a colony of Kyme in the 7th century B.C. In recent years this custom is being abandoned as local archaeological and historical data are studied and are more carefully interpreted.Excavations of Pamphylian cities have already produced evidence that the foundations of these cities do not relate to the Hellenic myths and the excavations at Perge are of the utmost importance in this respect, showing that the region's history must be written from real evidence and not from the Hellenic foundation myths.This stone item found at a port city like Side provides further evidence that the Neo-Hittite cities exported architectural elements to the West via the Mediterranean in the 8th and 7th centuries B.C. Transportation to the West was via the Mediterranean Sea. The western Cilician ports, which have not been mentioned to date, played a great part in this transportation and in particular the fact that Zincirli had strong commercial relations with the western Cilician port cities has once again been documented with this object and the Xanthian finds, after the examples from Bayraklı and Nagidos.To date it has been thought that the north Syrian and Mesopotamian states reached the Mediterranean via Phoenicia and Cyprus. However, the close parallels that have been observed between the numerous terra cotta figurines found at Nagidos in western Cilicia and the figures on the orthostats of Zincirli show that there was a strong artistic relationship between eastern and western Cilicia. Consequently some items of Oriental origins that have been found on the islands and along the coast could be evaluated accurately from solid evidence provided by these figurines. For example, a large group of figurines unearthed at Samos were considered to be of Cypriot origin; however, they were produced using the same moulds as those from Nagidos and it has been archaeologically shown that they were not of Cypriot origin but in fact came from western Cilicia and consequently the hypotheses claiming Hellenic colonisation along the southern coastline of Anatolia has completely lost its credibility. In the 8th and 7th centuries B.C., the ports on the southern coast of Anatolia actively participated in the trade activity of the Mediterranean and played a great role in the transportation of Oriental merchandise to the West.The natural resources of the Taurus Mountains and the products cultivated in the fertile plains watered by rivers with its mild climate, made Cilicia a focus of interest for the large states from the 2nd millennium B.C. If the southwest coastline of Anatolia had been first settled by the Hellenes, then the Uluburun shipwreck, which has been discovered to have transported Oriental merchandise, raw materials, inventions and ideas, would instead have been transporting Hellenic merchandise to the East. When shipbuilding reached new heights in the 8th and 7th centuries B.C. the Taurus Mountains provided a rich source for the cedar timber that was needed. The western Cilician port cities such as Soloi, Seleukeia, Kelenderis, Nagidos and Selinus with their dockyards for shipbuilding and repairs as well as facilities for the storage of the necessary materials were outlet points presenting all this wealth of the Taurus ranges to the Mediterranean from the earliest periods because of their locations. The Neo-Hittite stone base found at Side forming the subject of this article may be claimed as evidence for the merchandise produced