The Nif (Olympos) Mountain is located east of İzmir, around borders of Kemalpaşa, Buca and Torbalı counties (Fig. 1). Kemalpaşa Plain is on its north, the Karabel pass, linking the valleys of the Kaistros (Küçük Menderes) and the Hermos (Gediz) is on its east and Torbalı Plain is on its south. The archaeological research at the Nif Mountain was conducted by Prof. Dr. Elif Tül Tulunay with the excursions in 1999-2001 and was carried on with the surveys in 2004-2005. The archaeological excavations in the Nif Mountain are continued since 2006 (Fig. 2). Ballıcaoluk is a hill-top settlement, located on the northeast of Karamattepe and surrounded by Hacıefendi Deresi on the north and Narlı Dere on the south (Fig. 3-4). In the surveys of 2004 and 2005, limited topographical and architectural planning works were done in Ballıcaoluk and since 2008 the archaeological excavations are carried on. The settlement was fortified with big ashlar wall and the hill was divided into east and west sections (Fig. 5-6). West section is on the higher elevation and in controlling position over the Torbalı Plain (Fig. 7-8). Natural line of defence, like steep slopes and cliffs were also the part of the fortification system. Local limestone blocks quarried from the site were used in the masonry. There is no tower on the fortifications but there is a watchtower, “Kuleyıkı”, on the south-west slope (Fig. 9-10). According to the masonry technique, walls might be dated to Late Classical – Early Hellenistic period. The ceramic finds from Ballıcaoluk were dated from 7th century B.C. to the Byzantine period. The Late Geometric-Archaic Periods are represented with few but numereous sherds (Fig. 11) . The main group of sherds were dated to the Hellenistic times. There were also some few Roman and Byzantine examples. A terracotta mould piece for mouldmade “Megaran” bowls, which was found in the 2010 season is a significant find about the local pottery production (Fig. 12). It has a floral decoration with lotus and fern with a folded tip. There were also found mouldmade bowls with similar decorations (Fig. 13). Homogeneous clay of the sherds and the terracotta mould were proof of a local workshop activity in Ballıcaoluk. The terracotta loom-weights found in the Ballıcaoluk are also evidence of local production (Fig. 14). Since the textile production is a women’s work in the Greek Antiquity, there might be at least a household activity. The iron ores were also found in Ballıcaoluk. The iron might be used for both tool production and dyestuff. Ballıcaoluk and Karamattepe have the same typology for the arrow heads and this is an evidence for the relation between these two settlements. Some other metal finds as such as lead weight, bronze fibula were found in Ballıcaoluk (Fig. 15). Because of its controlling position over the Torbalı Plain and the road to Karabel Pass (Fig. 10), Ballıcaoluk probably was a part of the Hellenistic defence of Smyrna by comparing the other sites in the region (Akurgal 1946: 71), (Bean 1955: 43-55), (Doğer - Gezgin 1998: 14), (Meriç 1988: 207-208), (Meriç 2009: 68-69). According to the treaty about sympolitea that was signed between Smyrna and Magnesia on the Sipylus during the Third Syrian War (246-241 B.C.) (Fingerson 1998: 23-37), Seleucos Kallinikos gave the same civic rights to the civilian population of Magnesia as the people of Smyrna and also the military settlers, katoikoi. This inscription was indicated the presence of the military settlements and garrisons in that region especially for guarding the mountain passes (Cohen 1991: 41-50), (Labarre 2004: 227-228), (Akalın 2006: 65-74), (Fingerson 2007: 107-120). Because of its convenient location, Ballıcaoluk might be identified as a katoikoi and since we do not have enough data about the urbanisation components of a katoikoi, Ballıcaoluk could constitute a model for the similar settlements.