The mound on which Old Smyrna was first settled was a small peninsula in ancient times. The peninsula was linked to the mainland in the north.

The first systematic excavations in the ancient city were carried of by an English-Turkish joint team led by Prof.Dr. John M. Cook and Prof.Dr. Ekrem Akurgal between 1948 and 1951. Ord. Prof. Dr. Ekrem Akurgal continued the field works without interruption from 1966 to 1993. Excavations are still carried out under the direction of Prof.Dr. Meral Akurgal.

Smyrna was settled from the 3rd millennium BC until 300 BC. It was founded as an Aeolic city in the 11th century BC. The remains and finds unearthed in ten successive settlement layers between 11th and 4th centuries BC have demonstrated that Smyrna was a city-state, a center for political and commercial activities for three centuries beginning in 7th centuries BC onwards. Smyrna was the largest settlement in the Aeolic region between the years 650-546 BC.

In the 9th century BC, there was a mud brick wall surrounding the city. The houses were generally one roomed.

The halcyon days of the Ionian civilization in Western Anatolia were between the years 650-546/545 BC. The city wall, the Athena Temple, the monumental fountain, the Meeting Megaron and the Double Megaron which may be labeled as the masterpieces of the East Greek architectural art were built in this period namely between the years 630-580 BC

Smyrna is also known to be the earliest in the Greek world to have a geometric plan (in the second half of the 7th century BC.)

Smyrna had been protected since the 7th century BC by a solid city wall, the monumental statues and the architectural elements of the Athena Temple were decorated by tuff . These architectural elements especially the column capitals are the first and finest examples of Aeolic architecture and they were the progenitors of Ionic order column capitals.

Finally, the Lydian King Alyattes conquered the city and sacked it, and though Smyrna did not cease to exist, the Smyrnaeans made great efforts to erase the traces of this destruction and to rebuild their city as it was in its golden age.

Smyrna was severely destroyed by the Persian attacks in 546 BC.

The uppermost layer of the mound is dated to the 4th century BC. In this settlement layer, the houses have rooms opening to a central court. Due to a remarkable increase in population, the city was moved to the slopes of Mount Pagos (Kadifekale) and a new city was built.