Proffession: Near eastern archaeology, Kocaeli University since 2006, Field surveys: Sivas Province (1992-2000), Mezraa Höyük (1999), Salat Tepe (1999), Ilisu Dam Construction Site (2008)
ABSTRACT The distribution of archaeomagnetic data in eastern Europe and the Near and Middle East ... more ABSTRACT The distribution of archaeomagnetic data in eastern Europe and the Near and Middle East shows a remarkable gap in Turkey. This study presents the first archaeomagnetic results from five different mounds in southeast Turkey, the northern part of Mesopotamia. The rock magnetic experiments indicate that in the majority of the samples the dominant magnetic carrier is magnetite, which is stable to heating to temperatures of 700 °C. In general, the demagnetization diagrams are single component and all five sets display well-defined characteristic magnetizations and clustered directions. For the period between 2500 and 700 BCE, the declinations are between 350° and 20° while inclinations are in the range of 49–64°. The directional results are compared with the global geomagnetic field models (CALS7k.2, ARCH3k_cst.1 and CALS3k.4) and the data from the archaeomagnetic database GEOMAGIA50v2. The results are coherent with both the data and the models except for two near-contemporaneous sets dating ∼2000 BCE, which are offset to the east by more than 20° with respect to CALS7k.2. Archaeointensity measurements were made using the microwave and conventional thermal Thellier methods applied to five sets of samples (four furnaces and a mud-brick wall). These yielded comparable and intriguing results. While those from the furnaces are slightly higher than the CALS7k.2 model and in agreement with the GEOMAGIA50v2 and the Middle East data, the results from the mud-brick wall suggest a high intensity of 100.8 μT (17.7×1022 Am2) at ∼1000 BCE. This result is in excellent agreement with recent claims of extremely high intensity measured in other regions of the Middle East for this time period though less consistent with these being associated with extremely short-lived events. Finally, we discuss our new and other recently published archaeointensity results in terms of geomagnetic intensity versus climate.
The book is well written and well edited, with few errors or lacunae. I liked the narrative form ... more The book is well written and well edited, with few errors or lacunae. I liked the narrative form and there are frequent felicitous and memorable turns of phrase: Byzantine Paphlagonia is ‘a rather remote backwater, a source of eunuchs and good bacon’ (p. 249); the authors’ frustration at the monotony of the Early Bronze Age ceramics bubbles over in ‘the dour reluctance of local potters to indulge in flippant adornment of their drab vessels’ (p. 84); Gangra, the Iron Age name of Çankırımeans goat ‘a name that may refer to the difficulty in ascent of the citadel that still towers over the town’ (nicely illustrated with a picture of a goat perched on top of the citadel, p. 180). The region has its marvels and curiosities; many of the photographs show spectacular landscapes. One of the northern tributaries of the Kızılırmak, the Tatlı(sweet) Çay becomes the Acı(bitter) Çay south of Çankırıafter flowing through a rock-salt plateau. As ever, it is the occasional glimpse of human thought or feeling that can mean most, such as one of the epigraphic finds of the survey: a funerary inscription by one Flavios Phaidos who ‘fashioned this tomb [...] in memory of his bedfellow Flavia Eide’ (p. 207). Recent years have seen a boom in surface survey work in Turkey, reflected in the burgeoning annual volumes of results published by the Ministry of Culture in Ankara, the Araştırma Sonuçlar Toplantısı. Very few such surveys are as well conceived, strategically and methodologically, as well executed, or as well analysed and published as this work. The speed with which the volume has appeared is also exemplary. In a concluding section (p. 249), the main authors are characteristically cautious, even modest, about the partial coverage, limitations of the evidence, and the possible hazards to archaeological accuracy incurred by the obligation ‘to maximise the interpretive potential of the collected evidence’, quite unnecessarily so in this reviewer’s opinion. In short, this is a very good presentation of equally good fieldwork; we need more such publications, and if we had volumes like this for more provinces of Turkey we would be immensely better off. STUART BLAYLOCK Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey (Email: [email protected]) STUART BLAYLOCK. Tılle Höyük 3. The Iron Age: introduction, stratification and architecture (British Institute at Ankara Monograph 41). xxii+224 pages, 158 illustrations, 6 tables, CD-ROM. 2009. London: British Institute at Ankara; 978-1-898249-20-7 hardback £60.
Türkiye Bilimler akademisi Arkeoloji Dergisi, 2009
The field surveys carried out at the construction area of the Ilisu Dam, located on a small plain... more The field surveys carried out at the construction area of the Ilisu Dam, located on a small plain formed by the Tigris River between the Mardin Massive and the Eastern Taurus zone, revealed 65 ancient places used since the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period (Okse vd 2006). Surface material dating to the 3rd-1st millennia BC is obtained from 15 sites. The surveyed area is 1600 ha in extend, situated on both banks of the river. The Early Bronze Age material is collected at three sites on the eastern bank - one large, one middle-sized and one small site close to each other. The sparseness of settlements is comparable with the contemporary settlements of the Upper Khabur and Upper Tigris regions. The material is composed by incised and painted Ninevite-V ware, orange ware, Dark Rimmed Orange Bowls and the Jezirah Grey Ware belonging to the Northern Mesopotamian culture dating to the 3rd millennium BC. One shard belonging to the Early Transcaucasian Ware points to the presence of the Northern Highland Culture during the last centuries of the millennium. The Middle Bronze Age material is found on two large and one middle-sized site on the western bank and one large and two middle-sized sites on the eastern bank, pointing to a dense settlement pattern of villages and hamlets/farmsteads, most probably based on rain-fed agriculture. The surface finds include the Monochrome Standard Ware, the Red Brown Wash Ware and the Khabur Painted Ware. Comparable settlement systems with similar ceramic assemblages determine the cultural parallelism of the region with the Upper Tigris and the Upper Khabur regions during the 19th-16th centuries BC. Late Bronze Age is represented by Mitannian and Middle Assyrian wares collected at one large and one small site on the eastern bank. This pattern points to a dramatic decrease in sedentary population within the surveyed region during the Mitannian and Middle Assyrian supremacy in the 15th-11th centuries BC. The hand-made Early Iron Age Pottery of Eastern Anatolia and the Upper Tigris region is collected on two large and two middle-sized sites on the western bank and on one large, two middle-sized and two small sized sites on the eastern bank. The frequency of sites and characteristics of material culture is comparable with the dense seasonal settlements of pastoralists in the Upper Tigris region as well as in Eastern Anatolia, so, the mobile pastoralists of the Northern Highlands seem to have lived also in the Mardin region during the weak period of the Assyrian Kingdom between the 11th-9th centuries BC. New Assyrian standard pottery is found on one large, two middle-sized and three small sites on the western bank and two large and six small sites on the eastern bank. This pattern points to a dense occupation determining a rural settlement hierarchy of farmsteads belonging to villages, similar to those established in Northern Jezirah during the 9th-6th centuries BC. The Late Iron Age is not represented by surface finds, since the material culture did not change so much in rural sites during the Late Babylonian and Persian Periods.
Diyarbakir kentinin iskân tarihi, Ickale’deki hoyukte yapilan arastirmalara gore, MO. 4. binde ba... more Diyarbakir kentinin iskân tarihi, Ickale’deki hoyukte yapilan arastirmalara gore, MO. 4. binde baslamaktadir. Kuzey Mezopotamya’nin cogu cagdas yerlesiminde yerel el yapimi kaplar ile cark yapimi Ubeyd kaplarinin ve devrik agizli Uruk kâselerinin bir arada bulunmasina karsin, Amida Hoyuk’te sadece yerel kaplarin bulunmasi, buranin yerel topluluklar tarafindan iskân edildigine isaret etmektedir. Uzerinde perdahli astar kalintilari bulunan bir grup kap parcasi, hoyukte Gec Kalkolitik donemden Erken Tunc Cagina gecis evresine tarihlenen bir yerlesimin bulundugunu gostermektedir. Yukari Dicle havzasinin cogu yerlesim biriminde oldugu gibi, burada da MO 3. binin ilk yarisina tarihlenen seramik parcalarina rastlanmamistir. Hoyuk MO 3. bin ortalarindan itibaren yeniden iskân edilmis gorunmektedir. Ince hamurdan carkta uretilmis ve yuksek isida pisirilmis az sayida kap parcasi, Kuzey Mezopotamya’nin Standart Seramiginin astarli ve perdahli bir grubunu temsil etmektedir. Yuzey buluntulari ar...
Seit der letzten Eiszeit gründeten die Menschen ihre Siedlungen in den Gebieten, in denen günstig... more Seit der letzten Eiszeit gründeten die Menschen ihre Siedlungen in den Gebieten, in denen günstige klimatische und ökologische Bedingungen herrschten. Die archäologische Auswertung der menschlichen Hinterlassenschaften aus diesen Epochen läßt die Entwicklungen und Änderungen ihres Lebensweisen erkennen. Die Oberflächenfunde, hauptsächlich Keramik, die Lage der Siedlungen im Gelände tmd zueinander und - soweit an der Oberfläche erkennbar - Größe und Form der Orte, erlauben Schlüsse auf Wirtschafts-und Lebensweisen der früheren Einwohner. Die Kenntnis der damaligen Umweltbedingungen, der politischen Praktiken, der historischen Ereignisse und des technologischen Stands tragen ebenfalls dazu bei, Licht in eine noch schwach erforschte Region zu bringen. In dieser Arbeit wird das obere Kızılırmak-Gebiet behandelt, das zwischen dem zentralanatolischen Plateau und dem ostanatolischen Bergland liegt. Im Norden begrenzen die ostpontische Gebirge das Gebiet und im Süden Plateaus und die westli...
Yukari Dicle Havzasi’nda arkeolojik arastirmalar son yirmi yilda Ilisu Baraji ve HES Projesi kaps... more Yukari Dicle Havzasi’nda arkeolojik arastirmalar son yirmi yilda Ilisu Baraji ve HES Projesi kapsaminda yurutulmustur. Yaklasik 100-300 yillik bir bosluk sonrasinda bolgede MO 23. yuzyilda yeniden yerlesildigi belirlenmistir. Salat Tepe’de aciga cikan iri kirectasi kayalardan olusan yuksek tas temelli bir yapi, temelleri iri dere taslari ile insa edilmis tek mekânli konutlardan farklidir. Dar sokaklarin cevreledigi yapi, guneyindeki iki kerpic teras ile de iliskilidir. Yapinin guney girisi K11 acmasindaki guney teras yuzeyine iki sira halinde dizilmis cakil taslari ile belirgin hale getirilmistir. Yapinin guney duvarinin dis yuzune insa dilen bir kil platform giris kapisina kadar uzanmaktadir. Kapinin acildigi giris odasinin (L11/049/M) dogusundaki diger kapidan tabani beyaz sivali kerpic dosenmis mekâna gecilmektedir (L11/041/M). Tabana acilmis bir kil sivali cukurun buyuk bir kabin yerlestirilmesinde kullanildigi dusunulmektedir. Giris odasinin batisinda, tas basamaklari bulunan d...
Türkiye Bilimler Akademisi Kültür Envanteri Dergisi, 2009
The Ilisu Dam on the Tigis River, is being constructed to the west of the Ilisu village in the ea... more The Ilisu Dam on the Tigis River, is being constructed to the west of the Ilisu village in the eastern part of the district of the town of Dargecit, within the province of Mardin. The surveyed area forms part of the natural route connecting Northern Mesopotamia with the Upper Tigris region. This route follows the Tigris River between the Mardin Mountains and the Eastern Taurus zone. During the survey an area of 1300 hectares was intensively researched and 20 sites with a total of 50 find spots were recorded. According to the surface material, the area was used intensively during the Early Neolithic period; a site with several obsidian and flint implements, cores and flakes point to a settlement with workshop dating back to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period. The Early Pottery Neolithic is represented at seven sites by monochrome hand-made pottery. The hand made monochrome Chalcolithic pottery was collected from five sites. A lack of Early Bronze Age sherds point to a gap during the third millenium BC while five larger sites with Middle Bronze Age assemblages including the Monochrome Standard Ware, the Red Brown Wash Ware and the Habur Painted Ware demonstrate cultural contacts with the Upper Tigris region and Northern Mesopotamia. After a second gap during the Late Bronze Age, hand-made Early Iron Age pottery was found at four sites and Neo Assyrian pottery was found at six sites, pointing to a dense occupation during the Iron Age. The Hellenistic and Roman periods are represented by a few sherds from two large sites. Sites dating to Medieval and later periods form the largest component in the settlement record. The region has a rich archaeological potential and demands salvage excavations before the dam is constructed.
During the second and pre-classical first millennia BCE, the archaeological record from the north... more During the second and pre-classical first millennia BCE, the archaeological record from the northeastern part of the Anatolian Plateau presents different patterns of settlement, political structures and external relations which often separate the central Black Sea region and the Upper Kızılırmak Basin from the Upper Euphrates Basin. During the Middle Bronze Age, the first two regions hosted city-states well integrated with the Assyrian trade network, while local material culture characterised the latter. Under the Hittites, the central Black Sea region became the Kaška territory and the Upper Kızılırmak Basin the Azzi-Hayaša frontiers, both with new fortified settlements, and Meliddu, Išuwa and Alzi vassal kingdoms shared territorial control over the Upper Euphrates Basin. After the collapse of the empire, small hamlets replaced urban and rural settlements, and handmade vessels associated with nomadic tribes appeared; they correspond to Uruatri, Muški and Nairi in the Upper Euphrates Basin, and Tabal in the Upper Kızılırmak Basin. In the Middle Iron Age, central Anatolian material culture dominated the north, but on the Black Sea coast Milesian colonies introduced goods and customs from the Aegean. At this time, the Upper Euphrates became the border of the spread of Central Anatolian vis-à-vis Urartian artefacts. Also, traces of Eurasian nomadic tribes appear, and ‘Eastern Greek’ and Persian influence become evident in the Late Iron Age.
ABSTRACT The distribution of archaeomagnetic data in eastern Europe and the Near and Middle East ... more ABSTRACT The distribution of archaeomagnetic data in eastern Europe and the Near and Middle East shows a remarkable gap in Turkey. This study presents the first archaeomagnetic results from five different mounds in southeast Turkey, the northern part of Mesopotamia. The rock magnetic experiments indicate that in the majority of the samples the dominant magnetic carrier is magnetite, which is stable to heating to temperatures of 700 °C. In general, the demagnetization diagrams are single component and all five sets display well-defined characteristic magnetizations and clustered directions. For the period between 2500 and 700 BCE, the declinations are between 350° and 20° while inclinations are in the range of 49–64°. The directional results are compared with the global geomagnetic field models (CALS7k.2, ARCH3k_cst.1 and CALS3k.4) and the data from the archaeomagnetic database GEOMAGIA50v2. The results are coherent with both the data and the models except for two near-contemporaneous sets dating ∼2000 BCE, which are offset to the east by more than 20° with respect to CALS7k.2. Archaeointensity measurements were made using the microwave and conventional thermal Thellier methods applied to five sets of samples (four furnaces and a mud-brick wall). These yielded comparable and intriguing results. While those from the furnaces are slightly higher than the CALS7k.2 model and in agreement with the GEOMAGIA50v2 and the Middle East data, the results from the mud-brick wall suggest a high intensity of 100.8 μT (17.7×1022 Am2) at ∼1000 BCE. This result is in excellent agreement with recent claims of extremely high intensity measured in other regions of the Middle East for this time period though less consistent with these being associated with extremely short-lived events. Finally, we discuss our new and other recently published archaeointensity results in terms of geomagnetic intensity versus climate.
The book is well written and well edited, with few errors or lacunae. I liked the narrative form ... more The book is well written and well edited, with few errors or lacunae. I liked the narrative form and there are frequent felicitous and memorable turns of phrase: Byzantine Paphlagonia is ‘a rather remote backwater, a source of eunuchs and good bacon’ (p. 249); the authors’ frustration at the monotony of the Early Bronze Age ceramics bubbles over in ‘the dour reluctance of local potters to indulge in flippant adornment of their drab vessels’ (p. 84); Gangra, the Iron Age name of Çankırımeans goat ‘a name that may refer to the difficulty in ascent of the citadel that still towers over the town’ (nicely illustrated with a picture of a goat perched on top of the citadel, p. 180). The region has its marvels and curiosities; many of the photographs show spectacular landscapes. One of the northern tributaries of the Kızılırmak, the Tatlı(sweet) Çay becomes the Acı(bitter) Çay south of Çankırıafter flowing through a rock-salt plateau. As ever, it is the occasional glimpse of human thought or feeling that can mean most, such as one of the epigraphic finds of the survey: a funerary inscription by one Flavios Phaidos who ‘fashioned this tomb [...] in memory of his bedfellow Flavia Eide’ (p. 207). Recent years have seen a boom in surface survey work in Turkey, reflected in the burgeoning annual volumes of results published by the Ministry of Culture in Ankara, the Araştırma Sonuçlar Toplantısı. Very few such surveys are as well conceived, strategically and methodologically, as well executed, or as well analysed and published as this work. The speed with which the volume has appeared is also exemplary. In a concluding section (p. 249), the main authors are characteristically cautious, even modest, about the partial coverage, limitations of the evidence, and the possible hazards to archaeological accuracy incurred by the obligation ‘to maximise the interpretive potential of the collected evidence’, quite unnecessarily so in this reviewer’s opinion. In short, this is a very good presentation of equally good fieldwork; we need more such publications, and if we had volumes like this for more provinces of Turkey we would be immensely better off. STUART BLAYLOCK Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey (Email: [email protected]) STUART BLAYLOCK. Tılle Höyük 3. The Iron Age: introduction, stratification and architecture (British Institute at Ankara Monograph 41). xxii+224 pages, 158 illustrations, 6 tables, CD-ROM. 2009. London: British Institute at Ankara; 978-1-898249-20-7 hardback £60.
Türkiye Bilimler akademisi Arkeoloji Dergisi, 2009
The field surveys carried out at the construction area of the Ilisu Dam, located on a small plain... more The field surveys carried out at the construction area of the Ilisu Dam, located on a small plain formed by the Tigris River between the Mardin Massive and the Eastern Taurus zone, revealed 65 ancient places used since the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period (Okse vd 2006). Surface material dating to the 3rd-1st millennia BC is obtained from 15 sites. The surveyed area is 1600 ha in extend, situated on both banks of the river. The Early Bronze Age material is collected at three sites on the eastern bank - one large, one middle-sized and one small site close to each other. The sparseness of settlements is comparable with the contemporary settlements of the Upper Khabur and Upper Tigris regions. The material is composed by incised and painted Ninevite-V ware, orange ware, Dark Rimmed Orange Bowls and the Jezirah Grey Ware belonging to the Northern Mesopotamian culture dating to the 3rd millennium BC. One shard belonging to the Early Transcaucasian Ware points to the presence of the Northern Highland Culture during the last centuries of the millennium. The Middle Bronze Age material is found on two large and one middle-sized site on the western bank and one large and two middle-sized sites on the eastern bank, pointing to a dense settlement pattern of villages and hamlets/farmsteads, most probably based on rain-fed agriculture. The surface finds include the Monochrome Standard Ware, the Red Brown Wash Ware and the Khabur Painted Ware. Comparable settlement systems with similar ceramic assemblages determine the cultural parallelism of the region with the Upper Tigris and the Upper Khabur regions during the 19th-16th centuries BC. Late Bronze Age is represented by Mitannian and Middle Assyrian wares collected at one large and one small site on the eastern bank. This pattern points to a dramatic decrease in sedentary population within the surveyed region during the Mitannian and Middle Assyrian supremacy in the 15th-11th centuries BC. The hand-made Early Iron Age Pottery of Eastern Anatolia and the Upper Tigris region is collected on two large and two middle-sized sites on the western bank and on one large, two middle-sized and two small sized sites on the eastern bank. The frequency of sites and characteristics of material culture is comparable with the dense seasonal settlements of pastoralists in the Upper Tigris region as well as in Eastern Anatolia, so, the mobile pastoralists of the Northern Highlands seem to have lived also in the Mardin region during the weak period of the Assyrian Kingdom between the 11th-9th centuries BC. New Assyrian standard pottery is found on one large, two middle-sized and three small sites on the western bank and two large and six small sites on the eastern bank. This pattern points to a dense occupation determining a rural settlement hierarchy of farmsteads belonging to villages, similar to those established in Northern Jezirah during the 9th-6th centuries BC. The Late Iron Age is not represented by surface finds, since the material culture did not change so much in rural sites during the Late Babylonian and Persian Periods.
Diyarbakir kentinin iskân tarihi, Ickale’deki hoyukte yapilan arastirmalara gore, MO. 4. binde ba... more Diyarbakir kentinin iskân tarihi, Ickale’deki hoyukte yapilan arastirmalara gore, MO. 4. binde baslamaktadir. Kuzey Mezopotamya’nin cogu cagdas yerlesiminde yerel el yapimi kaplar ile cark yapimi Ubeyd kaplarinin ve devrik agizli Uruk kâselerinin bir arada bulunmasina karsin, Amida Hoyuk’te sadece yerel kaplarin bulunmasi, buranin yerel topluluklar tarafindan iskân edildigine isaret etmektedir. Uzerinde perdahli astar kalintilari bulunan bir grup kap parcasi, hoyukte Gec Kalkolitik donemden Erken Tunc Cagina gecis evresine tarihlenen bir yerlesimin bulundugunu gostermektedir. Yukari Dicle havzasinin cogu yerlesim biriminde oldugu gibi, burada da MO 3. binin ilk yarisina tarihlenen seramik parcalarina rastlanmamistir. Hoyuk MO 3. bin ortalarindan itibaren yeniden iskân edilmis gorunmektedir. Ince hamurdan carkta uretilmis ve yuksek isida pisirilmis az sayida kap parcasi, Kuzey Mezopotamya’nin Standart Seramiginin astarli ve perdahli bir grubunu temsil etmektedir. Yuzey buluntulari ar...
Seit der letzten Eiszeit gründeten die Menschen ihre Siedlungen in den Gebieten, in denen günstig... more Seit der letzten Eiszeit gründeten die Menschen ihre Siedlungen in den Gebieten, in denen günstige klimatische und ökologische Bedingungen herrschten. Die archäologische Auswertung der menschlichen Hinterlassenschaften aus diesen Epochen läßt die Entwicklungen und Änderungen ihres Lebensweisen erkennen. Die Oberflächenfunde, hauptsächlich Keramik, die Lage der Siedlungen im Gelände tmd zueinander und - soweit an der Oberfläche erkennbar - Größe und Form der Orte, erlauben Schlüsse auf Wirtschafts-und Lebensweisen der früheren Einwohner. Die Kenntnis der damaligen Umweltbedingungen, der politischen Praktiken, der historischen Ereignisse und des technologischen Stands tragen ebenfalls dazu bei, Licht in eine noch schwach erforschte Region zu bringen. In dieser Arbeit wird das obere Kızılırmak-Gebiet behandelt, das zwischen dem zentralanatolischen Plateau und dem ostanatolischen Bergland liegt. Im Norden begrenzen die ostpontische Gebirge das Gebiet und im Süden Plateaus und die westli...
Yukari Dicle Havzasi’nda arkeolojik arastirmalar son yirmi yilda Ilisu Baraji ve HES Projesi kaps... more Yukari Dicle Havzasi’nda arkeolojik arastirmalar son yirmi yilda Ilisu Baraji ve HES Projesi kapsaminda yurutulmustur. Yaklasik 100-300 yillik bir bosluk sonrasinda bolgede MO 23. yuzyilda yeniden yerlesildigi belirlenmistir. Salat Tepe’de aciga cikan iri kirectasi kayalardan olusan yuksek tas temelli bir yapi, temelleri iri dere taslari ile insa edilmis tek mekânli konutlardan farklidir. Dar sokaklarin cevreledigi yapi, guneyindeki iki kerpic teras ile de iliskilidir. Yapinin guney girisi K11 acmasindaki guney teras yuzeyine iki sira halinde dizilmis cakil taslari ile belirgin hale getirilmistir. Yapinin guney duvarinin dis yuzune insa dilen bir kil platform giris kapisina kadar uzanmaktadir. Kapinin acildigi giris odasinin (L11/049/M) dogusundaki diger kapidan tabani beyaz sivali kerpic dosenmis mekâna gecilmektedir (L11/041/M). Tabana acilmis bir kil sivali cukurun buyuk bir kabin yerlestirilmesinde kullanildigi dusunulmektedir. Giris odasinin batisinda, tas basamaklari bulunan d...
Türkiye Bilimler Akademisi Kültür Envanteri Dergisi, 2009
The Ilisu Dam on the Tigis River, is being constructed to the west of the Ilisu village in the ea... more The Ilisu Dam on the Tigis River, is being constructed to the west of the Ilisu village in the eastern part of the district of the town of Dargecit, within the province of Mardin. The surveyed area forms part of the natural route connecting Northern Mesopotamia with the Upper Tigris region. This route follows the Tigris River between the Mardin Mountains and the Eastern Taurus zone. During the survey an area of 1300 hectares was intensively researched and 20 sites with a total of 50 find spots were recorded. According to the surface material, the area was used intensively during the Early Neolithic period; a site with several obsidian and flint implements, cores and flakes point to a settlement with workshop dating back to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period. The Early Pottery Neolithic is represented at seven sites by monochrome hand-made pottery. The hand made monochrome Chalcolithic pottery was collected from five sites. A lack of Early Bronze Age sherds point to a gap during the third millenium BC while five larger sites with Middle Bronze Age assemblages including the Monochrome Standard Ware, the Red Brown Wash Ware and the Habur Painted Ware demonstrate cultural contacts with the Upper Tigris region and Northern Mesopotamia. After a second gap during the Late Bronze Age, hand-made Early Iron Age pottery was found at four sites and Neo Assyrian pottery was found at six sites, pointing to a dense occupation during the Iron Age. The Hellenistic and Roman periods are represented by a few sherds from two large sites. Sites dating to Medieval and later periods form the largest component in the settlement record. The region has a rich archaeological potential and demands salvage excavations before the dam is constructed.
During the second and pre-classical first millennia BCE, the archaeological record from the north... more During the second and pre-classical first millennia BCE, the archaeological record from the northeastern part of the Anatolian Plateau presents different patterns of settlement, political structures and external relations which often separate the central Black Sea region and the Upper Kızılırmak Basin from the Upper Euphrates Basin. During the Middle Bronze Age, the first two regions hosted city-states well integrated with the Assyrian trade network, while local material culture characterised the latter. Under the Hittites, the central Black Sea region became the Kaška territory and the Upper Kızılırmak Basin the Azzi-Hayaša frontiers, both with new fortified settlements, and Meliddu, Išuwa and Alzi vassal kingdoms shared territorial control over the Upper Euphrates Basin. After the collapse of the empire, small hamlets replaced urban and rural settlements, and handmade vessels associated with nomadic tribes appeared; they correspond to Uruatri, Muški and Nairi in the Upper Euphrates Basin, and Tabal in the Upper Kızılırmak Basin. In the Middle Iron Age, central Anatolian material culture dominated the north, but on the Black Sea coast Milesian colonies introduced goods and customs from the Aegean. At this time, the Upper Euphrates became the border of the spread of Central Anatolian vis-à-vis Urartian artefacts. Also, traces of Eurasian nomadic tribes appear, and ‘Eastern Greek’ and Persian influence become evident in the Late Iron Age.
(15th Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology, British Archaeological Reports International Series 2695, Vol. I, 51-58, (2015), 2011
Abstract
The excavations undertaken at Salat Tepe on the Upper Tigris region provided several co... more Abstract
The excavations undertaken at Salat Tepe on the Upper Tigris region provided several contexts indicating ritual practices performed during the Middle Bronze Age. At the corners of a chamber in Level 1 antlers were placed probably for avoiding misfortune. Broken figurines, rhytha, incence burners and model ox-chariots found in several rooms of Level 2 is also interpreted as evidence of ritual behaviour. Broken human or animal figurines thrown away or buried in pits are frequently interpreted as incantation rituals for getting rid of malice and harmful events. Sacrificed animals or pieces of these animals placed on ruins of the collapsed building and those buried in mud filled pits dug into these ruins seem to have been remnants of several rituals sealing the damage of earthquake and fire in Level 2. Similar findings from earlier levels seem to have placed for sealing levels 3 and 4 of which the reason is not cleared, yet. Pebble idols were placed under the foundations of Level 5 indicating a foundation ritual, probably for ensuring fruitfulness of the settlement. Some of these ritual activities are described in cuneiform and later archives of the ancient Near East and its wide environment throughout the ages. Ethnological research point to the practice of similar incantaion rituals untill recent times.
The monograph deals with the results of excavations carried out at Havuz Mevkii, an Ubaid-Period ... more The monograph deals with the results of excavations carried out at Havuz Mevkii, an Ubaid-Period site within the construction area of the Ilısu Dam constructed on the Tigris River in Turkey.
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The excavations undertaken at Salat Tepe on the Upper Tigris region provided several contexts indicating ritual practices performed during the Middle Bronze Age. At the corners of a chamber in Level 1 antlers were placed probably for avoiding misfortune. Broken figurines, rhytha, incence burners and model ox-chariots found in several rooms of Level 2 is also interpreted as evidence of ritual behaviour. Broken human or animal figurines thrown away or buried in pits are frequently interpreted as incantation rituals for getting rid of malice and harmful events. Sacrificed animals or pieces of these animals placed on ruins of the collapsed building and those buried in mud filled pits dug into these ruins seem to have been remnants of several rituals sealing the damage of earthquake and fire in Level 2. Similar findings from earlier levels seem to have placed for sealing levels 3 and 4 of which the reason is not cleared, yet. Pebble idols were placed under the foundations of Level 5 indicating a foundation ritual, probably for ensuring fruitfulness of the settlement. Some of these ritual activities are described in cuneiform and later archives of the ancient Near East and its wide environment throughout the ages. Ethnological research point to the practice of similar incantaion rituals untill recent times.