25th International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry IMOG 2011

P-130
Bituminous mixtures of Hakemi Use (SE Turkey) from the
Hassuna/Samarra Period (6100-5950 BC): origin of bitumen
Orhan Kavak 1 , Jacques Connan 2 , Halil Tekin 3 , Kendra Imbus 4 , John Zumberge 4
1 Dicle University, Muhendislik Faculty, 21280-Diyarbakir, Turkey, 2 Strasbourg University-Laboratoire de
Biogéochimie Moléculaire, 67087-Strasbourg, France, 3 Beytepe, Department of Archaeology, Faculty of
Letters, 06532-Ankara, Turkey, 4 GeoMark Research Ltd, TX-77095-Houston, United States of America
(corresponding author:connan.jacques@orange.fr)
Hakemi Use is one of the archaeological sites to be
flooded by the Illisu Dam which will be built on the
Upper Tigris River. Salvage excavations were
conducted by one of us [1] since 2001. Hakemi Use
belongs to the Pottery Neolithic Period and reflects
the Mesopotamian Hassuna/Samarra culture and is
an important reference point for the Neolithic of the
Upper Tigris region.
Potsherds with bitumen patches, inside or outside,
were selected for analyses using the techniques of
petroleum geochemistry and were compared to
archaeological bitumen of Kavuşan Höyük (2200 BC-
1300 AD) in the vicinity and to oil seeps in the area.
The geochemical analysis of 8 samples show
classical carbon isotopic and biomarker
characteristics of bitumen elsewhere in many
archaeological sites of the Near East and the Arabian
Gulf. A plot of geochemical parameters (Fig.1) for
archaeological samples of Kavuşan Höyük, Hakemi
Use, and oil seeps from the area reveals diagnostic
features. Bitumens from Hakemi Use are generally
more biodegraded than those from Kavuşan Höyük
with respect to the steranes (altered order:
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