--KAPAK ARAÞTIRMA kopya 1 - Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı

terials. Of central importance for setting solid regional cultural relations, on the basis of
well defined stratigraphic sequences, are comparisons with materials from the excavations
of Pirot, İmamoğlu, Norşuntepe, Tepecik, Değirmentepe, Tülintepe, Korucutepe,
İmikuşağı Höyük, Şemsiyetepe, and Pulur Sakyol 4.
The territory immediately to the south of the Euphrates is characterised, especially
in the case of the Malatya plain, by neogenic fluvio-lacustrine deposits, covered locally
by conglomerates and, towards the Euphrates, by plio-quaternary sediments consisting
of not well cemented conglomerates, gravel and sand. The dense natural drainage
system and the numerous springs, fed by a complex hydro-geologic system, gave
to this region a very high agricultural and economic potentiality, even in ancient times
5. This area, that is much vaster than that which has been investigated, along the
margins of the Euphrates, is as yet terra incognita. The dynamics of population change
are for us mostly unknown.
Results
The territory investigated in the 2003 campaign (Fig. 1) concerns the area from
the pedemont zone south of the city of Malatya up to the Euphrates basin (1:25 000
scale maps: Malatya L40-b1, b2, b3, b4). The intensive survey and systematic investigations
have concentrated especially on the plain, with some specific inspections in the
surrounding mountainous areas.
Research has been carried out with the help of a Soyuz satellite image and by
positioning sites with a portable GPS. As well as the direct observation of the territory,
a fundamental contribution have been the constant collaboration with the local authorities
and interviews with farmers, who gave invaluable information on the toponymy
and on the presence of archaeological or architectural features.
In this area 33 archaeological sites have been identified. On some of them, already
signalled in the past, further investigations have been made, because of their
strong deterioration. Each site has been registered and positioned both on traditional
and computerised maps. A map of territorial units has been drawn, delimiting all the
areas covered by the survey, in order to give an assessment of the kind of territory actually
investigated and the number of identified sites. These surveys have also given
the chance to examine a region in continuous mutation because of intense agricultural
activities, which are more and more carried out with mechanical means, and because
of the building speculation of the city of Malatya itself and neighbouring villages.
Specific shapes of the territory, identified through satellite imagery, as terraces
and ancient riverbeds, outstanding points, delimitations of the territory that recall roman
systems of subdivision, as well as the available cartography, have significantly oriented
modes of observation on the territory. Of 10 sites, detailed topographic maps have
been drawn with a differential GPS, a system that combines preciseness and speed.
Broadly speaking, testimonies of occupation from the Ottoman period right down
to the Palaeolithic have been recognised. 16 sites can be dated to the post-classical
period (Fig. 2), 14 are of roman period (Fig. 3), 10 belong to the Middle-Late Bronze
Age (Fig. 4). 16 are of Early Bronze Age (Fig. 5) and 3 dated to the Chalcolithic (Fig.
6). Amongst all these, 19 are occupied in more than one cultural phase, but at times
show a long interval in occupation between one phase and the other. Up to now, no sites
of the Iron Age are known.
From a geo-morphological point of view the identified sites can be attributed to
various categories. 19 are on natural hills and archaeological material has been found
4 See the volumes: Keban Project Series 1968; 1969, 1970; 1971, 1972; 1973; 1974-75; 1976-1979.
5 Marcolongo B., Palmieri A. M., "Environment, Water Supply and Cultural Development at Arslantepe (Malatya, Turkey)",
Origini, XII, II, 1983: 619-628.
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