--KAPAK ARAÞTIRMA kopya 1 - Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı

Investigations on this portion of land are not yet concluded and we expect to increase
the coverage in this coming campaign.
One of the most significant results of the 2003 campaign, even though still preliminary,
is that of the identification of numerous sites with an occupation limited to
single specific chronological phases. These are sites of Early Bronze II (2750-2500
BC), that, as testified by excavations at Arslantepe VIC and Gelinciktepe 6, might explain
this short and seasonal occupation with a transhumant kind of economy. The other
case of single phase and small size sites are those of Roman period, probably with
essentially military function.
Real höyüks are few in this area. It is possible that this kind of settlement was
mostly found along the Euphrates river, as demonstrated by the numerous excavations
and surveys carried out within the Keban project, whilst the hinterland had a different
kind of settlement organisation.
Until now, no traces of material dated to the Late Uruk period, corresponding to
Arslantepe VIA, have been found. This site is in fact the only settlement of the region
for this period. With the first half of the III millennium BC seasonal and short lived sites
appear to develop, testifying a certain degree of mobility of the population. During the
Early Bronze Age III, instead, the life style appears to change, as demonstrated by the
occupation of only a few key sites in the area. Tells like Süleyman Tepe and Fırıncı can
possibly be the result of this phenomenon, that brought, towards the second half of the
III millennium BC, to a major concentration of population and the consequent decrease
in the number of sites.
A particular find is that of a lithic industry amongst which a bifacial chopper, worked
out of a nodule of ryholite, probably dated to the Upper Acheulian. This has been
discovered at Kale Tepe (n. 30, Fig. 12), in an area of Neogenic limestone, where Early
Bronze Age material has been found. If confirmed by further research, this would be
one of the few examples of such old date in the area. Sites of the Lower Palaeolithic,
in fact, are to be sought in the Karababa region, at Şehremuz Sırtı near Samsat and
Bozova Değirmen Tepe.
Post Iron Middle Early Geo-
No Site Classical Classical Age -Late Bronze Chalcol. Paleolithic morphological
Period Period Bronze
Age
Age Period Period category
1Arslantepe
(excavation) x x x x x x x Höyük
2 Kayserci Pınar x x Flat area
3 Mağaracık 1x x Wavy
morphology
4 Mağaracık 2 x x Highplateau
5 Mağaracık 3 x x Flat area
6 Mağara Tepe x Natural hill
7 Alibaba Ziyareti x x Natural hill
8 Karabağlar - Milli x Highplateau
9 Karababa Ziyareti x Natural hill
10 Karababa Mevkii x x x Natural hill
6 Palmieri A., "Insediamento del Bronzo Antico a Gelinciktepe (Malatya)", Origini, I, 1967: 117-193.
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