Tilbeş Höyük

Tilbeş Höyük
Tilbeş Höyük
Shown within Turkey
LocationŞanlıurfa Province, Turkey
Coordinates37°05′20″N 37°52′24″E / 37.0888°N 37.8734°E / 37.0888; 37.8734
Typesettlement
History
Founded4th millennium BC
PeriodsLate Chalcolithic, Early Bronze, Iron Age
Site notes
Excavation dates1996-1999
ArchaeologistsJesüs GiI Fuensanta, Adnan Misir
ConditionRuined
OwnershipPublic
Public accessNo

Tilbeş Höyük is an ancient Near East archaeological site inundated by the Birecik Dam located in Şanlıurfa Province in southeastern Turkey. It lies on the left bank of the upper Euphrates river across the river from the Horum Höyük archaeological site. Its primary occupation was during the Early Bronze period. There was originally a modern town, Keskince Köyü, at the base of the mound but it has now been submerged by the action of the dam and the remaining part of the mound of Tilbeş Höyük is only reachable by boat.

Archaeology

The site, originally covering about 3 hectares, was excavated as part of a rescue archaeology effort of the Spanish Archaeological Mission to Turkey and the University of Alicante led by Jesüs GiI Fuensanta and Adnan Misir. The work at Tilbeş Höyük was part of salvage archaeology at sites endangered by dam construction and included Tilmusa Höyük, Tilöbür, Surtepe Höyük, and Tilvez Höyük. It began in 1996 with surveys.[1]

  • Tilmusa Höyük - 9 meter high conical mound with an area of 0.45 hectares, cut on the western part by the river. Also called Apamea though it is not fully clear which of the slew of places with this name is intended.[2]
  • Tilöbur - conical mound with an area of about 1.44 hectares and a stratigraphical depth of 6 meters located 2.2 kilometers west Tilmusa Höyük
  • Tilvez Höyük - 9 meter high double conical mound with an area of about 3.5 hectares at the base and about 1.2 hectares at the top of the mound. Survived inundation though most of the Early Dynastic level has been destroyed by the construction of a concrete factory.[3][4]
  • Surtepe Höyük - 20 hectares in area with a city wall. Halfway between Samsat and Carchemish and 7 kilometers south of Birecik.[5][6][7][8][9]

Work at the site ran from 1996 to 1999.[10][11][12][13] Work began in two areas, the west (sector A) and the south (sector E).[14] The western side of the Tilbeş Höyük (originally 3 hectares in area) had been eroded away in antiquity so the current western portion would originally have been in the center of the mound and the mound had an area of about 1.5 hectares. It measured 110 meters by 100 meters and with a cultural deposit of at least 14.5 meters. A 2.5 meter by 2.5 meter deep sounding (in area AE1-5) was excavated at that point reaching virgin soil at 12 meters. Under a hiatus layer Late Chalcolithic occupation was found and finds were various Uruk sherds and beveled rim bowls. A square test pit (B1) was dug at the northern part. A 5 meter by 5 meter square (E4b) later expanded by a trench was dug in the south-southwest portion of the mound. In an Early Bronze I occupation layer a mud brick building was found and a tomb (intrusive into the lower Late Chalcolithic layer). The tomb contained "a few goblets, champagne cups with reserved slip, a pin and some beads" and a single human skeleton. Below a hiatus level Late Chalcolithic occupation was found.[15]

In the center of the mound (E4aE3E) a multi-roomed stone built shrine with a west facing entrance was found with three construction layers, Early Bronze I, Early Bronze II, and Early Bronze III and included two stone cist graves with infant burials (EB II). It was built atop a mud brick platform and the most recent was destroyed by fire. Finds in that building included a number of clay horns, terracotta goddess figurines. Though the structure was out of use the area was occupied to an extent in the Early Bronze IV period, with suggestions of building walls, burials and finds of figurines.[16][17] The excavators interpreted this as the site of a fertility cult.[4] On the Early Bronze III level two radiocarbon dates (method and calibration unknown) using samples from that were determined 2890-2584 ± 45 BC and 2830-2461 ± 45 BC. On the Early Bronze I level three radiocarbon dates (method and calibration unknown) were determined from building and tomb contexts yielding dates of 3491-3039 ± 50 BC, 3351-2920 ± 50 BC, and 3082-2876 ± 50 BC.[15][18]

Finds at Tilbeş Höyük included remains of a bulla, numerical token, flint, obsidian, and basalt artifacts as well as sherds with traces of cuneiform characters referring to volume capacities and a sherd of a Coba bowl. Metal grave goods in the form of 6 pins were also found.[3][19][20]

Iron Age

In the Iron Age occupation level an Egyptian scarab was found, dated approximately to the 26th dynasty (664–525 BC).[21] An out of context cylinder seal was found with dating to the early 2nd millennium BC. The cuneiform inscription had been recut to interpret the figures on the seal as being "Nergal and his consort Mammitum".[22]

History

The site was occupied in the Late Chalcolithic (Proto-Ubaid, Late Ubaid, Uruk), Early Bronze Age (into the Middle Bronze Age transition period), and lightly in the Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Seleucid, Roman and Islamic Periods.[15]

See also

References

  1. ^ Fuensanta, J. G., and A. Mısır, "Excavations at Tilbeş Höyük: The 1996 Season", XIX Arkeometri Sonuçları Toplantısı vol 1 (1997)", pp. 227-244, 1997
  2. ^ [1]Pascual, José, "Apameia on the Euphrates, Macedonoupolis and Seleucid Forms of Political and Territorial Control", Dialogues d’histoire ancienne 482.2, pp. 191-216, 2022
  3. ^ a b Greaves, Alan M., and Barbara Helwing, "Archaeology in Turkey: The Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages, 2000", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 107, no. 1, pp. 71–103, 2003
  4. ^ a b [2]Fuensanta, Jesús Gil, and Alfredo Mederos Martín, "At the mercy of the waters of the Turkish Euphrates: Tilbes Höyük and its possible performance as a regional sanctuary of a goddess during the 2nd–3rd millennia BC in northern Mesopotamia", Water Supply and Water Management in the Metal Ages, pp. 68-80, 2024
  5. ^ Fuensanta, J. Gil, et al, "2001 Surtepe Höyük salvage excavation report", Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı 24, pp. 105-12, 2002
  6. ^ Fuensanta, J. G., et al, "Surtepe Höyük Salvage Excavation Report", 23 Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı vol 1, pp. 197-204, 2000
  7. ^ Fuensanta, Jesús Gil, Petr Charvàt, and Eduardo Crivelli Montero. "The dawn of a city: Surtepe Höyük excavations, Birecik Dam Area, Eastern Turkey." Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East: Madrid, April 3-8 2006. UAM Ediciones, pp. 97-112, 2008
  8. ^ Fuensanta, Jesús Gil, "2000 Salvage Excavations at Surtepe, Tilbes and Tilvez (Birecik Dam)", Ori-ent Express—Notes et Nouvelles d ́Archéologie Orientale, pp. 74–76, 2002
  9. ^ Fuensanta, J. G., et al, "The Tilbeş Project Research in 2005: Surtepe Höyük", 28 Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı vol 2, pp. 457-470, 2007
  10. ^ Fuensanta, JG–Rothman, and E. MS-Bucak, "1997 Salvage Excavations at Tilbeş Höyük", KST 20.1, pp. 207–218, 1998
  11. ^ Fuensanta, J. G., M. S. Rothman, and E. Bucak, "Salvage Excavation at Tilbeş Höyük (Birecik, Urfa), 1998", Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı, pp. 157-166, 2000
  12. ^ Gil Fuensanta, J., Charvat, P. and Bucak, E., "1999 Salvage survey and excavations at Tilmusa, Tilöbür, and Tilvez Höyük", Orient-Express 2001 (1), pp. 3–5, 2001
  13. ^ Fuensanta, J. G., et al., "The research of the Tilbes Project, 2004", Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı 27, pp. 445–452, 2005
  14. ^ Greaves, Alan M., and Barbara Helwing, "Archaeology in Turkey: The Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages, 1997-1999", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 105, no. 3, pp. 463–511, 2001
  15. ^ a b c Fuensanta, J.G. Rothman, M.S. Charvat, P. Bucak, E., "Tilbeş Höyük Salvage Project Excavation", Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı 23-1, Ankara, pp. 131-137, 2001
  16. ^ Fuensanta, Jesús Gil, Alfredo Mederos Martín, and Otabek Uktamovich Muminov, "Early Bronze Age I-III shrines and burial rites at Tilbes Höyük, Southeastern Turkey", Cuadernos de Prehistoria y Arqueología 45, pp. 51–67, 2019
  17. ^ [3]Fuensanta, Jesús Gil, Alfredo Mederos Martín, and Otabek Uktamovich Muminov, "On the Northern frontier of the Ebla Kingdom during the Early Bronze Age IVA. The Birecik Valley and the Kingdom of Abarsal in the left bank of the Middle Turkish Euphrates", Cuadernos de Prehistoria y Arqueología de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid 50.1, 2024
  18. ^ [4]Üncü, Hakkı, "Carbon-14 Chronology of Anatolia in Early Bronze Age", MS thesis, Middle East Technical University (Turkey), 2010
  19. ^ Stork, Leigh, "Systems of Value and the Changing Perception of Metal Commodities, ca. 4000–2600 bc", Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 74, no. 1, pp. 115–32, 2015
  20. ^ Yildirim, Bahadir, and Marie-Henriette Gates, "Archaeology in Turkey, 2004-2005", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 111, no. 2, pp. 275–356, 2007
  21. ^ Fuensanta, J. G., and E. D. U. A. R. D. O. Crivelli, "Late Iron Age “Post-Assyrians” and Persians in Turkish Euphrates: an Archaeological or “Historical” Approach", Proceedings of the 6th International Congress of the Archaeology on the Ancient Near East. Vol. 1, pp. 65-75, 2010
  22. ^ Charvát, P., and J. Gil Fuensanta, "Seals and Seal Impressions from Tilbes Höyük, South- Eastern Turkey (1996–1999)", Archív orientální 69, pp. 559–70, 2001

Further reading

  • Charvát, P., "Tilbes Höyük v provincii Sanliurfa, jihovýchodní Turecko (The Site of Tilbes Höyük, Sanliurfa Province, Southeastern Turkey)", in Orientalia Anti-qua Nova—Sborník z mezinárodního vědeckého kolokvia, konaného v Plzni dne 9. února 2001. Edited by I. Budil and P. Charvát, Plzeň: ZČU Plzeň, pp. 5–9, 2001
  • Erarslan, Alev, "Local Settlement Transitions in Southeastern Anatolia during the Late Third and Early Second Millennium BC", Altorientalische Forschungen, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 268-292, 2009
  • Fuensanta, Jesús Gil, "La misión arqueológica española en Turquia (II): Prospección y excavaciones en Tilbes Höyük, 1996", Boletín de la Asociación Española de Orientalistas, vol. 33, pp. 205-227, 1997
  • Fuensanta, Jesús Gil, "The Tilbes Project (Birecik Dam, Turkish Euphrates): the Early Bronze evidence", Euphrates river valley settlement: The Carchemish sector in the third millennium BC. Levant Supplementary Series 5, pp. 142-51, 2007
  • Fuensanta, Jesús Gil, "Trabajos de la Misión Arqueológica Española en Turquía (VII): El Proyecto Tilbes, 2001", Boletín de la Asociación Española de Orientalistas 38, pp. 233-248, 2002
  • Fuensanta, Jesús Gil, and Petr Charvát, "Halafians and Ubaidians: the case of Tilbes Höyük in Birecik (southeastern Turkey)", Papers read at the 48th RAI Leiden July 2002, NINO, pp. 123–133, 2005
  • Gil Fuensanta, Jesús, Alfredo Mederos Martín, and Otabek Uktamovich Muminov. "Not far from the limits of the Northern Uruk Culture in the Middle/Upper Euphrates: the Later Chalcolithic levels of Surtepe (Birecik, Southeastern Turkey)", Cuadernos de Prehistoria y Arqueologia 47.2, pp. 33–64, 2021
  • Fuensanta, Jesús Gil, Alfredo Mederos Martín, and Otabek Uktamovich Muminov, "Tilbes, Surtepe and Tilvez Mounds: An Approach about the Early Bronze Ia-Ib phases, north of Birecik-Carchemish subregion (Southeastern Turkey)", Cuadernos de Prehistoria y Arqueologia 49.1, 2023
  • [5]Fuensanta, Jesús Gil, "Trabajos de la misión arqueológica española en Turquía (VIII): el proyecto Tilbes, 2002", Boletín de la Asociación Española de Orientalistas 39 pp. 165-183, 2003
  • [6]Yılmaz, Derya, "Burial customs of the chamber tombs in southeast Anatolia during the Early Bronze Age", Anadolu 31, pp. 71-90, 2006
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