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©The Archaeological Settlements of Turkey - TAY Project
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Pirot Höyük |
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For photographs please click on the photo...  |
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Type:
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Mound |
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Altitude:
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663 m |
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Region:
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Eastern Anatolia |
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Province:
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Malatya |
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District:
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Kale |
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Village:
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Kiyicak |
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Investigation Method:
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Excavation |
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Period:
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Late |
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| Location: The mound lies approximately 42 km east of Malatya; in Kuyucak/Kiyicak (Pirot) Village of the town of Merkez Kale; on the southern bank of Euphrates. It also known Ikiz Mound. |
| Geography and Environment: Previous to its inundation; the mound used to lie on a low elevation of an aged terrace of Euphrates. It is also called by the name of Ikiz Höyük since it has two cones. The 25 m high; large mound measures 140 m in South-North axis and 95 m in East-West axis. The eastern cone is elliptic and steeper; while the western cone is lower and broad [Karaca 1981:109-110]. The lower terraces of the mound and the western elevation is occupied by the modern village and the east of it is severely destructed by ditches and pits due to taking away soil and stones from the mound by villagers [Karaca 1983:69-70]. |
| History: |
| Research and Excavation: It was investigated by several scientists like H. H.von der Osten [von der Osten 1929:99]; K. Kökten [Kökten 1947:fig 77]; P. Meriggi [Meriggi 1962:268]; during the Lower Euphrates Basin Survey Project by Ü. Serdaroglu [Serdaroglu 1977:16-17] and M. Özdogan in 1977 [Özdogan 1977:55] and excavated in 1978; 1980-1983 under Ö. Karaca. |
| Stratigraphy: 12 building levels are recovered during the excavation; starting with Late Byzantine and including 1st, 2nd and 3rd Millennium BC; EBA; and Chalcolithic Age. The earliest are the Late Chalcolithic Age Levels XI and XII. Level XII yields Ubaid-like sherds. |
| Small Finds: Architecture: The following belongs to Level XI; right below Level X which dates to the Early Bronze Age: An east-west oriented mud-brick wall with stone foundation is recovered. The wattle-and-daub wall supported with vertical reed posts is probably a fence. The posts are irregularly situated within the wall and have variable diameters. The two house fitments recovered in the same level are an oven; the half of which has eroded and a hearth made of small pebbles conjoined with mud [Karaca 1983:72]. The architectural remains from Level XII are a structure with walls made of irregular stones; two niches on the eastern wall; and a painting on layers of thin plaster on one of the walls. The plaster out of sand and organic materials is renovated for four times and it is painted each time anew. The decorative motifs of the ochre wall painting are stylized butterflies; bands; and dots. The eastern corner of this structure suggests that it is rectangular in plan. The paint bowl is recovered in one of the niches in the east wall. The excavations conducted at the east and north of this structure yielded two parallel walls; a platform; and an approximately 1 m wide; round area of sand; ash; and sherds; in the middle [Karaca 1983:73; 1984:107]. Pottery: Level XI is dominated by Karaz ware and chaff-faced ware. The burnished-decorated sherds of the Early Bronze Age levels are more abundant in this level. The sherds of Level XII are in Ubaid painted ware; chaff-faced ware; reddish brown ware; also dark faced burnished ware and Karaz ware in smaller amounts [Karaca 1984:107; 1985:40]. Clay: A pot-stand piece; decorated with a schematic human face figure in front; is recovered beside the hearth from Level XI [Karaca 1985:40]. Chipped Stone: Obsidian arrowheads are recovered from Level XII [Karaca 1985:40]. Ground Stone: A black stone stamp seal in the shape of a rhombus with a schematic plant impression is recovered [Karaca 1985:40]. Bone/Antler: Various types of awls out of animal bones are recovered from Level XI [Karaca 1985:40]. The interesting find of Level XII is an axe out of antler. A second hole; pierced perpendicularly to the shaft hole is used for fixing the shaft tight [Karaca 1985:40]. |
| Remains: |
| Interpretation and Dating: Ö. Karaca claims that the pottery of Level XII resembles that of Arslantepe (Malatya) VII and the stone seal has parallels in Degirmentepe settlement of the same region. |
