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©The Archaeological Settlements of Turkey - TAY Project
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S 63/26 |
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For site maps and drawings please click on the picture...  |
For photographs please click on the photo...  |
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Type:
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Flat Settlement |
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Altitude:
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870 m |
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Region:
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Southeastern Anatolia |
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Province:
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Siirt |
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District:
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Kurtalan |
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Village:
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Merkez |
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Investigation Method:
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Survey |
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Period:
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Aceramic |
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| Location: This site lies west of the city of Siirt; approximately 1.5 km southwest of the town of Kurtalan; northeast of the Güney Mahalle elementary school at the and of Çobanoglu street. The exact location of the mound is opposite to the General Directorate of Education of Kurtalan; 700 m away from the clock tower. There are buildings on this area today. |
| Geography and Environment: This open air site lies in an agricultural field southeast of the village of Güney Mahalle. Obsidian and flint tools were collected in a 300x50 m area. When this research was conducted at the site; the field was cultivated. The spring northeast of the site must have been the main water supply for the inhabitants of this site. Only 10 pieces of pottery dating to "late-periods" were found. A total of 2;534 chipped stone artifacts were found. The method of collection of artifacts and the artifact densities are not mentioned. The exact location of the site has not been described. Since another mound-site by the village was called Güney Höyük after the village; this site was given a code-name. |
| History: |
| Research and Excavation: The site was discovered during the Southeast Anatolian Project supported jointly by the Universities of Istanbul and Chicago under Çambel and Braidwood's direction. The team was comprised of international multi-disciplinary experts from both these universities [Çambel-Braidwood 1980:8/footnote 2]. |
| Stratigraphy: The ceramics dating to the "late-periods" may be evidence of a later site; now beneath the modern village. |
| Small Finds: Chipped Stone: 97% of the chipped stone tools collected from the surface of the site are obsidian (of the 2;534 chipped stone artifacts collected; 74 were flint). Retouching of tools is rare. Edge wear is clear. The abundance of pyramidal cores suggests that there was a dominant blade industry at the site; although at least one flake core was found. Blades are the most common tools. Only a few of the blades were retouched. Notched finds and finds with flaked edges; as well as finds with squamous edge flaking were discovered. Flakes are mostly coarse. Convex and concave and curved ended scrapers were found. Ground Stone: No information is provided on the pestle found during the surface survey. |
| Remains: |
| Interpretation and Dating: Benedict provides no information on the dating of this site [Benedict 1980:125]. Balkan-Atli; however; suggests that both the pyramidal cores and the blade industry are characteristically Neolithic [Balkan-Atli 1994:100]. |
