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©The Archaeological Settlements of Turkey - TAY Project
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Imikusagi |
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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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Mound |
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Altitude:
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m |
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Region:
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Eastern Anatolia |
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Province:
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Elazig |
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District:
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Baskil |
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Village:
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Imikusagi |
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Investigation Method:
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Excavation |
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Period:
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| Location: It is located on the northwestern edge of the Imikusagi (Malhasan) Village in the Baskil District of Elazig. |
| Geography and Environment: Situated on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, it lies across the confluence of the Tahma Brook with the Euphrates. It is suitable for crossing over, and it was also probably for this purpose during the ancient period. |
| History: |
| Research and Excavation: The mound of Imikusagi was excavated by a team under the direction of V. Sevin between 1981 and 1986. |
| Stratigraphy: Fourteen building levels were identified ranging from the Middle Age back to the early 2nd Millennium BC; Middle Age, Middle Age II, Hellenistic, Late Iron Age, Early and Middle Iron Age, Late Bronze Age (Hittite Imperial Period). |
| Small Finds: Architecture: The earliest wall of the lower building level represented by a fortification extending toward the eastern section of the mound is around 1.80 m thick, and it was built with large blocks on the exterior and filled in with smaller stones and cobbles on the interior. The 6c phase wall, reaching up to an height about 15 to 20 m at present, were supported by buttresses and projections. These 1 m wide buttresses constitute 70 to 80 cm projections on the surface of the wall. A second fortification wall was built over some sections which had been out of use over time. The extant sections of the 6b phase wall were also used during the last phase of the Early Iron Age (6a), and the width of the wall was reduced to 1.50 m. Like others, the fortification wall of this building level was seated on the foundation pits opened onto the burnt layer of the Late Bronze Age II, and into that burnt layer in some sections. No traces of structures are found inside the fortified area and on the wall. It seems that this area was designed with two chambers during the Late Iron Age. In the following period, it is represented by a group of chambers having three interconnected cells. The remains covering the summit of the mound strecth in north-south directions. Although not in right-angles, they have a rectangularlike plan in general. The excavations yielded remains both from the Early Iron and Middle Iron Age. The architecture is of stone foundations and mud walls. Pottery: The ceramic finds are similar to the ones identified at other Early Iron Age centers. They were mostly produced with a slowly running wheel, the outer surfaces in the same color with the paste ranging from buff to brown, thick slipped and burnished. The main ceramics of Imikusagi include bowls with inverted rim and crest, decorated with grooves in a few lines between the rim and the crest. The surfaces of the vessels were covered with a thick slip, and mostly burnished. The jugs with mutually double vertical handles are noteworthy with their decorations in parallel grooves up to the crested part. Also found are jugs in big sizes with short necks and pointed bottoms as well as limited number of monochrome sherds with trefoil mouth, inverted rim, everted rim, bulged body, no neck, flat bottom, crested from shoulder to rim, and thin wall. They are dated to the Bronze Age, Early, Middle, and Late Iron Age and Middle Age. Small finds recovered frung these excavations include loomweights, a terracotta figurine of a lion, a bone spatula, glass beads, and iron artefacts. The painted bodyfragments recovered from the Late Iron Age layer have common features. Slipped and burnished in colors ranging from cream to light red, these fragments are decorared with triangles in red and brown colors. These triangles filled with vertically incised lines inside hang off a horizontal line on the neck of the vessels. |
| Remains: |
| Interpretation and Dating: With 14 building levels identified from the Late Bronze Age to the Middle Age, the mound is one of the most important settlements in the Euphrates region. Being a passage spot linking both banks of the Euphrates, which is hardly impassable, contibutes to the significance of the mound. It is known that it is the largest mound in the region. |
