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©The Archaeological Settlements of Turkey - TAY Project
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Tülintepe |
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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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830 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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Merkez |
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Village:
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Investigation Method:
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Excavation |
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Period:
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| Location: Before it was inundated by Keban Dam; the site used to lie approximately 21 km east of Elazig; between and close to the old Elazig-Bingöl railway and highway. |
| Geography and Environment: Tülintepe is one of the five mounds; inundated by Keban Dam. Moreover; soil from Tülintepe was used to construct a new railway; because Elazig-Bingöl railway and highway were going to be inundated. Therefore; upper parts of the mound were removed by a bulldozer; thus destroying the upper layers. Tülintepe was 200x250 m in area and 16.60 m high before the destruction. Geophysical analyses suggest that the deposit of the mound still continues down to 5/6 m below the surface [Esin-Arsebük 1974b:137; 139]. |
| History: |
| Research and Excavation: Tülintepe attracted the attention of many researchers, who conducted surveys in the Eastern Anatolia, and archaeologists such as Kökten, Meriggi, Burney, Whallon, and Kantman were engaged in surface collection on the surface of the mound during these surveys. Among them is a photo displaying the hill before the destruction published by Meriggi. A salvage excavation was conducted within the scope of Keban Project of METU University by an excavation team under the direction of U. Esin and G. Arsebük of the Prehistory Department of Istanbul University between 1971 and 1974. The excavation was terminated due to rise of the reservoir waters in 1974. |
| Stratigraphy: Presence of settlements during the Chalcolithic, Late Bronze, Middle Bronze, Early Bronze, Iron, and Medieval Ages and Ottoman Period was identified based on the sherds collected during the surveys and the excavation. The excavators reported presence of EBA I-II phase finds, contemporary with the Amique G-H phases on the stratification chart of EBA [Esin-Arsebük 1982:121see table]. |
| Small Finds: Architecture: The EBA building levels at Tülintepe are within the Chalcolithic Age building levels. These building levels consist of a well built with stones to the south, and adjacent to it, building levels with stone foundations in rectangular plan, and stone foundations of a fortification wall, which are partly beveled in the northern section of the mound. The buildings of this period do not have stone foundations, consisting of 1 or 2 rooms. The quarters consisted of houses are in a detached plan. The building units were concentrated at some sections, composing quarters. There are streets, courtyards, and open areas in between. The remains of mudbrick buildings have rectangular plan, the majority of domestic buildings consisted of multiple rooms rather than two rooms. Pottery: Coarse and grooved rim, handmade red pink slipped pottery specific to Urartu were found at Tülintepe. The EBA I and II finds from the 3rd millenium BC found at Tülintepe belong to the Karaz culture. The majority of them are handmade, and black, brown, grey and mottled and slipped Karaz ware are polished. The Late Chalcolithic Age level yielded sherds of wheelmade fine ware and straw tempered sherds. As a result of the excavations, several finds, mostly sherds, dating to the Middle Age, Iron Age, Late and Middle Bronze Age were uncovered on the northern terrace. Coarse monochrome handmade ware with grooved rim, and red, brown, black slipped specific to Urartu were found. Grindstone: Grinding tools, obsidian and flintstone tools produced with chipped stone technique are common. A blade industry is dominant. Among the finds are tiny piercing and drilling tools, beads and hooks. Metal: The copper slag recovered from the levels that belong to the Early Chalcolithic, Halafian-Obeidian transition period at Tülintepe indicate that Tülintepe already was familiar with the copper melting techniques from the late 6th Millennium BC. |
| Remains: |
| Interpretation and Dating: Starting from the Early Chalcolithic Age,Tülintepe was a village type of settlement under the influence of Halafian and Ubaid cultures between the 6th and 4th Millennia BC. The settlement went into an urbanisation process probably during the Early Bronze Age (Karaz culture) during the 3rd Millennium BC when it was surrounded by fortifications. There is no detailed information about it since the data concerning the Early Bronze Age (Karaz culture) of the 3rd Millennium had been almost entirely demolished. Due to limited information on the finds related with the Hittite Period of the 2nd Millennium BC and Urartian Period of the 1st Millennium BC-Iron Age at Tülintepe, no data is available about these periods. But it is obvious that Tülintepe had been intensely inhabited during these periods. |
