Adıyaman Archaeological Museum (

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

: tr, Adıyaman Müzesi) is an

archaeology museum An archaeology museum is a museum that specializes in the display of archaeological Types Many archaeology museum are in the open air, such as the Ancient Agora of Athens and the Roman Forum. Others display artifacts inside buildings, such as Na ...

Adıyaman Adıyaman ( ku, Semsûr) is a city and district in southeastern Turkey, and the capital of the Adıyaman Province. The inhabitants of the city are mostly Kurdish. Etymology An unverified theory is that the former name of the city ''Hisn-Mansur'' ...

, southeastern Turkey. It is located at the corner of Atatürk Boulevard and Cumhuriyet Avenue in the heart of the city. The museum displays archaeological finds from the area around the city, as well as from rescue excavations carried out in the course of the

Southeastern Anatolia Project The Southeastern Anatolia Project ( tr, Güneydoğu Anadolu Projesi, GAP) is a multi-sector integrated regional development project based on the concept of sustainable development for the 9 million people (2005) living in the Southeastern Anatoli ...

History

When planning began on the

at the end of the 1970s, rescue excavations were initiated at many sites in the

Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...

basin around Adıyaman, since many archaeological find spots were threatened by the planned construction of

hydroelectric dam Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

s. From 1978 on, finds from these excavations were stored in the buildings of the city library. The present museum building was completed in 1982, at which point Emin Yener became its first director. The museum participated in the rescue excavations of the tumult of Levzin and and of Haraba, as well as the excavations of the Commagenian city of Perrhe, located within the modern city of Adıyaman. Since 2008, they have been participating in the in collaboration with Margherita Facella of Pisa and

Charles Crowther Charles Crowther (1831 – 17 March 1894) was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council from 1873 to 1887. Born in Lincoln, England, in 1834, nothing is known of his ancestry or early life. In December 1850 he arrived in Western A ...

of Oxford in order to record and process the inscriptions stored in the museum.

Exhibition buildings

The one-story museum building contains an archive, photo-lab and work area in the basement. Part of the ground floor contains administrative offices, the rest consists of two exhibition halls and a linking room. Among the items on display are

Palaeolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...

tools,

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

arrowheads, pottery from the

Copper Age The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and ''líthos'', "stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin '' aeneus'' "of copper"), is an archaeological period characterized by regular ...

, spearpoints, cooking utensils and jewellery from the

Bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

and

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

s, as well as items from the

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

periods, such as statues, mosaics and vessels of stone, ceramics and glass. In the basement, there are also many inscriptions from all periods since the Bronze Age and coins. Particularly, noteworthy is a , along with many other steles and stones with

Luwian hieroglyphic Anatolian hieroglyphs are an indigenous logographic script native to central Anatolia, consisting of some 500 signs. They were once commonly known as Hittite hieroglyphs, but the language they encode proved to be Luwian, not Hittite, and the ter ...

inscriptions, which are on display outside the building. The collection is completed by items from the Islamic period, particularly the

Seljuq Seljuk or Saljuq (سلجوق) may refer to: * Seljuk Empire (1051–1153), a medieval empire in the Middle East and central Asia * Seljuk dynasty (c. 950–1307), the ruling dynasty of the Seljuk Empire and subsequent polities * Seljuk (warlord) (d ...

and Ottoman eras. There are items sourced from the Commagenian towns of Perrhe,

Samosata Samsat ( ku, Samîsad), formerly Samosata ( grc, Σαμόσατα) is a small town in the Adıyaman Province of Turkey, situated on the upper Euphrates river. It is the seat of Samsat District.Ancoz Ancoz is the name used in academic literature for an ancient settlement, which is located below the Atatürk Reservoir in the modern state of Turkey. It is located in the modern town of Eskitaş, which used to be called Ancoz. Location The ancie ...

and Direk Kale. A remarkable

Votive relief of Jupiter Dolichenus The Votive relief of Jupiter Dolichenus was discovered in the ancient city of Perrhe in the kingdom of Commagene in the southeast of modern Turkey. It is now displayed in the Adıyaman Archaeological Museum. Discovery The votive relief was disc ...

is derived from Perrhe. Donald H. Sanders, the editor of the excavation reports of Nemrut Dag, states that 37 crates with fragments of sculptures and inscriptions from that site are kept in the basement of the museum. The director of the museum, Fehmi Erarslan, states that the museum received around 30,000 visitors in 2010.Adıyaman Müze Müdürü Eraslan Açıklaması
(Turkish)

References

External links

Research Centre for Asia Minor – Adiyaman Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adiyaman Archaeological Museum Archaeological museums in Turkey Buildings and structures in Adıyaman Province Museums established in 1982 1982 establishments in Turkey