Oylum is a neighbourhood of the city

Kilis Kilis is a city in southernmost Turkey, near the Syria–Turkey border, border with Syria, and the administrative centre of Kilis Province and Kilis District. Its population is 112,187 (2022). On 6 February 2023 Kilis was badly affected by the tw ...

Kilis District Kilis District (also: ''Merkez'', meaning "central" in Turkish) is a Districts of Turkey, district of Kilis Province of Turkey. Its seat is the city Kilis.

Kilis Province Kilis Province () is a province in southern Turkey, on the border with Syria. Its area is 1,412 km2, and its population is 147,919 (2022). The province was created in 1995 from the southern part of Gaziantep Province. The city of Kilis is ho ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. The village had a population of 517 in 2022. In late 19th century, German orientalist

Martin Hartmann Martin Hartmann (9 December 1851, Breslau – 5 December 1918, Berlin) was a German orientalist, who specialized in Islamic studies. In 1875, he received his doctorate at the University of Leipzig as a student of Heinrich Leberecht Fleisch ...

listed the village as a settlement of 15 houses inhabited by Turks.

Archaeology

Oylum is home to a höyük mound with evidence of settlement dating as far back as the

Chalcolithic The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in di ...

. Settlement continued into 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 metalloid ...

and Iron Ages. Some or all of the settlement was destroyed by fire twice in the Middle Bronze Age. A third destruction event in the Late Bronze Age may be associated with Šuppiluliuma I's military campaign in

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. The name of the site during this period of settlement has not been definitively determined. "Oylum might be the Ulisum/Ullis referred to in the third millennium BC and the Ullaza/Ukulzat/Kuilzila of the second millennium BC." Alternatively, Oylum has been suggested as the location of Hassuwa. Excavations have revealed a

palace A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...

or administrative building dating to the Middle Bronze Age I period that was destroyed by fire. A well-preserved

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

kiln A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or Chemical Changes, chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects m ...

was discovered that was built during the Middle Bronze Age II period on top of the palace ruins. Bronze Age artifacts discovered at Oylum Höyük that contain inscriptions include a fragmentary

cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...

tablet from the Hittite period, which has been identified as a treaty between the Hittite King and a local ruler; a

lapis lazuli Lapis lazuli (; ), or lapis for short, is a deep-blue metamorphic rock used as a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color. Originating from the Persian word for the gem, ''lāžward'', lapis lazuli is ...

cylinder seal A cylinder seal is a small round cylinder, typically about one inch (2 to 3 cm) in width, engraved with written characters or figurative scenes or both, used in ancient times to roll an impression onto a two-dimensional surface, generally ...

with a cuneiform inscription indicating that it belonged to a vizier named Bitna; and a tablet written in

Old Babylonian Old Babylonian may refer to: *the period of the First Babylonian dynasty (20th to 16th centuries BC) *the historical stage of the Akkadian language Akkadian ( ; )John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", ''The Cambridge Enc ...

concerning a commercial debt. Non-epigraphic finds suggest that Bronze Age Oylum shared a similar

material culture Material culture is culture manifested by the Artifact (archaeology), physical objects and architecture of a society. The term is primarily used in archaeology and anthropology, but is also of interest to sociology, geography and history. The fie ...

to nearby

Alalakh Alalakh (''Tell Atchana''; Hittite: Alalaḫ) is an ancient archaeological site approximately northeast of Antakya (historic Antioch) in what is now Turkey's Hatay Province. It flourished as an urban settlement in the Middle and Late Bronze Age ...

References

Populated places in Kilis District Neighbourhoods in Kilis Province Bronze Age {{Kilis-geo-stub