Tille Höyük is an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

in at Geldibuldu village in the

Adıyaman Province Adıyaman Province (, ) is a Provinces of Turkey, province in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. The capital is Adıyaman. Its area is 7,337 km2, and its population is 635,169 (2022). The province is considered part of Turkish Kurdi ...

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 ...

. It is a small settlement mound on the west bank of the

Euphrates The Euphrates ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originati ...

some 60 km east of

Adıyaman Adıyaman () is a city in southeastern Turkey. It is the administrative centre of Adıyaman Province and Adıyaman District. Its population is 267,131 (2021). The inhabitants of the city are mostly Turkish and Kurdish. The city was one of the ...

. The site was excavated by the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, under the direction of David French, from 1978 to its flooding by the Atatürk Reservoir in 1990. Surface pottery suggests the site was first occupied in the fourth millennium BC, but large-scale excavation was restricted to the Medieval, Classical and Iron Age levels of the site. A small step-trench recovered Iron Age and Bronze Age pottery in 1980; a more substantial trench was cut into the side of the mound in the last season and reached Late Bronze Age levels. The Iron Age levels at Tille have been identified on the basis of the presence of iron objects, and the parallels in pottery with Late Assyrian pottery from

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

. More precise evidence for dating the extensive Iron Age burnt level comes from comparison of its architectural features. The pebble mosaic courtyard and surrounding building plan is found close parallels in eighth century BC. Neo-Assyrian buildings at Til Barsip and Arslan Tash 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 date of the extensive burnt level can be placed in the eighth-seventh centuries BC. on archaeological grounds. Finds from the site are in the Adıyaman Museum.

References

See also

British Institute at Ankara publications