GÜRCÜTEPE

Gurcutepe (Turkey)

The hill group of Gurkutepe remained unrecognized as an archaeological site for a long time. Only the excavations of a Turkish-American group on the neighboring Bronze Age settlement mound of Kazane in 1994 drew attention to the Gurkütepe, so that in 1995, in coordination with the discoverers, the Turkish-German excavations could begin.

A Late Early Neolithic valley settlement in south-eastern Turkey

Excavations by the Şanlıurfa Museum and the Istanbul Department of the DAI have been taking place since 1995 and since 2001 in cooperation with the Orient Department.

Areal excavations were carried out on the hills Gurkutepe I and II. At Gurkutepe II they produced late Early Neolithic rammed earth buildings. So far, two building layers with a total of seven houses are known.

A sickle was observed in situ in an open area, which could be recovered as a block. The apparently wooden support was gone, and eight blade segments made of Silex, which were connected to a bitumen-like mass, were found arranged in an arch.

Ceramic-Neolithic finds could be observed at Gurkütepe I, but these could not be connected with excavated building layers. Several stone vessel drills suggest that such production sites are to be expected at Gurkütepe I.

As on Gürcütepe II, there was also an ancient burial ground on Gürcütepe I with graves covered by roof tiles without offerings. Two more elaborately laid out, brick graves with severely disturbed multiple burials still contained small ceramic and glass bottles, which will allow a more precise chronological classification.

cooperation

The excavations at Gürcütepe are part of a Turkish-German joint project. They are undertaken by the Museum Şanlıurfa in cooperation with the DAI, Istanbul department and the Orient department of the DAI and supported by ArchaeNova e.V. Heidelberg.