Arslantepe

Statue of a ruler of Melid in the Ankara Museum , presumably King Mutallu of Kummuh

Coordinates: 38 ° 22 ′ 55 "  N , 38 ° 21 ′ 40"  E

Arslantepe​

Turkey

Arslantepe , also Arslan Tepe, Aslantepe , "lion's hill", was a since the 3rd millennium BC. Fortified settlement in Asia Minor . The hill has its Turkish name after the lion sculptures found here. Today's Tell (excavation mound) with finds mainly from bronze - up to the Neo-Hittite period is located in eastern Anatolia , six kilometers northeast of the city of Malatya. The settlement mound has an oval shape that extends from southwest to northeast. It has a surface of about 4.5 hectares and rises about 30 meters above the surrounding area. The place was since the 6th millennium BC. Settled in the 2nd millennium BC He belonged to the Hittite empire and from the late 1st millennium BC onwards. The center of the late Hittite kingdom of Melid was located here .

Finds from Arslantepe have been known since the late 19th century. Excavations took place in the 1930s, primarily exploring the Hittite remains, and since the 1960s by an Italian team who have also unearthed the prehistoric and prehistoric architecture. In one of the later layers, the Malatya sculptures were found. The hill of Arslantepe has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since July 2021 .

story

The excavation site is divided into eight superimposed layers VIII – I, with layer VIII being the lowest, oldest.

Period VIII

Shards of ceramics of the Halaf and Ubeid types indicate a settlement as early as the 6th millennium BC. BC, the oldest architectural traces, however, come from the late Copper  Age 1–2, the years 4300-3900 BC. It consists of three layers of houses on top of each other with different hearths. The found pottery is of a local type, which shows similarities with those from Southeast Anatolia (e.g. Oylum Höyük ), but also points to connections to the upper Mesopotamia .

Period VII

Cylinder seal from Arslantepe from the 4th millennium BC Chr.

This phase is between 3000 and 3400 BC. BC, the late Copper Age 3–4, dated. In the north-east of the hill, simple adobe houses and hearths outside the buildings were excavated in the 1960s and 1970s. In one of the houses a wall was painted with black and white triangles. Adults were buried in a stool position with shells and pearls as gifts, children were buried in pots under the floors. More recent excavations have uncovered a monumental building with 1.2 meter thick mud brick walls in the western part of the site, which is believed to be a ruler's residence. It had a large hall with four brick pillars and wall paintings. To the southwest of it was a temple building (temple C) on an artificially created terrace. Its main room had dimensions of 18 × 7.2 meters and had a central platform for ritual meals, several niches on the narrow sides and also wall paintings. Large quantities of industrially manufactured ceramics and seal impressions were found there and in the surrounding areas. The type of production points to connections to the area west of the Euphrates and the Amuq plain.

Period VI A

Plan of the palace complex (from information board)

During this period, which roughly corresponded to the late Copper Age 5 and the Uruk period (3350-3000 BC), political and economic power over the Malatya plain was concentrated on the Arslantepe. South of Temple C, which was abandoned, a complex called a palace was built, consisting of several monumental buildings extending over various terraces, which were connected to one another via corridors and courtyards. Religious as well as administrative functions were combined in the complex. These included temples A and B, which were smaller than the earlier temple C, but whose importance was emphasized by their location on the highest terrace. Another part was a storage building, consisting of two central rooms and several side chambers. Numerous pithoi , jugs, bowls and bottles were found in the side rooms , which were used to store large quantities of goods, probably mainly food. In the larger of the main rooms, on the other hand, there was a large number of mass-produced bowls, which were presumably used to distribute the stored goods. The excavators also found seal impressions (bullae) , some of which had fallen off the corresponding containers, some of which were stacked on the walls or in the corners, probably for reuse. The distribution of goods was no longer tied to the temple, as in the previous periods, but was now carried out separately by a secular authority. The seal impressions show that it was already possible to organize and record large movements of goods, even if the use of writing was not yet known.

Figures in red ocher and charcoal are painted on the walls of the doors that lead from the entrance corridor into the building wings. The best preserved are two figures on either side of the camp entrance, one male, the other perhaps female. The excavator Marcella Frangipane suggests gods or shamans as an interpretation. Another painting shows a stylized team of oxen.

Most of the pottery found in the palace complex was made on a potter's wheel, in pale colors and of good quality, and now shows clear influences from Mesopotamia or Uruk . In addition, there are also handcrafted red and black goods, which refer to Anatolian models in terms of shape, appearance and technology. The place seems to have played a central role in the interregional network between Mesopotamia, Syria and Anatolia at this time.

A remarkable find are nine swords and twelve spearheads made from arsenic-containing copper. They show the high level of metal processing in Arslantepe. The swords, the handles of which are partly decorated with silver inlays, are the oldest swords known today.

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  Gate area of ​​the palace complex

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  Paintings at the warehouse entrance

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  Swords and spearheads in the Malatya Museum

Period VI B

Reconstruction of the royal tomb in the Malatya Museum

Around 3000 BC The palace was destroyed in a devastating fire, which led to the end of the previous power structures. In the following phase of the Early Bronze Age  1 (3000–2800 BC) the hill was initially inhabited by groups of nomadic cattle herders from the Eastern Anatolian to the Transcaucasian area. They built huts out of wattle and daub, the ceramics were limited to hand-made red and black goods. Occasionally the new inhabitants of the South Caucasian Kura-Araxes culture are included. After a transition period, however, there was a renewed concentration of power through the construction of a four-meter-thick fortification wall around the highest part, which was made of adobe bricks on stone foundations. The settlement outside the walls on the slopes now again consisted of adobe houses with up to three rooms. In the rooms and on the farms in between, agricultural activities could be detected, but also traces of metalworking. During this time, the bright ceramics of the Uruk art made on the potter's wheel reappear.

At the beginning of this period, between 3000 and 2900 BC BC, the so-called royal grave was laid outside the fortification. It lies at the bottom of a five-meter-wide pit, the original depth cannot be reconstructed due to later changes. It is a stone box grave with a side length of about two meters. The box contained the body of an adult, lying on its right side with its knees drawn up. The grave was furnished with rich gifts. These included clay pots and jewelry made of carnelian , rock crystal , silver and gold, as well as a collection of metal objects behind his back. It consists of weapons, tools and jewelry made of arsenic copper, copper-silver alloys, gold and silver. In contrast to the swords of period VI A, these are not representative objects, but usable weapons. Four youth skeletons were found on the top plate of the tomb. Two of them, a male and a female, were at the head of the grave and were equipped with jewelry, copper needles, a diadem and a hairspring made of a copper-silver alloy similar to grave goods. Possibly these are relatives of the buried person. The other two at the foot of the bed were both female and wore no jewelry, maybe they were servants. The rich furnishings of the buried as well as the obvious presence of human sacrifices indicate that it was a matter of a high-ranking personality, probably a ruler.

Period VI C

After the buildings of the last period were destroyed by another fire, the settlement was initially abandoned for some time. During the Early Bronze Age II, between 2750 and 2500 BC. BC, nomads settled again on the hill. Similar to the early period VI B, they quickly left behind ephemeral buildings. In addition, they built a few round mud huts or, even more rarely, semi-underground houses with porches and garbage pits. In a somewhat later phase, a multi-room terrace building was built in the higher part, in whose rectangular rooms there were among other things horseshoe-shaped hearths. The building also shows traces of repair work, so that it was probably inhabited by a family or clan for a long period of time, while the nomadic inhabitants lived outside of the season. The ceramics were entirely handmade, similar to the previous red and black goods. There was also a type of light-colored, polished ware that was painted with red and brown geometric motifs. With this period the dominance of the place ended, the connections to Mesopotamia and Syria were given up in favor of connections to Eastern Anatolia.

Period VI D

In the early Bronze Age III, between 2500 and 2000 BC BC, the size of the settlement increased again. The slopes were inhabited and the construction was more planned and denser. Approaches to streets, courtyards and canals can also be identified, as can workshops. The nomadic builders of the semi-underground round houses stayed away over time. Slowly Arslantepe resumed the role of the largest and most powerful settlement on the Malatya plain. However, it is unclear whether political power was also connected with it. Numerous smaller, autonomous settlements on the hills in the area speak against it. This was possibly also the reason that a mighty fortification wall with a strong, semicircular bastion was built around the hill surface . The handcrafted ceramics of this period are very similar to the previous ones. The painting developed its own style that is reminiscent of objects from the province of Elazığ . Possibly they were created by a local workshop that distributed their objects widely.

Period V

This period goes into the Middle Bronze Age from 2000 to 1500 BC. Dated. From the first phase (V A1, up to around 1750) only a few architectural testimonies have survived, as they were severely damaged when the hilltop was later terraced. All that is recognizable is a house with a large square room in which a horseshoe-shaped hearth was found. Numerous loom weights suggest that there was also a loom.

In the second phase (V A2, 1750–1500) the influence of the emerging and eastward expanding Hittite empire was already noticeable. He expressed himself in the fact that an imposing city gate with two flanking towers was built in the existing ramparts, which is very similar to those of Alişar and Ḫattuša. The entrance to the city, which used to be in the southern part, was now oriented to the northeast.

Period IV

This period includes the time of the Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age from 1500 to its end after 1200 BC. Under the name Mal (i) dija, the place was the center of a Hittite vassal state that lay on the border of the Assyrian sphere of influence. A gate system remained in place at roughly the same point. A palace complex was built in the northeast. A gallery with a false vault could also be excavated, similar to the posterns in Alişar, Alaca and Ḫattuša. The city gate was a monumental building a little east of the previous entrance, with a rectangular room with two opposite entrances on its long sides. It was attached to an adobe wall on a solid stone base and was reminiscent of the Anatolian complexes of Alişar, Ḫattuša and Alaca. The ceramics of this period are disc-turned, polished and show different incised patterns and paintings, which in turn clearly refer to the Central Anatolian origin.

Period III-II

→ Main article : Melid

Portal lion with inscription from the lion gate in the Ankara Museum

The Hittite fortress was destroyed after the end of the great empire, rebuilt and fell towards the end of the 2nd millennium BC. Chr. Victim to a fire again. After that, the place was at least partially abandoned for some time and only inhabited by nomads passing through. From 1100 BC The late Hittite empire Melid is mentioned in Assyrian, Babylonian and Urartian sources , which had its center of the same name here. In Assyrian sources, both the country and the city are occasionally referred to as Kammanu . Around 1100 Tiglat-Pileser I (1114-1076 BC) reached the submission of Melid, he took hostages and demanded an annual tribute. After a period of weakness in the Assyrian Empire, Melid is next mentioned under Assurnasirpal II (883–869 BC), who received ambassadors in Nimrud . Even under Schalmaneser III. (858–824 BC) Melid still had to pay tribute until the late 9th century BC. The Urartian Empire gained influence. With the Urartian king Sarduri II (764–735 BC) Ḫilaruada of Melid entered into an alliance against Assyria, which was however crushed. This marked the beginning of the phase of the subjugation of the late Hittite city-states to the Assyrian Empire. With the destruction of the city by Sargon II (722–705 BC), the Melid empire now belonged directly to the Assyrian territory. King Tarḫunazi of Melid was deported to Assyria and the city was handed over to Mutallu von Kummuh . Whether Sargon's successor was able to hold Melid and whether an Assyrian province of Melid existed cannot be proven.

Architecturally, several successive monumental gates from this period can be found, which lay one above the other in the north of the hill, roughly at the location of the earlier Hittite city gate. The most recent facility includes the well-known lion gate, from which two lion sculptures and numerous orthostats with reliefs and inscriptions came to light during the early excavations . Some of it had already been used in earlier gateways. A statue of a ruler was also found in the gate area, which probably represents Mutallu of Kummuh. There are also three overlapping Assyrian palaces dating from 708 BC. BC could be excavated.

From the Roman-Byzantine period, only remnants of a residential area in the north-east and severely disturbed terrace structures in the south-west were found. The only later finds are a possibly medieval cemetery in the southwestern area and a platform made of adobe bricks over the Assyrian palaces, probably the basis for a Turkish building from the 9th to 10th centuries.

Research history

Lion Gate during the Delaporte excavations

As early as 1894, the British archaeologist David George Hogarth described several stones in relief in an article, one of which was definitely from the hill of Arslantepe. In 1907, the Cornell Expedition to Asia Minor at Cornell University in the United States visited Malatya, where they photographed orthostats with inscriptions and reliefs in the seraglio . They found a lion sculpture on the hill. The British traveler Gertrude Bell also provided pictures of the reliefs. 1927–1928, the German Near East archaeologist Hans Henning von der Osten traveled to Asia Minor on behalf of the Oriental Institute at Chicago, where he also stayed in Malatya and made the first topographical drawing of the site, in which he also noted the location of the lion. Thus, from 1894 to 1932 fifteen orthostats in relief were known, which drew the interest of science to the site. From 1932 to 1938, the French archaeologist Louis-Joseph Delaporte then carried out the first excavations on Arslantepe. He mainly examined the northeast part of the hill around the sites of the known relief stones. In doing so, he uncovered the well-known lion gate, which included lion sculptures in situ and numerous other processed orthostats. The place owes its Turkish name to the lion sculptures, some of which were open. With the help of the already known pieces, he reconstructed the entire iconographic program of the building. With the Second World War, the excavations came to a standstill. After the end of the war, Claude Schaeffer resumed excavations for a short time (1949–1951). In his unpublished work, he exposed another, older gate under the lion gate.

In 1961 an Italian team from the Roman University of La Sapienza resumed the excavations, which continue to this day (2020). The directors of the excavation were initially Salvatore M. Puglisi and Piero Meriggi , then Puglisi alone. He was followed by Alba Palmieri and, in 1990, Marcella Frangipane, who is still in charge of the work to this day. First, in continuation of the French excavations, the northeast area was investigated, where layers up to the 2nd millennium BC. Came to light as well as individual buildings of the early Bronze Age. From 1968 to 2006 the excavation work then concentrated on the western and southern part of the hill, where, among other things, the palace complex from the 4th millennium BC Came to light. Since 2006, the north-east areas have been researched again.

Finds from Arslantepe were brought to the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara until the 1970s , and later to the Malatya Archaeological Museum .

World Heritage

Since 2014, Arslantepe has been on the UNESCO tentative list for recognition as a World Heritage Site . It was recorded on July 26, 2021.

literature

• Louis Delaporte: Malatya: Fouilles de la Mission Archéologique Française. Tome 1,1: Arslantepe, La porte des lions Paris 1940. Digitized .
• Federico Manuelli: Gli Hititi e Malitiya. Riflessioni e confronti sul materiale ceramico del periodo hittita imperiale di Arslantepe , in: Stefania Mazzoni (ed.): Studi di archeologia del Vicino Oriente. Scritti degli allievi fiorentini per Paolo Emilio Pecorella , Firenze University Press, Florence 2012, pp. 163-183.
• C. Burney: Arslantepe as a gateway to the highland: a note on periods VI A-VI D. In: M. Frangipane, H. Hauptmann, M. Liverani, P. Matthiae & M. Mellink (eds.) Between the Rivers and over the Mountains, Archaeologica Anatolica et Mesopotamica Alba Palmieri dedicata. Rome 1993, pp. 311-317.
• M. Frangipane, Alba Palmieri: Urbanization in Perimesopotamian areas, the case of Eastern Anatolia. In: L. Manzanilla (Ed.): Studies in the Neolithic and Urban revolutions , BAR Internat. Series 349, Oxford 1987, pp. 295-318.
• Alba Palmieri, K. Sertok, E. Chernykh: From Arslantepe metalwork to arsenical copper technology in Eastern Anatolia. In: M. Frangipane, H. Hauptmann, M. Liverani, P. Matthiae & M. Mellink (Eds.) Between the Rivers and over the Mountains, Archaeologica Anatolica et Mesopotamica Alba Palmieri Dedicata. Rome 1993, pp. 573-599.
• Alba Palmieri: Excavations at Arslantepe (Malatya). Anatolian Studies 31, XIII-XVI, 1981, pp 101-119.
• Alba Palmieri: Excavations at Arslantepe, 1983. VI. Kazı Sonuçlari Toplantisi, Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, Ankara 1984, pp. 71-78.
• Alba Palmieri: Eastern Anatolia and early Mesopotamian urbanization: Remarks on changing relations. In: M. Liverani, Alba Palmieri, R. Peroni (eds.): Studi di Paletnologia in Onore di Salvatore M. Puglisi. Universida di Roma La Sapienza, Roma 1985, pp. 191-213.
• Marcella Frangipane: Arslantepe-Malatya: A Prehistoric and Early Historic Center in Eastern Anatolia In Sharon R. Steadman, Gregory McMahon (Eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia , 2011.

Web links

Commons : Arslantepe  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Turkish Cultural Foundation - Arslantepe
• UNESCO

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Marcella Frangipane: Arslantepe-Malatya: A Prehistoric and Early Historic Center in Eastern Anatolia In Sharon R. Steadman, Gregory McMahon (Eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia , 2011, p. 968
2. ↑ Marcella Frangipane: Arslantepe-Malatya: A Prehistoric and Early Historic Center in Eastern Anatolia In Sharon R. Steadman, Gregory McMahon (Eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia , 2011, pp. 971-972.
3. ↑ Marcella Frangipane: Arslantepe-Malatya: A Prehistoric and Early Historic Center in Eastern Anatolia In Sharon R. Steadman, Gregory McMahon (Eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia , 2011, pp. 972-974.
4. ↑ Marcella Frangipane: Arslantepe-Malatya: A Prehistoric and Early Historic Center in Eastern Anatolia In Sharon R. Steadman, Gregory McMahon (Eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia , 2011, pp. 974-980.
5. ^ Alba Palmieri: Excavations at Arslantepe, 1983. VI. Kazı Sonuçlari Toplantisi, Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, Ankara 1984, pp. 71-78.
6. ↑ Marcella Frangipane: Arslantepe-Malatya: A Prehistoric and Early Historic Center in Eastern Anatolia In Sharon R. Steadman, Gregory McMahon (Eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia , 2011, pp. 980-982.
7. ↑ Marcella Frangipane: Arslantepe-Malatya: A Prehistoric and Early Historic Center in Eastern Anatolia In Sharon R. Steadman, Gregory McMahon (Eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia , 2011, p. 982.
8. ^ Rüdiger Kurth: The "royal grave" of Arslantepe. Seminar for Prehistory and Protohistory at the University of Marburg, advanced seminar: Early rulers' graves in the Eastern Mediterranean, November 2003.
9. ↑ Marcella Frangipane: Arslantepe-Malatya: A Prehistoric and Early Historic Center in Eastern Anatolia In Sharon R. Steadman, Gregory McMahon (Eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia , 2011, pp. 982-984.
10. ↑ Marcella Frangipane: Arslantepe-Malatya: A Prehistoric and Early Historic Center in Eastern Anatolia In Sharon R. Steadman, Gregory McMahon (Eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia , 2011, pp. 984-985.
11. ^ ^{A b} Marcella Frangipane: Arslantepe-Malatya: A Prehistoric and Early Historic Center in Eastern Anatolia In Sharon R. Steadman, Gregory McMahon (Eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia , 2011, pp. 985-986.
12. ↑ ^{a b} Marcella Frangipane: MELID.B In: Bruno Meissner , Erich Ebeling , Wolfram von Soden , Dietz-Otto Edzard , Michael P. Streck (eds.): Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Aräologie  8, Berlin, Leipzig. Pp. 47-48.
13. ↑ John David Hawkins : Melid A In: Bruno Meissner , Erich Ebeling , Wolfram von Soden , Dietz-Otto Edzard , Michael P. Streck (eds.): Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Aräologie  8, Berlin, Leipzig. Pp. 35-41.
14. ^ Corrado Alvaro : Malatya-Melid. Reconstruction of the Iron Age Architectural Remains According to Recent Excavations In: Roger Matthews , John Curtis (Ed.): Proceedings of the 7th International Congress on the Archeology of the Ancient Near East, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2012, ISBN 978-3-447- 06686-0 , pp. 343-355.
15. ↑ John David Hawkins : Melid A In: Bruno Meissner , Erich Ebeling , Wolfram von Soden , Dietz-Otto Edzard , Michael P. Streck (eds.): Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Aräologie  8, Berlin, Leipzig. P. 38. In the museum catalog, however, a king "Tarhunza" is given.
16. ↑ Winfried Orthmann : Investigations on late Hittite art. (= Saarbrücker Contributions to Archeology, Vol. 8) Habelt, Bonn 1971 p. 90, 211 ISBN 978-3774911222
17. ↑ Marcella Frangipane: MELID.B In: Bruno Meissner , Erich Ebeling , Wolfram von Soden , Dietz-Otto Edzard , Michael P. Streck (eds.): Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Aräologie  8, Berlin, Leipzig. P. 50.
18. ↑ David George Hogarth: Note on Pre-Hellenic Finds In: Gaston Maspero (ed.): Recueil des Travaux relatifs à la Philologie et à I'Archéologie Egyptiennes et Assyriennes 17 Paris 1895 pp. 25-27.
19. ^ Benson Brush Charles: Hittite Inscriptions ( Cornell Expedition to Asia Minor ). Ithaca / New York 1911, pp. 33-49.
20. ↑ Bell Archives
21. ^ Louis Delaporte: Malatya: Fouilles de la Mission Archéologique Française. Tome 1,1: Arslantepe, La porte des lions Paris 1940. Digitized
22. ^ ^{A b} Corrado Alvaro: The Topography and Architecture at Arslantepe during the Second and First Millennia BC: Reconsidering more than 100 Years of Researches In: ORIGINI XXXIV , 2012 pp. 345-360.
23. ↑ Marcella Frangipane: Arslantepe-Malatya: A Prehistoric and Early Historic Center in Eastern Anatolia In Sharon R. Steadman, Gregory McMahon (Eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia , 2011, pp. 970-971.
24. ↑ Entry in the tentative list on the UNESCO website , archived version from July 17, 2021 (English)
25. ↑ Four natural and three cultural sites added to UNESCO's World Heritage List. UNESCO press release of July 26, 2021, accessed on the same day. (English)