VAN-DİLKAYA

 

The Dilkaya mound is located in the village of Dilkaya,35 km. south of the modern town of VAN,on the eastern shores of Lake Van in Eastern Anatolia.

        

 It is one of the very limited  Early Bronze Age mound with  Early and Middle Iron Age settlements in the Lake Van Basin. The Iron Age and Medieval cemetery , which yielded  hundreds of graves in various types , is of interest regarding pre_Urartian and Urartian burial customs.

Eight years of excavations at Dilkaya since 1984 have demonstrated that the mound had three main occupation levels including the Early Bronze Age II and III, the Early and Middle Iron Ages and the Medieval period. The Early Bronze Age II and III , otherwise known as Early Transcaucasian II(c. 2600-2300 B.C.) and III(c.2300-1800/1700 B.C.), are characterized by circular houses, dark faced and burnished pottery with relief and incised decorations  and  finger-pierced lugs.  No metal artifacts  have been found  at these levels. Obsidian from the Suphan Mountain on the northern shore  of Lake Van was widely used to produce different kinds of tools and weapons. Many spindle whorls, made of animal bones, clay, and wood,  clearly show that the textile industry was heavily practised at Dilkaya.

 

There is a hiatus between the Early Bronze Age III and Early Iron Age levels. Since very little architectural remains were unearthed at the mound itself, owing to the human destruction in the past, characteristic features of this level were mainly obtained from the cemetery area. The pottery of this era is usually pale brown, brown, and red with grooves on the shoulder and rim. Deep and carinated bowls and small jars were common. Similar pottery came out from the recent surveys of the Elaziğ region. Cremation and inhumation were used at the Early Iron Age graves. Simple  stone cist graves and chamber tombs are two main practices. Vessels in various forms and iron artifacts are the burial offerings found in the graves. The Early Iron Age levels and graves at Dilkaya should belong to a time-span of  1100-1000 B.C.

 

 Dilkaya was settled by the Urartians during the Middle Iron Age (c.1100/1000-800 B.C.). Although similar pottery forms and colors were common in these levels ,the red-polished Urartian ware became dominant.  Small finds,including  cylinder and stamp seals, bronze bracelets with snake terminals, and decorated bronze belts, have came out from the Urartian levels, graves and urns.

 

The site was  occupied again in the Middle Ages after a long- lasting gap following the Urartian era. This event should have taken place in the 10th. century A.D. , according to some  anonymous Byzantine bronze coins. Medieval occupation has a number of sub-levels, demonstrating that this era  lasted for a  long period, plausibly until the Ottomans. The Medieval people  buried their dead in simple sand-graves or rectangular cist graves with stone slabs , simply constructed with mud-bricks. Very humble grave offerings ,showing the economic level of the people, came out from the graves.

 

Publications:

A. Çilingiroğlu, "Van-Dilkaya Höyüğü Ön Çalışması", II. Araştırma Sonuçları Toplantısı, 1984, İzmir, 159-161.

A. Çilingiroğlu, "Van-Dilkaya Höyüğü 1984 Yılı Kazıları", II. Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı,1985, Ankara, 151-162.

A. Çilingiroğlu, "Van- Dilkaya Höyüğü Kazıları 1985",  VII. Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı I, 1986, Ankara, 81-94.

A. Çilingiroğlu, "Van-Dilkaya Höyüğü Kazısı", IX. Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı I, 1987, Ankara, 229-247.

A. Çilingiroğlu, "Van-Dilkaya Höyüğü 1987 Kazısı", X. Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı I, 1988, Ankara, 261-272.

A. Çilingiroğlu, "Van-Dilkaya Höyüğü  Kazıları, 1988", XI. Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı I, 1989, Antalya, 247-254.

A. Çilingiroğlu, " Van- Dilkaya Höyüğü Kazıları, 1989", XII Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı I, 1990, Ankara, 271-276.

A. Çilingiroğlu, "Van-Dilkaya Höyüğü Kazısı, 1990", XIII Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı I, 1991, Çanakkale, 403-422.

The excavations of Dilkaya close down in 1991. Final publication is about to publish;

A.Cilingiroglu, ‘’Van-Dilkaya Hoyugu Kazilari:Kapanis’’, XIV. Kazı Sonucları Toplantısı I,Ankara,1993, 29-38.