EXCAVATIONS AT KAVUŞAN HÖYÜK, DIYARBAKIR

 

The Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) initiated by the Turkish Government has served as a milestone in improving both the region and the country. The project includes the construction of dams on the Euphrates (Carchemish Dam) and Tigris (Ilısu Dam) rivers in order to control water resources. But, the region has a very important historical and cultural heritage that needs to be protected and recorded.

Construction work at the dam reservoirs has already began and therefore it is imperative to document the archaeological sites which will be under the dam reservoirs. However, between 1988-1989, 250 archaeological sites were discovered during the surveys conducted under the direction of G. Algaze within the area of the dam reservoirs.

Considering the urgency of the case, under the coordination of Middle East Technical University at Ankara, Centre for Research and Assessment of the Historic Environment (TAÇDAM in Turkish acronym), the “Documentation and Salvage Project of the Archaeological Heritage of the Ilısu and Carchemish Dam Reservoirs” has been in progress since 1998 and  some Turkish, German, Italian and American universities, the German Archaeological Institute, and the French Anatolian Research Institute have started the excavations in the region.

 

 

Kavuşan Höyük was first identified and recorded  in 1989 by G.Algaze during his multi-year survey project along the Tigris river and its tributaries, before the construction of  the Ilısu Dam. The site lies in the area to be flooded  by the dam reservoir. Here in front of the mound, the Tigris river runs west to east and cuts through a series of low terraces which rise on both sides of  the wide flood plain. The terraces overlooking the plain are dotted with many archaeological sites and attesting to a long occupation of this river valley.

Kavuşan Höyük is one of those rescue excavations in the Upper Tigris region. It is a small (175 x 75 x 8 m)  multi-period mound located on the south bank of the Tigris, just east  of  the confluence of the Tigris and Şeyhan Rivers in the province of Diyarbakır in the  Southeastern Turkey. It’s about 10 km. east of the modern town of Bismil, within the boundaries of Yenice Köyü-İnardı Mezrası. It is situated on alluvial and arable lands, has good water resources.

The intensive surface survey and excavations done at Kavusan Hoyuk since 2000 have provided evidence for an occupational history spanning the Late Chalcolithic through the Middle Age (c. 3300 BC - AD 800). The uppermost levels of the site are heavily destroyed by graves dating to Middle Age and recent large-scale agricultural activities. The mound was used only as a cemetery during this final period. The Late Bronze and Middle Bronze Ages are the most significant periods of occupation on the mound.

In addition to a 2 x 5 m sondage on the lower parts of the south slope which is used for cultivation today, a total of five 10 x 10 m trenches were opened on the mound during the years of 2001 and 2002.  

The first building level that had been revealed in all the trenches at Kavuşan Hoyuk dates to the Medieval period and can be divided into two phases. The earlier phase is represented by walls constructed by using roughly worked river stones and a mud mortar, stone paving on floors and a large number of pits. This phase had been mostly destroyed by the burials of the later phase. During the later phase, the mound had been only used as a cemetery which may be belong to a settlement founded on the other side of Şeyhan Çay.

A mud floor, extending southwards from the highest level of the mound with a 0.5 m incline had been observed at certain parts of the mound, as well as mud walls and mud-brick debris, belonging to the second building level. During the excavation in 2002, an one-handled jug with wavy line decoration between inverted triangles and horizontal bands executed in red paint was revealed. The pot due to its typical decoration named as “Triangle Ware” is believed to belong to the Late Iron Age depending on its parallels found in a neighboring site, Üçtepe. It’s an important find for the dating of this building level. This level was not represented by architecture in certain trenches on the mound. It can be concluded that these areas were occupied by silos. However, the 2002 excavations revealed a total of 12 pits in F 15 only, with diameters of 0.90 – 2 m. These pits were mostly used for storage purposes and this comment was supported by flotation of soil samples taken from the pits which revealed various types of carbonised grain, mostly wheat. 

The third building level was revealed as debris since the level had been seriously damaged by the pits of the upper level. This deposit had the character of a dense light-coloured mud and was between 75 cm and 1 m in thickness. The architecture of the level was composed of a mud floor, a mortar, a three-sectioned bin made of mudbricks and an ash pit. Within one of the sections of the bin, 13 in situ clay spindle-whorls were uncovered. It’s a clear indication for the function of this activity area. The pottery found on the floor are comprised of Late Assyrian forms whereas parallels for which are known from Northern Iraq.

There is clear evidence that the prehistoric settlements of the 3rd millennium and earlier at Kavuşan Höyük extended over the north part of the mound that was later destroyed by the river. Dark-rimmed orange bowls are dating to the end of the 3rd millennium or the very beginning of the 2nd millennium; in the period during which these were used, the settlement on the mound most probably suffered some kind of a damage caused by the Tigris, and the mound was covered with a pebbles-sand-and- clay layer. The building level which is above this fairly thick layer of fill, yielded Mittanian-Middle Assyrian pottery, which at this stage, is difficult to differentiate clearly in terms of phases.  There were probably more than one Late Bronze Age phase at Kavuşan Höyük. However, a recent stratigraphical analysis shows that at least 3 or 4 levels can be distinguished during this period at the site. The final phase of Late Bronze Age below the Early Iron Age is mainly represented by typical wheelmade pottery of Middle Assyrian levels that show similarities to the sites in northern Iraq and Syria. Due to the architectural remains uncovered in Middle Assyrian levels reveal that they had very simple domestic structures probably made in wattle-and-daub techniques and combined with a row of stones to make it more stable.Today it’s possible to see  similar types of simple structures in the region where the whole family lives with their animals from April up to December. The data excavated so far at Kavusan Hoyuk gave us a picture of a hamlet for the Late Bronze Age.

 

 

The typical Early Iron Age pottery with grooved rims, generally found in the pits, show that Eastern Anatolian characteristics were prevalent in the vicinity during this period, too. However, one of the most important results is determining a culture of hand-made, coarse grooved ware, with a northern influence, was represented on the mound. The Early Iron Age in the Upper Tigris region corresponds approximately to the period between the end of the Late Bronze Age which is the middle of the 11th century and the beginning of Assyrian domination with the reign of Ashurnasirpal II which corresponds to the beginning of 9th century B.C.The grooved pottery found in the region should be dated to this period, so called “Dark Ages”.

There is evidence in some  trenches on the mound that the flood of the Tigris river had affected Kavuşan, as well as other sites close to the river bed. There is a 50 cm thick layer, spreading over the whole surface at a depth of 2 m.  made up of pebbles, sand and clay. Within this layer remains such as ceramics, ash and animal bones were found. Beneath was observed the presence of a cultural soil. Therefore it appears that the fourth building level was cut into this layer at a depth of 2 – 2.20 m that covered the earlier levels, was represented by traces of burnt mud brick, possibly the remains of a wall. The mud brick wall extended in the east-west direction; however, in the 2002 season, we were unable to determine the face of the wall. The dark-rimmed orange bowls among the pottery assemblages help to date this level. If there was a flood or overflowing of the river that affected the settlement area, this event must have been occurred at the end of the 3rd millennium or at the very beginning of the 2nd millennium B.C. which is the period during this type of pottery was prevalent. Following this devastation, most probably from the beginning of the 2nd millennium onwards, the settlement on the mound must have moved towards the south.