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Titris Hoyuk

Titris Hoyuk (also Titriş Höyük) is an ancient Near East archaeological site in Turkey. It lies 45 kilometers north of Şanlıurfa, near the Euphrates River valley. It is a two-period site from the 3rd millennium BC. Unlike most archaeological sites in the region, the primary focus has been on excavating non-elite, mostly domestic, areas rather than elite spaces.[1] It has been suggested that the city name was Dulu in the 3rd millennium BC.[2]

Titris Hoyuk
Titris Hoyuk is located in Turkey
Titris Hoyuk
Shown within Turkey
Alternative nameTitriş Höyük
LocationTurkey
Coordinates37°28′34″N 38°40′38″E / 37.47611°N 38.67722°E / 37.47611; 38.67722
Typesettlement
History
Foundedc. 2700 BC
AbandonedEnd of 3rd millennium BC
PeriodsBronze Age
CulturesEarly Dynastic, Roman, Islamic, Medieval
Site notes
Excavation dates1991-1996, 1998-1999
ArchaeologistsGuillermo Algaze
ConditionRuined
OwnershipPublic
Public accessYes

History

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Early Bronze Age "Trinket Mould" from Titriş Höyük

The main mound, 3.3 hectares in area and rising 30 meters above the plane, was occupied from the Chalcolithic through the Islamic periods (including the Hellenistic, Roman, and Medieval periods) and has not yet been excavated.

Early Bronze

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The site was active in two periods.

Early Bronze III

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In the first, between 2700 and 2400 BC, it reached a size of 43 hectares developing in an unplanned manner from the center.[3] This was a time when other northern Mesopotamian sites also experienced significant growth including Tell Brak and Tell Mardikh. There were production areas for Canaanean blades on the outskirts.[4]

Early Bronze IV

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After a period of abandonment the second occupation period began around 2300 BC, reaching 35 hectares. This phase of development was centrally planned with regular streets and terraces.[5][6] It also gained a 3-meter wide mud brick (with stone foundations) fortification wall complete with a moat. This phase ended by the close of the 3rd millennium BC.[1] A group burial at the end of this phase has been interpreted as the result of a massacre or possibly the result of a battle.[7] In the following several centuries pit graves were cut into the abandoned buildings.[8]

A manna (duck) weight inscribed with the name of an official of the Akkadian ruler Shu-durul was recovered from a looted context.[5]

Archaeology

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Urfa museum Idols from Titriş Höyük – Bronze age 4855

Work was restricted to non-elite areas, in the Lower Town (which extends east and west of the main mound) and in the Outer Town (north of the main mound) with one sounding on the main mound. A small modern village lies adjacent to the east. Over 16 hectares of the site were subjected to a magnetometry survey. Eight seasons of excavation (with one study season) were conducted and directed by Guillermo Algaze.[9][10][11][12][13][14][15]

An Early Bronze Age lead mold used to produce lead ornaments was found at Titris Höyük. It was used to produce objects including a "pendant carving ‘in the shape of a reed hut framed with two poles, each of which are capped with a single bullhead".[16]

A notable find was a burial from the late Early Bronze age where

"a reused plastered basin found inside a room at the corner of two streets in the Outer Town. This contained 17 human crania arranged in a circle facing outwards and surrounding a pile of long bones and other body parts"[17]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Nishimura, Yoko, "North Mesopotamian Urban Neighborhoods at Titris Höyük in the Third Millennium BC", Making ancient cities: space and place in early urban societies. Andrew T. Creekmore III and Kevin D. Fisher, eds, pp. 74–110, 2014
  2. ^ Archi, Alfonso. "The Wars of Ebla at the Time of Minister Ibrium" Altorientalische Forschungen, vol. 48, no. 2, pp. 189–220, 2021
  3. ^ Nishimura, Yoko, "The North Mesopotamian Neighborhood: Domestic Activities and Household Space at Titriş Höyük", Near Eastern Archaeology, vol. 70, no. 1, pp. 53–56, 2007
  4. ^ Hartenberger, Britt, et al., "The Early Bronze Age Blade Workshop at Titriş Höyük: Lithic Specialization in an Urban Context", Near Eastern Archaeology, vol. 63, no. 1, pp. 51–58, 2000
  5. ^ a b T. Matney, "Urban planning and the archaeology of society at Early Bronze Age Titris ̧Höyük", In: D. C. Hopkins (Hrsg.), Across the Anatolian Plateau. Readings in the archaeology of ancient Turkey. The Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research 57, Boston, pp. 19–34, 2002
  6. ^ Matney, Timothy, and Guillermo Algaze, "Urban Development at Mid-Late Early Bronze Age Titriș Höyük in Southeastern Anatolia", Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, no. 299/300, pp. 33–52, 1995
  7. ^ Erdal, Ö. Dilek, "A possible massacre at early Bronze age Titriş Höyük, Anatolia", International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 22.1, pp. 1–21, 2012
  8. ^ Laneri, Nicola, "Burial Practices at Titriş Höyük, Turkey: An Interpretation", Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 66, no. 4, pp. 241–66, 2007
  9. ^ G. Algaze, A. Misir, and T. Wilkinson, "Şanlıurfa Museum/University of California Excavations and Surveys at Titris Höyük, 1991: A Preliminary Report", Anatolica 18, pp. 33–60, 1992
  10. ^ [1]Algaze, Guillermo, and Adnan Mısır, "Titriş Höyük: An Early Bronze Age Urban Center in Southeastern Anatolia, 1993", 1993 Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı vol 1, pp. 107–120, 1995
  11. ^ Algaze, G. et al., "Titris Höyük. A small EBA Urban Center in SE Anatolia. The 1994 Season", Anatolica, XXI, pp. 13–64, 1995
  12. ^ Algaze, G. et al., "Early Bronze Age Urban Structure at Titris Höyük, Southeastern Turkey. The 1995 Season", Anatolica, XXII, pp. 129–43, 1996
  13. ^ T. Matney/G. Algaze/H. Pittman, "Excavations at Titris Höyük in Southeastern Turkey: a preliminary report of the 1996 season", Anatolica 23, pp. 61–84, 1997
  14. ^ Matney, T. et al., "Early Bronze Age Urban Structure at Titris Höyük, Southeastern Turkey. The 1998 Season", Anatolica, XXV, pp. 185–202, 1999
  15. ^ [2] Algaze G, Dinckan G, Hartenberger B, Matney M, Pournelle J, Rainville L, Rosen S, Rupley E, Schlee D, Vallet R, "Research at Titris Höyük in southeastern Turkey: the 1999 season", Anatolica 27, pp. 23–106, 2001
  16. ^ Laneri, Nicola, "The Discovery of a Funerary Ritual: Inanna/Ishtar and Her Descent to the Nether World in Titriş Höyük, Turkey", East and West, vol. 52, no. 1/4, pp. 9–51, 2002
  17. ^ Bouso, Monica, "The Social Family Unit in the Light of Bronze Age Burial Customs in the Near East: An Intertextual Approach", La famille dans le Proche-Orient ancien: réalités, symbolismes et images: Proceedings of the 55e Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Paris, edited by Lionel Marti, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 69-86, 2014

Further reading

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  • Algaze, Guillermo, et al., "Early Bronze Age urbanism in southeastern Anatolia and Upper Mesopotamia: Recent analyses from Titriş Höyük", Antatolica 47, pp. 1-70, 2021
  • Honca D, Algaze G., "Preliminary report on the human skeletal remains at Titris ̧ Höyük:1991–1996 seasons", Anatolica 24, pp. 101–141, 1998
  • Benech, Christophe, "Étude croisée sur un plan d'urbanisme irrégulier du Bronze ancien: le cas de Titriş Höyük", Parcours d'Orient. Recueil de textes offert à Christine Kepinski, hrsg. v. Bérengère Perello, Aline Tenu, pp. 1-8, 2016
  • Hald, Mette Marie, "Distribution of Crops at Late Early Bronze Age Titriş Höyük, Southeast Anatolia: Towards a Model for the Identification of Consumers of Centrally Organised Food Distribution", Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 69–77, 2010
  • Hartenberger, Britt Elizabeth, "A study of craft specialization and the organization of chipped stone production at Early Bronze Age Titriş Höyük, southeastern Turkey", Disertation, Boston University, 2003
  • [3]Matney, Timothy, et al., "Understanding Early Bronze Age social structure through mortuary remains: A pilot aDNA study from Titriş Höyük, southeastern Turkey", International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 22.3, pp. 338–351, 2012
  • [4]Timothy Matney, "Infant Burial Practices as Domestic Funerary Ritual at Early Bronze Age Titriş Höyük", Near Eastern Archaeology, vol. 81, no. 3, pp. 174–81, 2018
  • Nishimura, Yoko, "Domestic Material Culture and Wealth Equality: Bronze Age Houses and Intramural Tombs at Titriş Höyük, Turkey", Near Eastern Archaeology 86.3, pp. 176-184, 2023
  • [5]Schneider, Adam William, The Perfect Storm: A New Multicausal Model of the Political Collapse of Titriş Höyük, an Early Bronze Age City-State in Southeastern Anatolia", Dissertation, University of California, San Diego, 2015
  • Schneider, Adam W., et al., "Stable carbon and oxygen isotope evidence for late third millennium BCE environmental and social change at Titriş Höyük, an Early Bronze Age urban center in the Lower Turkish Euphrates watershed", The Routledge Handbook of the Bioarchaeology of Climate and Environmental Change, Routledge, pp. 453-472, 2020
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