Taşlı Geçit Höyük, an important Bronze Age and Iron Age site in the Islahiye Valley, Turkey
Taşlı Geçit Höyük is a 4.5 ha site located in the Islahiye valley at the western fringes of the Gaziantep province (South-East Turkey). Since 1974, due to the construction of the Tahtaköprü reservoir dam, Taşlı Geçit Höyük suffered for the seasonal flooding which began to deeply erode its lower flanks. In order to document and protect it, between 2009 and 2010 a Turco-Italian expedition directed by Nicolò Marchetti (University of Bologna), who had first recorded the site in 2004, started a two years project of rescue archaeological and geophysical investigations.
The excavation provided substantial evidence of a long-term occupation spanning over three millennia from the Bronze Age until the Hellenistic period. Of particular relevance are the Middle Bronze IB period (1900-1800 BCE) when the city was unfortified but extensively settled, the Late Bronze I (1600-1400 BCE), when Taşlı Geçit Höyük became an important fortified centre characterized by élite buildings and crowned by a massive defense system and the Iron Age III (7th century BCE) when parts of the site were reoccupied in the context of Neo Assyrian rural exploitment.
The objective of the grant is to complete the study of the stratigraphic sequence and the development of the urban layout at the site as well as to shed light on the changes in the cultural landscape of the Islahiye valley through time. The entire documentation will be made available through an open-access online database including all the pottery and small finds from the site (R-Dig) and a WebGIS proving information on the historical development of the Islahiye valley (OrientGIS) which are both part of the OrientLab.net platform. Moreover, the final report of 2009-2010 excavations will provide a detailed stratigraphic, architectural and urban analysis of the site during the entire period of its occupation.
The publication project is directed by Dr. Federico Zaina.
