©The Archaeological Settlements of Turkey - TAY Project

S 63/7 Ayngerm Yani

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S 63/7 Ayngerm Yanı
Type:
 Mound
Altitude:
 725 m
Region:
 Southeastern Anatolia
Province:
 Siirt
District:
 Kurtalan
Village:
 Ayngerm
Investigation Method:
 Survey
Period:
 Aceramic

     

Location: The site lies 34 km west of Siirt; 12 km west-southwest of district of Kurtalan; 500-800 km northeast of the village of Aynger/Ayngerm. One can get to the mound via Kurtalan-Besiri road taking the road to Ayngerm Village. The site is not labeled and does not bear a local name. It is usually cited as Ayngerm Höyügü in publications. The location code is S 63 / 7.
Geography and Environment: The 7 m high; ovoid; and shallow mound has a diameter of 125-200 m. The site lies on a dried valley bed formed by Garzan Stream. There are numerous fresh water springs and small lakes in this valley; one of which is very close to the site. The systematic survey of this mound is an appreciable piece of work conducted at a prehistoric site in the Southeastern Anatolia.
History:
Research and Excavation: The site was discovered during the Southeast Anatolian Project supported jointly by the Universities of Istanbul and Chicago under Çambel and Braidwood's direction [Benedict 1980:115]. The site is one of the most carefully surveyed sites of this survey [Whallon 1980:193-206]. It is very close to the site of Ayngern Höyük. There is 500 m between these two mounds. These two sites have been confused with each other in various publications. The site of S 63-7 has a rich chipped stone industry. Further research or excavation at the site may provide valuable information on the local Aceramic Neolithic culture.
Stratigraphy: The surface survey at this site; located very close to the site of Ayngerm; was conducted with extreme care and should be viewed as a model of excellence for other surveys. The survey yielded pre-Halaf Dark Burnished Ware as well as Chaff-Tempered Plain Ware; Ubaid and first millennium BC material.
Small Finds: Pottery: The existence of Chaff-Tempered Plain Ware and the Dark Burnished Ware suggests that there may be a Ceramic Neolithic component to this site. Chipped Stone: A total of 3;212 obsidian and 647 flint chipped stone tools and debitage products were collected. Although obsidian is the dominating raw material used in tool production; the same techniques have been applied in flint tool production. Flint tools also appear to function in the same manner. Although a few small and amorphous cores were found; the total number of cores are relatively low. In addition to large and coarsely made blades; microlith bladelets were also recovered. A number of different types of scrapers including nosed end scrapers were found. Some scrapers were formed by wear while others were formed by retouching. Many flake-like blades; truncated blades; a few burins; geometric microliths comprise other common chipped stone tools of this industry. Triangles; crescents and trapezoidal microliths as well as flint bladelets were found. Ground Stone: Stone celt fragments and a pestle fragment were found. These finds could not be assigned to a particular period.
Remains:
Interpretation and Dating: The survey conducted at this site; close to the site of Ayngerm; should be a model for other sites. Whallon; who analyzed the finds collected from the site and who studied the find densities of these artifacts; believes that there must be an Aceramic Neolithic layer beneath the Ceramic Neolithic component of the site since the obsidian and flint artifacts were found within a defined circle on the mound [Whallon 1980:204]. The upper layer is not described. This question about whether the hand-made plain ware comes from an Ubaid layer or a Middle Chalcolithic layer can not be answered until excavations are conducted. Balkan-Atli agrees that the chipped stone tools of the site S 63/7 are characteristically Aceramic Neolithic [Balkan-Atli 1994b:100].


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