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©The Archaeological Settlements of Turkey - TAY Project
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Boy Tepe |
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For site maps and drawings please click on the picture...  |
For photographs please click on the photo...  |
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Type:
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Mound |
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Altitude:
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910 m |
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Region:
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Eastern Anatolia |
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Province:
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Elazig |
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District:
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Merkez |
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Village:
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Degirmenönü |
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Investigation Method:
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Survey |
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Period:
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Aceramic |
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| Location: This site is located approximately 40 km east-southeast of the city of Elazig; south of the Elazig-Bingöl highway and near the village of Degirmenönü (Zerteriç); a district of the Içme Municipality. The location of the site is known as Kiraç. North of the site is dam reservoir; west is Körtepe and Norsuntepe mounds. The survey code of the site is O 55 / 3. |
| Geography and Environment: This is a mound; partially flooded by the Keban Dam Lake; lying in the southeast corner of the Altinova Plain and on the northern flanks and terraces of Mount Mastar. Although the mound appears to look like an open-air site; it is actually comprised of several layers and is a fairly large and flat mound. The dimensions of the base are 150 m southeast-northwest and 50 m southwest-northeast while the height is approximately 2 m in the southeast [Whallon 1979:246]. The Murat Spring flows by the foot of the mound. Boy Tepe is comprised of two different topological characteristics. The southeastern corner is flat on top and is surrounded by rock scatters while there are several terraces on the northern and northwestern sides of the mound. The terraces might have been artificially created for agricultural fields and the scatters of rock might have been laid to prevent erosion. |
| History: |
| Research and Excavation: The site was discovered in 1967 by R. Whallon and S. Kantman during the surface survey they conducted to search for sites in the area expected to be flooded by the Keban Dam Lake. Several other surveys were conducted by the research team of the nearby Altinova excavations. The chipped stone tools from this site; assigned to the Aceramic Neolithic; have been analyzed and published by N. Balkan-Atli [Balkan-Atli 1989:87-90]. The Norsuntepe excavation team also conducted a surface survey on this site. |
| Stratigraphy: Whallon and Kantman report that the survey yielded material dating to the Pre-pottery Neolithic Period as well as Early Bronze Age I-II; Hittite and Roman Period ceramics and a few Chalcolithic and Iron Age sherds. The finds were scattered on the surface of the mound. The high number of separate layers on such a low and flat mound is surprising. This may be due to the heavy erosion that this mound; located on the sloping flanks of Mount Mastar faced. The site is of extra importance because it is currently the only Aceramic Neolithic site yet to have been found in the Elazig Province. A scientific excavation has not yet been conducted because the site was not within the area expected to be flooded by the dam lake. |
| Small Finds: Chipped Stone: Of the 899 chipped stone finds collected by Balkan-Atli; 848 are obsidian while the remaining 51 are flint. Of the 288 tools collected; 96 characteristically fit within the Çayönü horizon style. The second largest group of tools at the site is the microlith tools. Perforators; blades; scrapers; burins as well as retouched blades and flakes have been found. In addition to these tools; there is a large number of debitage products and other fragments. The number of cores recovered is low. |
| Remains: |
| Interpretation and Dating: Several similarities have been observed between this site; which has been assigned to the Aceramic Neolithic B (PPNB); and other contemporaneous sites in the region such as Cafer Höyük and Çayönü. |
