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©The Archaeological Settlements of Turkey - TAY Project
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Deve Höyük I Mezarligi |
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Type:
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Cemetery |
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Altitude:
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m |
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Region:
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Southeastern Anatolia |
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Province:
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Gaziantep |
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District:
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Karkamis |
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Village:
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Devehöyük |
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Investigation Method:
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Excavation |
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Period:
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| Location: Deve Höyük is located near Kargamis in the valley, through which the Sayur tributary of the Euphrates flows, within the provincial borders of Gaziantep [Moorey 1980:1]. |
| Geography and Environment: It has a strategic location as it is close to two transit points over the Euphrates at Kargamis (Carchemish) and Tel Ahmar. Deve Höyük suffered grave damage during the invasion of the Neo Babylonian Empire at the last decade of the 7th century BC, and it was not subsequently inhabited during the period of Achaemenids [Moorey 1980:10]. |
| History: |
| Research and Excavation: Deve Höyük I is a cemetery area consisting of cremated burials, and it is earlier than the inhumation cemetery (Deve Höyük II) lying to the northeast of Deve Höyük [Moorey 1980:5]. The excavations at the cemetery of Deve Höyük were conducted in 1913 by T.E. Lawrence and C.L. Woolley on behalf of the British Museum. Majority of the artefacts recovered during the excavations mainly belongs to an inhumation cemetery (Deve Höyük II) dated to the 5th century BC. Those artefacts were taken to England in 1913, and shared among the Museums of Ashmolean, Oxford, British, Fitzwilliam and Cambridge as well as the Museum of Merseyside County and a museum at Berlin [Moorey 1980:ii]. |
| Stratigraphy: The Deve Höyük Cemetery I is dated to the Late Iron Age (III), i.e. 750/725-550 BC while the Deve Höyük Cemetery II belongs to the Persian Period (550-330 BC). Late Iron Age is represented by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo Babylonian hegemony, which were initiated with the expeditions of Assyrian King Sargon II during the last quarter of the 8th century BC in the Carchemish Region [Moorey 1980, 4]. |
| Small Finds: Pottery: Pottery of Deve Höyük I has no significance other than introducing the Late Iron Age material in the Carchemish Region. Paste characteristics of local ceramics are no different than the Hama ware. Imported Phrygian pottery samples and "Cypriot-Phoenician" jugs contribute to the understanding export relationships of Carchemish. Although glazed ceramics represent a small part of the pottery repertoir, they are indications of a relationship with Mesopotamia [Moorey 1980:11]. The urns at Deve Höyük I are generally simple, undecorated vessels, but painted samples are also available. Urns were closed by a small plate made of clay or decorated bowl in bronze; then, it was topped by a reversely placed bell crater, and as mostly observed, by a large piece of terracotta basin. Woolley classifies vessels found in the cremation cemeteries in five groups including vessels exported from Cyprus and Greek islands; local, painted bell craters; long-neck and narrow rim painted urns; tripod vessels; and small vessels with trefoil mouth [Moorey 1980:5]. Grave: Woolley proposes that the cremation cemeteries in the Carchemish Region had been in use from the late 7th century BC until the conquest of the region by the Neo-Babylonians. However, according to the outcomes of the excavations conducted by Woolley in the city at Carchemish, cremation graves at Carchemish Region, Hama and Deve Höyük I should not have been dated later than the Assyrian conquests. In other words, majority of the Deve Höyük I graves are dated to the 8th century BC while a few are dated to the 7th century BC [Moorey 1980, 5]. Cremation cemetery yielded several forms of vessels such as double handled urn, plate, bowl, bowl on pedestal, juglet, hydria, pilgrim, spouted pot, pot, Phrygian jug, "Bes" face jug and jug with an anthropomorphic neck [Moorey 1980:12-20]. Metal: No metal sample was found at Deve Höyük although metal vessels were recovered from contemporary cremation graves in the region [Moorey 1980:28]. Stone: Several volcanic stones and steatite represent main type of materials used in the stonewares dating to the 9th and 8th centuries BC, and recovered from the cremation burials. Stone vessels in the form of shallow bowls, circular plates ve kohl box were found [Moorey 1980:44-45]. Bone: Similar to goods at cremation graves of Carchemish and Hama, bone kohl tubes were found in the graves at Deve Höyük I [Moorey 1980:95-96]. Clay: Small finds were left into the urns along with bones, usually Cypriot horses or riders for boys, and figurines or dolls made of clay for girls. [Moorey 1980:5,100,102]. Seal: Cremation cemetery yielded cylindirical seals dating to the 9th or 8th century BC in the Neo-Assyrian style with unknown origin; cylindrical seals in tile, steatite and serpentine in the local Syrian style dating to the early 1st Millennium BC; and a Babylonian type of seal dating to the late 8th century and 7th century BC. |
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