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©The Archaeological Settlements of Turkey - TAY Project
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Harput Kalesi |
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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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Fortress |
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Altitude:
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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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Harput |
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Village:
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Investigation Method:
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Excavation |
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Period:
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Middle Iron Age |
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| Location: It lies 5 km northeast of the provincial center of Elazig. |
| Geography and Environment: |
| History: |
| Research and Excavation: The salvage excavations at the Harput Citadel have been conducted by the Museum Directorate of Elazig under the scientific advisory of Veli Sevin. The objective of these excavations carried out since 2005 is to rescue an Ottoman neighbourhood, which was occupied from the mid-17th century to the early 20th century within the Castle of Harput, founded by Urartians in the 8th century BC [Sevin et al. 2010:373]. Excavations at Harput Kalesi has been conducted by I. Aytaç since 2015. |
| Stratigraphy: |
| Small Finds: Architectural remains: In addition to fortificational structures, there are rock signs, which have been heavily destroyed. The rock-cut channel to drain away the sacrificial blood and many rock signs on the upper section of the rocks so called Kayabasi indicate that this section was an important open-air cult center. In 2008, it was found that there was a stepped building on the road so called "Cami Caddesi(Mosque Street)", that appeared to be seated on rock-cut Urartian foundation stone cavities. Also it was found that the base of this street was largely seated on the Urartian steps carved into the bedrock where the significant public area of the neighbourhood reaches to an end [Sevin 2010:374-375].To the south of the Cami Street dividing the central quarter into two and the rock-cut Urartu building are the Workshops Group of the Western Slope. All of these buildings were also largely seated on rock-cut steplike Urartian foundations [Sevin 2010:381]. The most important discovery of the 2008 campaign is an extensive rock-cut underground water structure, probably from the Urartian Period. The water structure lies 10 m west-northwest of the Kale Mosque. The walls of the vaulted passage was erected by stones using brick-dust, measuring 1.60/1.80 m in width, 9 m in lenght and 3.50 m in height. The stepped entrance starts open at the top, and then turns into a closed tunnel of 1.80x1.80 m, deepening towards the north. It continues to descend turning to the west with a sharp elbow after 30 steps. The tunnel ends up in a cave-like chamber being partly left natural and partly dressed almost after step 80. On the northern façade of the cave, which has a dimension of 8x10 m, there are three adjacent reservoirs carved. Each of these reservoirs are also descended by rock-cut steps [Sevin et al. 2010:382-383]. Pottery: The surveys in thex vicinity of the fortress yielded limited number of the sherds belonging to the Urartian royal ceramics known as "Bianili Ceramics" as well as Urartian ceramics. |
| Remains: |
| Interpretation and Dating: Presence of similar Urartian water constructions are already known in Palu (Sebeteria) and Deliktas, which has been inundated by the waters of the Karakaya Dam Lake, and the Habibusagi Castle near Kömürhan. It appears that the Urartians who dominated the region of Harput and its surrounding from 800 BC had built an extensive castle in Harput based on the stairs-like foundation holes carved into the bedrock and the open rock structure [Sevin et al. 2010:382]. |
