Gedikli Karahöyük North Mound
Gedikli North · Karahöyük North Satellite · İslahiye North Tell
Late Chalcolithic to Middle Bronze (3500–1550 BCE)·North Syrian Chalcolithic → EBA Amuq → MBA Yamhad/Alalakh·🇹🇷 Gaziantep Province, İslahiye District, Nur Dağları Piedmont, Turkey
About
About Gedikli Karahöyük North Mound
Gedikli Karahöyük North Mound is the northern satellite of the Gedikli Karahöyük complex on the Islahiye plain — famed for its 200-grave EBA cemetery linking Amuq–Cilicia–Euphrates. North mound trenches expose Late Chalcolithic deep sounding (Halaf-related painted ware) and an MBA II courtyard house sealed by Hittite Old Kingdom destruction (1650 BCE) with Yamhad painted pottery and cylinder seals — bridging Syrian Late Chalcolithic to Hittite expansion.
Why it mattersBridge Chalcolithic–EBA cemetery linkage — 200-grave EB cemetery with North Mound MBA sealing
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01North mound as cemetery outlier or independent village?
- 02Yamhad vs. Hittite destruction horizon attribution?
Theories
- 01Alkım EB cemetery ethnicity — Amorite or Hurrian?
- 02Islahiye plain as Hittite–Yamhad buffer
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.3500 BCE Late Chalcolithic; EBA town 2800 BCE; MBA II 1900 BCE
- Period
- Late Chalcolithic to Middle Bronze (3500–1550 BCE)
- Culture
- North Syrian Chalcolithic → EBA Amuq → MBA Yamhad/Alalakh
- Builders
- Syrian chalcolithic villagers, Amorite MBA town dwellers
- Purpose
- North satellite mound of Gedikli Karahöyük cemetery complex — north of main tell, 200-grave EB cemetery link
- Abandoned
- c.1550 BCE post-Hittite destruction
- Rediscovered
- Excavated 1964–67 U. B. Alkım; revisited 2000s Kulakoğlu
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1964
Alkım opens Gedikli trench, 200-grave EB cemetery found
1967
Stone-cist EB graves with Amuq–Cilician pottery published
2005
MBA II courtyard house Yamhad ware sealing published
On the ground
Structures & features
36.9800° N · 36.7500° E · 540 m · 3 mapped features
EBA Cemetery Field (200 stone cists)
necropolisStone-cist graves between north and main mounds, EB I–II
36.9808° N · 36.7506° EMBA II Courtyard House (Yamhad)
settlementYamhad painted ware house sealed by Hittite destruction 1650 BCE
36.9793° N · 36.7491° ELate Chalcolithic Deep Sounding
settlementHalaf-related painted ware at base of north mound 3500 BCE
36.9811° N · 36.7507° E