Türlü Höyük
Turlu Hoyuk · Tell Turlu
EB I–III → MBA → LBA → Iron Age (3000–700 BCE)·Syro-Anatolian EBA (Euphrates tradition) → Amorite → Mitanni/Hittite·🇹🇷 Gaziantep Province, Oğuzeli District, Sajur Plain, Turkey
About
About Türlü Höyük
Türlü Höyük is a 15 m EB–Iron Age tell on the Sajur tributary of the Euphrates — EB I–III urban centre (c.3000–2300 BCE), MBA Amorite fortifications and LB Hittite-Mitanni contested levels, excavated 1998–2001 by Scott Branting (Chicago-Tübingen) in Carchemish sector salvage. Planned EB streets with Euphrates black-burnished and metallic wares, MBA rampart with glacis, LB cuneiform bulla. Buried lower town 20 ha (magnetometry) behind Iron Age mound. Connects Carchemish to Aleppo plain urbanization.
Why it mattersDocuments EB urbanism between Carchemish and Ebla and LB MIT-Hittite frontier oscillation — largest Sajur plain centre before Carchemish dominance.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Was EB town an Ebla dependency or independent Sajur polity?
- 02Glacis as Hurrian vs Hittite engineering?
Theories
- 01Cooper Euphrates urban hierarchy vs Peltenburg Carchemish primacy
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.3000 BCE EB I town; EB III walls c.2600 BCE; MBA rampart c.1800 BCE
- Period
- EB I–III → MBA → LBA → Iron Age (3000–700 BCE)
- Culture
- Syro-Anatolian EBA (Euphrates tradition) → Amorite → Mitanni/Hittite
- Builders
- Euphrates EBA urbanists → Amorite fortifiers → Mitanni/Hittite garrisons
- Purpose
- Sajur crossing fort and Carchemish south route control
- Abandoned
- c.700 BCE Iron Age decline with Assyrian annexation
- Rediscovered
- Surveyed 1996 Carchemish, excavated 1998–2001 Branting
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1998
Branting STEM magnetometry maps 20 ha lower town
2001
LB bulla and Mitanni ware published
On the ground
Structures & features
36.8500° N · 37.4200° E · 520 m · 3 mapped features
EB III city wall
fortificationEB stone-socle wall with planned streets
36.8502° N · 37.4202° EMBA glacis rampart
fortificationAmorite glacis with ditch
36.8500° N · 37.4200° ELower town mag anomaly (NW)
geophysical anomaly20 ha EB lower town streets
36.8510° N · 37.4180° E