Hirbemerdon Tepe is an archaeological site in Turkey located in the east of Diyarbakir Province, on the western bank of the Tigris River, east of Bismil, Turkey.Laneri, Nicola, and Jason Ur. 2010. The Hirbemerdon Tepe archaeological project 2008: a preliminary report. 31. Kazž Sonuçlarž Toplantžsž. Denizli, Turkey: Ministry of Culture and Tourism for Turkey. Archived from the original on October 9, 2023 The settlement began in the fourth millennium BCE during the Chalcolithic era, and continued to the time of the Ottoman Empire. The earliest pottery at the site is similar to the chaff-faced ware of Uruk period.
Hirbemerdon Tepe is considered to be an important archaeological site due to its strategic location near agricultural terraces by the Tigris River and local uplands. As a result, archaeologists consider it to provide valuable information on the transformation of the relationship between agricultural communities and nomadic pastoralist societies in northern Mesopotamia.
Archaeology The site was excavated from 2003 to 2011, with the majority of archaeological work occurring in 2008. The excavation occurred under the patronage of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism and in collaboration with the Archaeological Museum of Diyarbakir as well as the Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente.
Geography and geology Northern side of Hirbemerdon Tepe is bordered by both a type of dry riverbed known as a wadi, as well as a steep slope that also borders the western side of the site. This slope extends in the direction of both the Tigris River and the Batman River. Hirbemerdon Tepe was built on a continental clastic rock structure dating back to the Pliocene era. This rock structure mostly consists of whitish, light grey, or beige limestone.
The site is broken up into three sections, a high mound, an outer town, and a lower town. These areas are 4 hectares large, 3.5 hectares large, and 3 hectares large respectively. The northern section of the high mound has a karstic basin which was formed when groundwater eroded the underlying limestone foundation, which caused the upper sedimentary formation to collapse. This formed a natural basin made of rocky terrain with a large slope. To accommodate this slope, numerous artificial terraces were constructed. They were created either by cutting into the bedrock or filling the natural gaps in the terrain.
The local river terraces near the site facilitated agricultural activity, with the upland areas used for hunting and pastures.
Material culture Pottery
Large quantities of pottery and vessels were found at Hirbemerdon Tepe. Slipped or painted ware was the most common type, consisting of 72% of all examples of ware found at the area. There are two varieties of slipped/painted ware, these are known as Red Brown Wash Ware (RBWW) and Band Painted Ware (BPW). RBWW was highly burnished, with a monochrome or bichrome style, and a red or dark red color. RBWW often is made of a globular bowl with a club-shaped rim and a groove below the rim. This style of pottery was most frequently used in the site from the late 3rd millennium BCE to the 2nd millennium BCE, during the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the Iron Age. 70% of all examples of RBWW found at the site date back to the Iron Age.
Common ware and Fine ware were two other types of pottery found at Hirbemerdon Tepe. Common ware was characterized by jars with flaring rims with a flat plate, traces of burning on top, hemispherical bowls, and either ringed or flat bases. Fine ware vessels usually consist of cups and bowls with hues ranging from pale yellow to pale brown. They can have either a simple base or a ring-shaped base, some heave beaded rings and rounded bodies. Other examples of fine ware have two or three parallel and incised grooves along the mid-section of the body.
Another form of pottery commonly found at Hirbemerdon Tepe is known as Pseudo-Khabur Ware. This is due to its similarities to Khabur Ware, a type of ancient pottery found near the Khabur River. This type of ware consists of jars with a wide belly, a flanged rim, flat bases, and a restricted neck. They also have painted and decorated patterns.LANERI, Nicola & Schwartz, Mark & Valentini, Stefano & D'Agostino, Anacleto & Nannucci, Simone. (2009). The Hirbemerdon Tepe Archaeological Project . Ancient Near Eastern Studies. 46. 212-276. 10.2143/ANES.46.0.2040717. Some of the jars found at the site have cylinder seal impressions found on them. These seals could indicate some sort of organization system and a possible central administration managing the production and distribution of these materials. However, very few of these sealed inscriptions have been found. Band Painted Ware, which was another type of pottery found at the site, was a painted variant of RBWW. BPW is known for its distinctive band painted horizontally around the vessel.
Hirbemerdon Tepe began to be inhabited during the fourth millennium BCE in the Chalcolithic period. The material culture that was primarily associated with this period was a type of ware called chaff-faced ware. Chaff-faced ware is characterized by greyish-brown fabric which is often blackened due to incomplete oxidation. The most common example of chaff-faced ware is a type of bowl known as Hammerhead bowls. This type of ware consists of oblique-rimmed bowls with thickening on either the inside or both the inside and the outside. Two types of Hammerhead bowls have been identified. One is an earlier form made of a simple rim which is more rounded and less defined when compared to the later variant. The other, later, variant presents a rim with a marked thickening on both the inside and the outside.
Uruk grey ware was a common type of chaff-faced ware. Uruk grey ware is often coarse, primarily vegetal tempered, with a grey and slightly burnished surface. Dark-rimmed orange bowls are a type of ware that characterizes the Early Bronze Age. Most examples of dark-rimmed orange bowls are hemispherical in shape. They can have varying types of rims. Some examples have a slightly everted rim, others have an inverted rim. Examples of dark-rimmed orange bowls often have a reddish yellow body and a dark band with colors ranging from dark reddish gray to brown. One example of a dark-rimmed orange bowl has a series of ridges outlining the rim.
Pottery used for cooking purposes is common at Hirbemerdon Tepe. Cooking ware found at this site is characterized by jars with globular shapes, short necks, rounded rims, and triangular lugs attached to the rim. The clay used to make this type of ware is usually coarse with mica and chaff temper. It is usually of a black or red color, with a burnished surface. Cooking jars can be divided into five categories. These include; jars without a neck, jars with a low neck, jars with a very short neck, and cooking jars with a wide mouth.
Bowls
The bowls found at the site can be divided into four primary types of vessels. These include; shallow bowls, shallow and carinated bowls, deep bows, and medium-sized carinated bowls. Shallow bowls are part of the slipped category of pottery. Sometimes they are burnished or smoothed, some examples are incised or decorated. There are examples of shallow pottery with a curved profile, a thickened rim, and a flattened upper part. Some have a curved or rounded profile and a slight carination. Shallow and carinated bowls were also slipped ware, and they were also sometimes smooth and burnished. The rims of shallow bowls vary between thickened, round, pointed, and inverted. Included in the class of shallow bowls are rounded bowls with high convex walls and a rim with a rounded upper part and a flattened outer part. Shallow and carinated bowls were often slipped and could be either burnished or smoothed. Bowls of this type could have either short or thickened rims. Some shallow and carinated bowls have a "beak-shaped" rim with a flat upper part. Few examples of this type of bowl showcase incision.
Metal
Metal production was an important component of the economy and society of Hirbemerdon Tepe. This site may have been a center of metal production for the Bronze Age world. Raw or smelt materials were likely not produced at Hirbemerdon Tepe, but instead imported into the site, and transformed into another object. This is evidenced by the absence of unrefined smelt products and ores found in the area.
Nine molds in total have been found at Hirbemerdon Tepe. These molds were made using materials such as fired clay, sandstone, basalt, limestone, and steatite. The molds are divided into two subtypes. One type is a mono-valve consisting of a slab or block with a matrix shaped like the object to be cast. It was partially covered with a flat cover to reduce gassing and prevent oxidation. This type was primarily utilized for the production of ornaments and simple tools, bar ingots, and flat weapons. Matrices were also carved into the molds.
The second type of mold found at the site was made of two blocks or slabs with specular matrices. Dowels were inserted into specific holes to fix the two valves together. Thin grooves for the venting gasses and a pouring channel were placed on one side of the mold. This type was used for the production of more complex items and weapons.
Animals and agriculture
Agriculture was also an important aspect of the local economy at Hirbemerdon Tepe. Crops such as barley, lentil, medlick, grass pea, bedstraw, grapes, and emmer were important to the society of Hirbemerdon Tepe. While all of these crops likely served as both sources of food, grapes may also have been stored for long-term usage and have been used for the production of wine.
The bones of numerous animals such as pigs, cattle, red deer, goats, and caprines were also found.Berthon, Rémi. (2010). Animal Exploitation in the Upper Tigris River Valley during the Middle Bronze Age: A First Comparison of Hirbemerdon Tepe and Kenan Tepe . Red deer was the most common type of animal found at the site, making up 95% of all mammalian specimens found. These animals were likely an important part of the local economy. Caprid, cattle, and pigs were the most common sources of food found at the settlement. They represent 96%-98% of all evidence of domestic animals. Antler and deer bones found at the site imply that hunting was also a popular activity, and potentially an important aspect of the economy.
During excavations at Hirbemerdon Tepe, 31 clay animal figurines were found at the site. The figurines date to the Early Bronze Age. Few of these figurines are complete and the majority are in fragmentary condition. None of the figurines depict any animal in great anatomical detail. 28 unbaked figurines were found in a votive deposit along with other bones, ceramics, and flint. These figurines were likely not used for decorative purposes. Most of the figurines are broken and fragmented, with a few being recognizable as bulls or rams.
Architecture Early Bronze Age Much of the Early Bronze Age history of the settlement has been overwritten by Middle Bronze Age architecture and material culture. The remnants of Early Bronze Age architecture found at Hirbemerdon Tepe are primarily concentrated around the High Mound. In the northeastern part of the region, there was an ancient wall facing in an NW-SE direction. Two rooms are located to the north of the wall. One room contains a floor made of a mixture of compacted clay and stone. East of this room lies other remnants of rooms that may have functioned as silos. Remnants of ancient stone platforms likely utilized for ritual purposes were found in this area. Two stepped streets paved with pebbles and small stones, as well as rooms made of stone and compacted clay were also found at this site. Domestic architecture centered around the High Mound also began to appear during this period.
Middle Bronze Age