Üçtepe Höyük is an ancient Near East archaeological site in Diyarbakır Province, Turkey about 40 kilometers southeast of the modern city of Diyarbakır and about 10 kilometers southwest of modern Bismil. The village of Üçtepe is nearby. It was occupied from the Late Early Bronze Age until the Roman period and is notable as the discovery location of the Kurkh Monoliths. The ancient site of Ziyaret Tepe lies 22 kilometers to the west. Matney, Timothy, et al, "Eighteen years on the frontiers of Assyria: the Ziyaret Tepe Archaeological Project", West & East, 2020 Other archaeological sites in the area include Pir Hüseyin, Kenan Tepe, Hirbemerdon Tepe, Salat Tepe, Giricano, and Sahin Tepe (Müslüman Tepe).Erarslan, Alev, "Local Settlement Transitions in Southeastern Anatolia during the Late Third and Early Second Millennium BC", Altorientalische Forschungen, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 268-292, 2009Peasnall, Brian L., and Guillermo Algaze, "The Survey of Pir Hüseyin, 2004", Anatolica 36, pp. 165-195, 2010Ökse, A. Tuba, "Salat Tepe and its Vicinity in the Middle Bronze Age: Stratigraphic Sequence and Ceramic Assemblages", The Archaeology of Political Spaces: The Upper Mesopotamian Piedmont in the Second Millennium BCE, edited by Dominik Bonatz, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 151-166, 2014
Archaeology Üçtepe Höyük covers an area about 400 meters in diameter with a height of about 44 meters, about 12.5 hectares in total. The main mound is about 200 meters by 189 meters in extent.
The site (at that time called Kurkh) was first excavated by John George Taylor in 1861 to 1863 and again in 1866 observing "a high mound and a cluster of lower heaps about its base, situated at the eastern end of an elevated platform evidently the site of a large town on the right bank of the Tigris" with the high mound topped by a large Parthian fort "about a mile in circumference". In the soil by the fort Taylor found the two Neo-Assyrian period Kurkh Monoliths, dating to the reigns of Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 BC) and his son Shalmaneser III. Taylor, J. G., "Travels in Kurdistan, with Notices of the Sources of the Eastern and Western Tigris, and Ancient Ruins in their Neighbourhood", Journal of Royal Geographical Society 35, pp. 21-58, 1865 Taylor, J. G., "Journal of a Tour in Armenia, Kurdistan and Upper Mesopotamia, with Notes of Researches in the Deyrsim Dagh in 1866", Journal of Royal Geographical Society 38, pp. 281-361, 1868 The site (referred to as Kirkh) was next examined, during an area survey, by Albert T. Olmstead in 1907. Olmstead, A. T., "The Calculated Frightfulness of Ashur nasir Apal", Journal of the American Oriental Society 38, pp. 209-263, 1918
The Üçtepe Höyük was excavated between 1988 and 1992 by a joint Diyarbakır Archaeological Museum and Istanbul University team led by Veli Sevin. Using step trench excavation on the east side of the main mound they found that the top 7 to 8 meters of the mound dated to the Roman and Hellenistic periods and the next lowest 4 meter layer dated to the Neo-Assyrian period. One Middle-Assyrian (Stratum 9) grave was found bearing grave goods including eight gold earrings and an engraved cylindrical bone box. In total 12 trenches were excavated on the mound, 3 on the northwest, 1 on the north, 6 on the southeast, 1 on the south, and 1 on the west. The main focus of the excavation was on the Neo-Assyrian period.Erim, Kenan, et al., "Recent Archaeological Research in Turkey", Anatolian Studies, vol. 39, pp. 175–85, 1989
During the excavations 23 Classical period coins were found.Tekin, Oguz, "The Coins from Üçtepe with a Problematic Emission of Tigranes the Younger", Epigraphica Anatolica, vol. 20, pp. 43-53, 1992 A cuneiform tablet, from the reign of Shalmaneser I (c. 1273–1244 BC), was also discovered.
History Üçtepe Höyük was occupied from the Late Early Bronze Age until the Roman Imperial period. The excavators defined 13 stratigraphic layers. Virgin soil was not reached and Chalcolithic (4th millennium BC) pottery sherds were found on the surface. Excavation area of the Early Bronze layers was very small while for the Middle Bronze the area was 17.5 meters by 7.5 meters permitting the identification of monumental construction with 2 meter wide walls and wide corridors. Özfırat, A., "Üçtepe and Diyarbakır Area During the Early-Middle Bronze Ages", Looking North: The Socio-economic Dynamics of the Northern Mesopotamian and Anatolian Regions during the Late Third and Early Second Millenium BC, Proceedings of the Workshop organized at 6th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (ICAANE), (Rome, 05-10 May 2008), (Eds. N. Laneri, P. Pfälzner, S. Valentini), Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, pp. 117-126, 2012 Stratum 13 – Early Bronze Age III Stratum 12 – Early Bronze Age IV Stratum 11 – Middle Bronze Age. Monumental building. Stratum 10 – Late Bronze Age. Domestic occupation only Stratum 9 – Middle Assyrian. Single building with 2 floor levels. Stratum 8 – Early Neo-Assyrian Stratum 7 – Late Neo-Assyrian. Substantial building. Stratum 5-6 – Hellenistic period Stratum 1-4 – Roman Imperial
Ancient name Initially, in 1865, the Üçtepe Höyük was identified by Henry Rawlinson as the Neo-Assyrian city of Tooskan (Tushhan). The modern excavators of the site supported that identification. Şevket Dönmez, "An Overview on the Excavations at Üçtepe Höyük (Ancient Tušḫan). The 1988-1992 Excavations Seasons", Proceedings of the 61e Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Geneva and Bern, 22–26 June 2015 (Eds. P. Attinger/A. Cavigneaux/C. Mittermayer/M. Novak). Leuven, pp. 139-146, 2018 At one point the site was proposed to be Tidu, a Neo-Assyrian satellite of Tušḫan and with the Mitanni period Ta’idu.Kessler, K., "Untersuchungen zur historischen Topographie Nordmesopotamiens", Nach keilschriftlichen Quellen des 1. Jahrtausends v. Chr. TAVO Bh. B 26. Wiesba, 1980Radner, Karen, "Das mittelassyrische Tontafelarchiv von Giricano/Dunnu-Ša-Uzibi", Subartu 14, Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2004 This was later disproved.Edmonds, A. J., "Just a Series of Misunderstandings?. Assyria and Bīt-Zamāni, Ḫadi-/Iḫtadi-libbušu, and Aramaic in the early Neo-Assyrian State", Asia Anteriore Antica, Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Cultures 3, pp. 43–61, 2021 The Mitanni capitols of Washukanni and Taite have also been proposed.Köroğlu, K., "Yeni kazı ve yüzey bulguları işığında Diyarbakır. Üçtepe ve çevresinin yeni Assur dönemi tarihi coğrafyası", Türk tarih kurumu yayınları 5, 45, Ankara, 1998Buccellati, Federico, "Learning New Styles, Quickly: An Examination of the Mittani–Middle Assyrian Transition in Material Culture", Values and Revaluations: The Transformation and Genesis of “Values in Things” from Archaeological and Anthropological Perspectives, edited by Hans Peter Hahn et al., Oxbow Books, pp. 29–46, 2022
Based on a cuneiform tablet found at the site it has been proposed that Üçtepe Höyük was Šināmum in the Middle Assyrian period and Sinābu in the Neo-Assyrian period. Genç, B. and J. MacGinnis, "A text of Shalmaneser I from Üçtepe and the location of Šinamu", Anatolian Studies 72, pp. 1-17, 2022Edmonds, Alexander Johannes and Creamer, Petra M., "More to Tell About Billa!: Asimānum/Šimānum and the Early and Middle Bronze Ages at Baˁšīqā, Iraq", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie, vol. 113, no. 1, pp. 34-50, 2023 One of the few textual references to Šināmum was found in an Old Babylonian period text at Tell Shemshara.
See also Cities of the ancient Near East Chronology of the ancient Near East Karataş-Semayük
References
Further reading Alexandrov, Boris E., "Shalmaneser I in Šināmu: on two aspects of a new Middle Assyrian royal inscription from Üçtepe", Vestnik drevnei istorii 84.3, pp. 597-610, 2024 Bartl, Peter Vinzenz, "The Upper Tigris – Cultural Autonomy or Interdependence? The Case of Ziyaret Tepe and Giricano", The Archaeology of Political Spaces: The Upper Mesopotamian Piedmont in the Second Millennium BCE, edited by Dominik Bonatz, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 131–150, 2014 D’Agostino, Anacleto, "The Upper Khabur and the Upper Tigris Valleys during the Late Bronze Age: Settlements and Ceramic Horizons", The Archaeology of Political Spaces: The Upper Mesopotamian Piedmont in the Second Millennium BCE, edited by Dominik Bonatz, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 169–200, 2014 Körog ̆lu, Kemalettin, "Üçtepe I: Yeni Kazı ve Yüzey Bulguları Is ̧ıg ̆ında Diyarba-kır/Üçtepe ve Çevresinin Yeni Assur Dönemi Tarihi Cog ̆ra-fyası", Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları, Ankara, 1998 Köroğlu, K., "Üçtepe" in K. Köroğlu, S.F. Adalı (eds), Assurlular: Dicle’den Toroslar’a Tanrı Assur’un Krallığı / The Assyrians: Kingdom of the God Aššur from Tigris to Taurus. Istanbul, Yapı Kredi Yayınları, pp. 324–39, 2018 Özfırat, Aynur, "Üçtepe II: Tunç Çag ̆ları", Istanbul, 2006 Radner, K. and A. Schachner, "From Tusˇhan to Ame di: Topographical Questions Concerning the Upper Tigris Region in the Assyrian Period", in N. Tuna et al. (eds.), Salvage Project of the Archaeological Heritage of the Ilisu and Carchemish Dam Reservoirs. Activities 1999, Ankara, pp. 729–776, 2001 Sevin, V., "1988 Yılı Diyarbakır/Üçtepe Kazısı", XI. Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı, Ankara, pp. 103–123, 1990 Sevin, Veli, "1992 yılı Diyarbakır Üçtepe Höyüğü kazıları", Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı 15, pp. 399–416, 1994 Sevin, Veli, "Diyarbakır/Üçtepe höyüg ̆ü orta tunç çag i seramig ̆i", Orient-Express 2, pp. 12–14, 1992 Sevin, Veli, "1991 yılı Diyarbakır Üçtepe höyüg ̆ü kazıları", Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı 14/1, pp. 175–191, 1993 Sevin, V., "Excavations at Üçtepe Kazıları", Arkeoloji ve Sanat Yayınları, Istanbul, 1989 Szuchman, Jeffrey, "Bit Zamani and Assyria", Syria. Archéologie, art et histoire 86, pp. 55–65, 2009