Gedikli Karahöyük
Gedikli Karahöyük · Gedikli Karahoyuk · Gedikli Höyük · Islahiye Gedikli
Early Bronze Age I–III through Middle Bronze Age (c.3000–1500 BCE)·Islahiye EBA (Amanus) with Early Transcaucasian influence → Hittite·🇹🇷 Gaziantep Province, İslahiye District, Amanus foothills, Turkey
About
About Gedikli Karahöyük
EBA–MBA cemetery and settlement mound at Amanus piedmont (c.3000–1500 BCE) famed for Early Bronze Age extra-mural cemetery with pithos burials: 200+ jar graves with Early Transcaucasian–EBA ceramics, copper pins and toggle pins. Settlement tell (Alkım 1965–67, later Seton Lloyd) shows EBA II–III houses and MBA Hittite levels. Cairn cemetery reveals Islahiye plain as EBA cultural corridor between Cilicia and Euphrates. Buried mudbrick houses beneath Iron colluvium and intact pithos necropolis downslope.
Why it mattersLargest EBA pithos cemetery in southeastern Turkey; anchors Islahiye–Amanus–Amuq EBA chronology and ETC interaction.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why shift from extramural jar cemetery to intramural cist — social change?
- 02ETC Kura-Araxes influence via ceramics vs population move?
Theories
- 01Alkım Amanus gateway model
- 02Akkermans EBA Islahiye plain independent chiefdom vs Euphrates periphery
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 EBA I cemetery foundation; EBA II–III tell town 2800–2000 BCE
- Period
- Early Bronze Age I–III through Middle Bronze Age (c.3000–1500 BCE)
- Culture
- Islahiye EBA (Amanus) with Early Transcaucasian influence → Hittite
- Builders
- Islahiye EBA (Amanus) with Early Transcaucasian influence → Hittite builders
- Purpose
- Cemetery tell and village controlling Amanus pass between Cilicia and North Syria
- Abandoned
- c.1500 BCE Hittite reorganisation; Iron Age sporadic
- Rediscovered
- Excavated 1965–67 U. Bahadır Alkım & R. D. Barnett; resumed 2000s Gaziantep Museum
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
2000
Initial work at Gedikli Karahöyük
2015
Stratigraphy and geophysics synthesis for Gedikli Karahöyük
On the ground
Structures & features
37.0320° N · 36.6480° E · 520 m · 3 mapped features
Pithos cemetery (Area C)
cemetery200+ EBA jar graves downslope
37.0318° N · 36.6478° EEBA settlement mound
settlementEBA II–III houses with hearths
37.0322° N · 36.6482° EMBA Hittite layer
settlementMiddle Bronze Hittite burnished ware houses
37.0320° N · 36.6480° E