Giricano Tepe
Girican Höyük
Middle Bronze to Iron (c.1800–600 BCE)·Mitanni → Middle Assyrian → Neo-Assyrian·🇹🇷 Diyarbakır Province, Upper Tigris, Turkey
About
About Giricano Tepe
Middle Bronze to Iron Age mound (160 m diameter, 12 m high) on the Upper Tigris, salvage west of the Batman–Tigris confluence, excavated by Andreas Schachner. MBA levels with Khabur and Mitanni painted ware underlie an Iron II Assyrian provincial centre (c.900–600 BCE) with a Neo-Assyrian palace foundation and cuneiform administrative tablets. The site is a candidate for Hittite Waššukanni–Taite or Assyrian Tušhan’s hinterland.
Why it mattersKey Diyarbakır Province, Upper Tigris sequence for Middle Bronze to Iron (c.1800–600 BCE); provincial outpost controlling upper tigris floodplain and road to tušhan (ziyaret tepe).
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Chronology of Giricano Tepe relative to neighbouring centres?
Theories
- 01Regional centre hypothesis for Diyarbakır Province
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- MBA c.1800 BCE
- Period
- Middle Bronze to Iron (c.1800–600 BCE)
- Culture
- Mitanni → Middle Assyrian → Neo-Assyrian
- Builders
- Mitanni communities
- Purpose
- Provincial outpost controlling Upper Tigris floodplain and road to Tušhan (Ziyaret Tepe)
- Abandoned
- c. 600 BCE
- Rediscovered
- 20th century survey
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1960
Foundation/earliest horizon
1980
Major excavations
2020
Conservation/monitoring
On the ground
Structures & features
37.8500° N · 40.4200° E · 640 m · 2 mapped features
Neo-Assyrian palace
palaceMudbrick palace with stone socles and tablet archive
37.8502° N · 40.4203° EMitanni painted ware levels
depositMBA Khabur/Mitanni painted horizon with kilns
37.8498° N · 40.4197° E