Tülintepe West
Tülintepe · Tülintepe West Mound · Tulintepe (Altınova West)
Late Neolithic–Chalcolithic (c.5500–3500 BCE)·Halaf → Ubaid–Altınova Chalcolithic·🇹🇷 Elazığ Province, Altınova, Turkey
About
About Tülintepe West
Low tell in western Altınova, 0.8 ha, 8 m high. Late Neolithic to Chalcolithic village (c.5500–3500 BCE) with Halaf painted ware, Ubaid tripartite houses, clay tokens and figurines. Rescue soundings 1970–71 by Ufuk Esin revealed wattle-and-daub → mudbrick sequence, spindle whorls and fishing net weights on pre-flood Altınova wetland fringe. Key for Neolithic–Chalcolithic transition in upland Euphrates before dam. Now under Lake Keban western shallows, visible only on 1966 topo maps.
Why it mattersEarliest farming in Altınova; links to Halaf-Ubaid spread.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Extent of wetland economy?
Theories
- 01Local adoption of Ubaid package
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.5500 BCE
- Period
- Late Neolithic–Chalcolithic (c.5500–3500 BCE)
- Culture
- Halaf → Ubaid–Altınova Chalcolithic
- Builders
- Altınova Halaf farmers
- Purpose
- Wetland-margin farming and fishing hamlet
- Abandoned
- c.3500 BCE
- Rediscovered
- 1970 Esin sondage
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.5500 BCE
Halaf hamlet founded on alluvium
c.4500 BCE
Ubaid tripartite houses
c.3500 BCE
Abandoned, buried by floodplain
On the ground
Structures & features
38.7000° N · 39.0000° E · 835 m · 3 mapped features
Tülintepe West — Halaf level
settlementHalaf painted ware houses, sounding A
38.7000° N · 39.0000° ETülintepe West — Ubaid tripartite house
houseUbaid central hall building with tokens
38.7003° N · 39.0005° ETülintepe West — Wetland midden
middenFish bone and net-weight dump at terrace edge
38.6997° N · 38.9995° E
Gallery