Yanık Tepe (Yanik Tepe)
یانیق تپه · Yanik Tepe · Yanikli Tepe
Late Chalcolithic to Middle Bronze (3600–1400 BCE; peak Kura-Araxes 3000–2500 BCE)·Urmia Chalcolithic → Kura-Araxes (Transcaucasian) → Early Urmia Bronze·🇮🇷 East Azerbaijan Province, Lake Urmia basin, near Tabriz (west of Azarshahr), Iran
About
About Yanık Tepe (Yanik Tepe)
Kura-Araxes (Early Bronze) lakeside tell (c.3600–1400 BCE, 8 m) east of Lake Urmia near Tabriz, excavated by C. Burney (U. Manchester 1960–62). Three main phases: Late Chalcolithic Pisdeli ware (Urmia ware), Early Transcaucasian Kura-Araxes black burnished round houses (Phase II, c.3000–2500 BCE) with metalwork, and Early Bronze fortified town Phase III with citadel wall and storage, bridging Transcaucasian Kura-Araxes migration into NW Iran and sequence link to Godin III and Karaz. Produces earliest Trans-Caucasus painted ware in Iran.
Why it mattersDefines Kura-Araxes southern limit and Trans-Caucasian migration route into Iran; anchors Urmia basin chronological correlation to EBA Anatolia–Iran.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Coastal Burney's 'burnt level' — invasion or fire accident?
Theories
- 01Yanik as Kura-Araxes pastoralist lake-edge colony
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. 3600 BCE (Late Chalcolithic Pisdeli)
- Period
- Late Chalcolithic to Middle Bronze (3600–1400 BCE; peak Kura-Araxes 3000–2500 BCE)
- Culture
- Urmia Chalcolithic → Kura-Araxes (Transcaucasian) → Early Urmia Bronze
- Builders
- Urmia basin communities + Kura-Araxes migrants
- Purpose
- Lakeside farming–metallurgical village on Urmia–Anatolia route
- Abandoned
- c.1400 BCE (Middle Bronze) then Iron Age reoccupation
- Rediscovered
- 1960 Burney survey; excavated 1960–62
- Excavation
- Excavated
c.3000 BCE
Kura-Araxes round houses built
c.2500 BCE
Fortified citadel wall erected
1960
Burney opens Pisdeli trench
On the ground
Structures & features
37.4270° N · 46.1350° E · 1380 m · 1 mapped feature
Kura-Araxes round house (Phase II)
houseBlack burnished house floor with central hearth
37.4272° N · 46.1353° E