Başur Höyük

Başur Höyük (pronounced as Bashur) in Turkey's south-eastern Siirt Province is a 5,000-year-old Bronze Age burial site. It is located just outside the city of Siirt near the village of Aktaş in a valley of the upper Tigris River, adjacent to the Başur River. The 820-foot by 492-foot burial mound was excavated in the years up to 2018, by Brenna Hassett of the Natural History Museum in London, and Haluk Sağlamtimur of Ege University in Turkey.

The site of Başur Höyük consists of a 150-meter by 250-meter mound with 15 meters of occupation remains. It was excavated from 2007 to 2019 by a team led by Haluk Sağlamtimur as part of the rescue archaeology associated with the construction of the Ilısu Dam. Pottery shards date back to the 7th millennium BC with three occupation layers dating from the 4th millennium BC Late Chalcolithic 5 Late Uruk period, 2nd millennium BC Middle Bronze period, and the Medieval period. A Uruk period settlement on the south part of the mound later became an Early Bronze I burial site. The Late Uruk settlement was surrounded by a fortification wall with stone foundations and included a monumental building. Finds included thousands of bevelled rim bowls.

According to the archaeologists, the mound was already inhabited during the Neolithic period. The population increased during the Late Chalcolithic period. For that time, the evidence of local Anatolian material culture has been documented. Later on, the presence of Uruk influences is seen, including some central administration. This is indicated by the excavated cylinder seals, many mass-produced beveled-rim bowls, and multi-roomed buildings and storerooms.

The partial excavation of the cemetery found 18 burials (pit graves), cist graves (walled - sided and floored with stone slaba, and semi-walled - using one wall of a cist grave) and inhumations ("death pit"). No matching Early Dynastic was found during the rescue excavation. Large numbers of metal weapons and ritual items were found, as well as cylinder seals. One tomb contained the remains of two 12-year-old children and the remains of an adult, which may have been reburied. The remains of eight other people aged 11 to 20 were found b

Archaeological site data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).