Urban Landscape and State Formation at Iron Age Samal (Zincirli, Turkey)

01/04/2016 to 30/09/2018

The Iron Age Syro-Hittite cities of northern Syria and southeastern Anatolia (ca. 1000-600 BC) are part of the transhistorical phenomenon of urban foundation or refoundation in periods of political transformation.
Current excavations by the University of Tübingen expedition at the site of Zincirli, Turkey (Iron Age Samal) have the goal of producing a more dynamic and holistic picture of its urban foundation. The comparison of stratigraphy, material culture, and radiocarbon dates from four excavation areas throughout the city will refine the chronology of urban expansion and development, while the investigation of early residential areas will shed light on the socioeconomic organization of the first settlers through contextual analysis of architecture, installations, ceramics, small finds, and fauna.