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Arslantepe

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Arslantepe,[a] also known as Melid, was an ancient city on the Tohma River, a tributary of the upper Euphrates rising in the Taurus Mountains. It has been identified with the modern archaeological site of Arslantepe near Malatya, Turkey.

Melid
Arslantepe is located in Turkey
Arslantepe
Shown within Turkey
LocationTurkey
RegionMalatya Province
Coordinates38°22′55″N 38°21′40″E / 38.38194°N 38.36111°E / 38.38194; 38.36111
TypeSettlement
Site notes
Excavation dates1932-1939, 1946-1951, 1961-1968
ArchaeologistsLouis Delaporte, Claude F.A. Schaeffer, Piero Meriggi, Salvatore M. Puglisi, Alba Palmieri
ConditionIn ruins
Official nameArslantepe Mound
CriteriaCultural: (iii)
Designated2021 (44th session)
Reference no.1622
Area4.85 ha (12.0 acres)
Buffer zone74.07 ha (183.0 acres)
A Hittite lion from the Neo-Hittite era (1180-700 BC) at the entrance to the ruins of Arslantepe.
A Hittite relief of a libation to Tiwaz and Arma from the ruins of Arslantepe at the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara.

It was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the name Arslantepe Mound on 26 July 2021.[4]

Değirmentepe, a site located 24 km northeast of Melid, is notable as the location of the earliest secure evidence of copper smelting.[5] The site was built on a small natural outcrop in the flood plain about 40m from the Euphrates River.

History

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Mural paintings in the ruins of Arslantepe in Malatya, Turkey. They are from 3350 to 3000 BC, and were found in a complex that must have been a palace
 
Mural paintings in the ruins of Arslantepe in Malatya, Turkey.
 
Mural paintings in the ruins of Arslantepe in Malatya, Turkey.
 
Carving of two "lionmen" (1200 BCE) at the entrance to the ruins of Arslantepe.
 
Stone carving at the entrance to the ruins of Arslantepe.
 
Hittite bas relief from the ruins of Arslantepe at Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara.

Late Chalcolithic

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The earliest habitation at the site dates back to the Chalcolithic period.[6]

Arslantepe (VII) became important in this region in the Late Chalcolithic. A monumental area with a huge mudbrick building stood on top of a mound. This large building had wall decorations; its function is uncertain.

By the late Uruk period development had grown to include a large temple/palace complex.[7]

Early Bronze

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Numerous similarities have been found between these early layers at Arslantepe, and the somewhat later site of Birecik (Birecik Dam Cemetery), also in Turkey, to the southwest of Melid.[8]

Around 3000 BC, the transitional EBI-EBII, there was widespread burning and destruction of the previous significant Uruk-oriented settlement. After this Kura–Araxes pottery appeared in the area. This was a mainly pastoralist culture connected with the Caucasus mountains.[9] Settlement in this period appears to have been local in nature but influenced by Kura–Araxes culture.[10]

On the other hand, according to Martina Massimino (2023), the connections of this tomb with the Maikop-Novosvobodnaya kurgans are quite clear based on architecture and the metalwork. The exact chronology and sequence of these events still remain to be clarified.[11]

Late Bronze Age

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In the Late Bronze Age, the site became an administrative center of a larger region in the kingdom of Isuwa. The city was heavily fortified, probably due to the Hittite threat from the west. It was culturally influenced by the Hurrians, Mitanni and the Hittites.

Around 1350 BC, Šuppiluliuma I of the Hittites conquered Melid in his war against Tushratta of Mitanni. At the time Melid was a regional capital of Isuwa at the frontier between the Hittites and the Mitanni; it was loyal to Tushratta. Suppiluliuma I used Melid as a base for his military campaign to sack the Mitanni capital Washukanni.

Iron Age

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After the end of the Hittite empire, from the 12th to 7th century BC, the city became the center of an independent Luwian Neo-Hittite state of Kammanu, also known as 'Malizi'. A palace was built and monumental stone sculptures of lions and the ruler erected.

In the 12th century, Melid was probably dependent on Karkemiš, where king Kuzi-Tešub ruled. His two grandsons, Runtyas (Runtiya) and Arnuwantis, were at first appointed as “Country Lords” of Melid, but later they also became kings of Melid.[12]

The encounter with the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser I (1115–1077 BC) resulted in the kingdom of Melid being forced to pay tribute to Assyria. Melid remained able to prosper until the Assyrian king Sargon II (722–705 BC) sacked the city in 712 BC.[13][14] At the same time, the Cimmerians and Scythians invaded Anatolia and the city declined.

Archaeology

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Arslantepe Ruins, Malatya

Arslantepe covers an area of about 4 hectares and rises to about 30 meters above the plain. The site was visited by Gertrude Bell and Hansen van der Osten in the earliest part of the 20th century. It was first investigated by the French archaeologist Louis Delaporte from 1932 to 1939, focusing on the Neo-Hittite remains in the northwest section of the mounds slope.[15][16][17][18] From 1946 to 1951 Claude F.A. Schaeffer focused on site stratigraphy cutting deep trenches across the top of the mound. The results were never published.[19]

The first Italian excavations at the site of Arslantepe started in 1961, and were conducted by a Sapienza University of Rome team under the direction of Professors Piero Meriggi and Salvatore M. Puglisi until 1968.[20][21][22] The Hittitologist Meriggi only took part in the first few campaigns and later left the direction to Puglisi, a palaeoethnologist, who expanded and regularly conducted yearly investigations under regular permit from the Turkish government. Alba Palmieri took over the supervision of the excavation during the 1970s.[23][24] In the early 21st century, the archaeological investigation was conducted by a Sapienza University of Rome team led by Marcella Frangipane.[25] Beginning in 2008, excavations focused on the Late Bronze and Iron Age areas of the site.[26]

A few shards of Halaf period pottery were found and in Level VIII (early 4th millennium BC) there was a modest, village type Late Ubaid settlement. In Level VII (LC 4, Middle Uruk) an isolated monumental building was found and the settlement grew to cover the entire mound. Over time elite residences were build nearby. In Level VIA (LC 5, Late Uruk) four monumental buildings, terraced and largely interconnected, were construct on the site of the Middle Uruk building. Two have been identified as temples (Temple A and Temple B) while the others (Building III and Building IV) are of unknown functions. Butted metal spearheads were found in Building III. A large number of vases and clay sealings were found in the temples.[7] Most settlements formed as part of the Uruk Expansion, such as Jebel Aruda, Tell Sheikh Hassan, and Habuba Kabira, were abandoned at the end of the Late Chacolothic 5 period and anything of note removed, leaving little for archaeologists but walls and bits of pottery and clay sealings. Arslantepe was violently destroyed at the end of LC 5 leaving a number of small finds in situ.[27] As at other middle and late Uruk period sites, despite extensive excavation no Uruk period burials were found.[28]

In Level VIB1, at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC, a large cist burial was found, traditionally called the "Royal Tomb" amongst an otherwise low level settlement consisting of light wooden structures along with one mudbrick structure (Building 36) which appeared to be out of use at the time the tomb was built Bulding 36 had one meter thick walls on stone foundations and one terracotta cylinder seal and one stone stamp-seal were found, possibly heirlooms and two copper butted spearheads.[10] Pottery in the level was a mix of local and Kura-Araxes traditions. It has been suggested that the tomb was constructed during a period of abandonment at the end of Level VIB1. The tomb contained two adolescent human sacrifices (adorned with metal ornaments) and the primary body was buried with high status grave goods, mostly metal but including carnelian and rock crystal beads. Originally considered an isolated exemplar similar related tombs were found at places like Hassek Höyük and Bashur Höyük.[29][30]

The excavators have defined a number of occupation levels and sublevels:[31][32]

  • I - Late Roman 100-400 AD
  • II-III - Iron Age 1100-700 BC Hittite New Kingdom Neo-Assyrian
  • IV - Late Bronze II 1600-1100 BC Hittite Middle Kingdom
  • VB - Late Bronze I 1750-1600 BC Hittite Old Kingdom
  • VA - Middle Bronze 2000-1750 BC Assyrian Karum period
  • VID - Early Bronze Age III 2500-2000 BC Early-Dynastic III b
  • VIC - Early Bronze Age II 2750-2500 BC Early-Dynastic II-III a
  • VIB2 - Early Bronze Age I 2900-2750 BC Jemdet Nasr
  • VIB1 - Early Bronze Age I 3000-2900 BC Jemdet Nasr
  • Destroyed in a violent conflagration
  • VIA - Late Chalcolithic 5 3350-3000 BC Late Uruk
  • VII - Late Chalcolithic 3-4 3800-3350 BC Early and Middle Uruk
  • VIII - Late Chalcolithic 1-2 4250-3800 BC Late Ubaid

Level V1B was radiocarbon dated to 2885 BC.[33]

Early swords and metal trade

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Egyptian type copper axes, Kfar Monash Hoard. Israel Museum, Jerusalem. These axes were made using copper–arsenic–nickel alloy that probably originated in Arslantepe area

The first swords known so far date to ca. the 33rd to 31st centuries BCE, during the Early Bronze Age, and have been founds at Arslantepe by Marcella Frangipane of Sapienza University of Rome.[34][35][36] A cache of nine swords and daggers was found; they are cast from an arsenic–copper alloy.[37] Analysis of two swords showed a copper/arsenic composition of 96%/3.15% and 93%/2.65%. Two daggers tested at copper/arsenic 96%/3.99% and 97%/3.06% with a third at copper/silver composition of 50%/35% with a trace of arsenic.[38] Among them, three swords were beautifully inlaid with silver. These objects were found in the "hall of weapons" in the area of the palace.

These weapons have a total length of 45 to 60 cm which suggests their description as either short swords or long daggers.

These discoveries were made back in the 1980s. They belong to the local phase VI A. Also, 12 spearheads were found. These objects were dated to the period VI A (3400-3200 BC).[39] Phase VI A at Arslantepe ended in destruction—the city was burned.

Kfar Monash Hoard was found in 1962 in Israel. Among the many copper objects in it, "Egyptian type" copper axes were found. These axes were made using copper-arsenic-nickel (CuAsNi) alloy that probably originated in Arslantepe area. Objects from Arslantepe using such polymetallic ores are mainly ascribed to Level VIA (3400–3000 BCE), dating to the Uruk period.[40]

The next Phases or periods were VI B1 and VI B2. This is the time to which the other big discovery at Arslantepe belongs. This is the rich “Royal Tomb” where high quality pottery, and a large number of refined metal objects, made with several kinds of copper based alloys, were found. A sword was also found in the tomb.[41] This tomb is also known as the tomb of "Signor Arslantepe", as he was called by archaeologists. He was about 40 years old, and the tomb is radiocarbon dated to 3085–2900 Cal. BC.[42]

This “Royal Tomb” dates to the beginning of period VI B2, or perhaps even earlier to period VI B1. There’s a considerable similarity between these two groups of objects in the “hall of weapons”, and in the “Royal Tomb”, and the times of manufacture of some of them must have been pretty close together.[39]

Expansion of Kura–Araxes and trade in ores

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Arslantepe probably participated in the metal and ore trade between the areas north and south. To the north were the metal-rich areas of the Black Sea coast; ores and metals from there were traded to Upper Mesopotamia in the south. Already during the older Arslantepe VII period, metal objects could be found with a signature of ores from near the Black Sea coast.[39]

Also some of the metal artefacts from the “Royal Tomb” clearly belong to Kura–Araxes culture manufacturing traditions, and the metal analysis even shows provenance from northern Caucasus. All this indicates that the expansion of Kura–Araxes culture to wider areas may have been prompted in part by a trade of ores and metals.[39]

Nevertheless, according to Martina Massimino (2023), the widespread metal trade was rather conducted by the Maikop-Novosvobodnaya kurgans group which constructed the big chiefly tomb at Arslantepe. According to her, the recent excavations at Basur Hoyuk in Turkey indicate the presence of the same group there, and provide more evidence for this theory.[11]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Hittite: Malidiya[1] and possibly also Midduwa;[2] Akkadian: Meliddu;[3] Urartian: Melitea; Latin: Melitene;

References

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  1. ^ "Melid." Reallexikon der Assyriologie. Accessed 12 Dec 2010.
  2. ^ KBo V 8 IV 18. Op. cit. Puhvel, Jaan. Trends in Linguistics: Hittite Etymological Dictionary: Vol. 6: Words Beginning with M. Walter de Gruyter, 2004. Accessed 12 Dec 2010.
  3. ^ Hawkins, John D. Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions. Vol. 1: Inscriptions of the Iron Age. Walter de Gruyter, 2000.
  4. ^ "UNESCO adds 6000-year-old 'Lion Hill' in Turkey's Malatya to list". Daily Sabah. 26 July 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  5. ^ "TAY-Site Age Details". www.tayproject.org.
  6. ^ [1]Frangipane Marcella, "The Late Chalcolithic IEB I sequence at Arslantepe. Chronological and cultural remarks from a frontier site", in Chronologies des pays du Caucase et de l’Euphrate aux IVe-IIIe millénaires. From the Euphrates to the Caucasus: Chronologies for the 4th-3rd millennium B.C. Vom Euphrat in den Kaukasus: Vergleichende Chronologie des 4. und 3. Jahrtausends v. Chr. Actes du Colloque d’Istanbul, 16-19 décembre 1998. Istanbul : Institut Français d'Études Anatoliennes-Georges Dumézil, pp. 439-471, 2000
  7. ^ a b Frangipane Marcella, "A 4th-millennium temple/palace complex at Arslantepe-Malatya. North-South relations and the formation of early state societies in the Northern regions of Greater Mesopotamia", in Paléorient, vol. 23, no. 1. pp. 45-73, 1997
  8. ^ [2]Frangipane, Marcella, et al., "New Symbols of a New Power in A" Royal" Tomb from 3 000 BC Arslantepe, Malatya (Turkey)", Paléorient, 105-139, 2001
  9. ^ Frangipane, Marcella (2015). "Different types of multiethnic societies and different patterns of development and change in the prehistoric Near East". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 112 (30): 9182–9189. Bibcode:2015PNAS..112.9182F. doi:10.1073/pnas.1419883112. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 4522825. PMID 26015583.
  10. ^ a b [3]Frangipane, Marcella, "After collapse: Continuity and disruption in the settlement by Kura-Araxes-linked pastoral groups at Arslantepe-Malatya (Turkey). New data", Paléorient, pp. 169-182, 2014
  11. ^ a b [4]Martina Massimino, "Graves of power. Circulation of elite strategies between Caucasus and south-eastern Anatolia in the dawn of the Bronze Age", in Toby Wilkinson, Susan Sherratt (eds) 2023, Circuits of Metal Value. Changing Roles of Metals in the Early Aegean and Nearby Lands, Oxbow Books, pp.193-195, 2023
  12. ^ Federico Manuelli (2019), Carving the memory, altering the past. PUGNUS-mili and the earlier Iron Age rulers at Arslantepe/Malizi (South-Eastern Turkey). In book: Lafer R., Dolenz H., Luik M. (eds.), Antiquitates variae. Festschrift für Karl Strobel zum 65. Geburtstag (pp.227-241) Publisher: VML Verlag
  13. ^ J. D. Hawkins, Assyrians and Hittites, Iraq, vol. 36, no. 1/2, pp. 67-83, 1974
  14. ^ Frame, Grant, "Melid (Arslantepe)", The Royal Inscriptions of Sargon II, King of Assyria (721–705 BC), University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 426-437, 2021
  15. ^ Louis Delaporte, "Malatya. La Ville et le Pays de Malatya", Review Hittites et Asian, vol. 2, no. 12, pp. 119–254, 1933
  16. ^ Louis Delaporte, "Malatya – Céramique du Hittite Recent", Review Hittites et Asian, vol. 2, no. 15, pp. 257–285, 1934
  17. ^ Louis Delaporte, "La Troisième Campagne de Fouille è Malatya", Review Hittites et Asian, vol. 5, no. 34, pp. 43–56, 1939
  18. ^ Delaporte, L., "Malatya. Fouilles de la Mission Archeologique Francaise. Arslantepe, I. La porte des lions De Boccard", Paris, 1940
  19. ^ Schaeffer, C., "Fouilles à Enkomi et à Arslantepe", in Comptes Rendies de l'Academie des Inscription et Belles Lettres, Impremerie Royal, Paris, p. 341, 1948
  20. ^ S.M. Puglisi and P. Meriggi, "Malatya I: Rapporto preliminare delle Campagne 1961 e 1962", Orientis Antiqui Collectio, vol. 7, 1964
  21. ^ E. Equini Schneider, "Malatya II: Rapporto preliminare delle Campagne 1963–1968. Il Livello Romano Bizantino e le Testimonianze Islamiche", Orientis Antiqui Collectio, vol. 10, 1970
  22. ^ P.E. Pecorella, "Malatya III: Rapporto preliminare delle Campagne 1963–1968. Il Livello Eteo Imperiale e quelli Neoetei", Orientis Antiqui Collecti, vol. 12, 1975
  23. ^ Alba Palmieri, "Excavations at Arslantepe (Malatya)," Anatolian Studies, vol. 31, pp. 101-119, 1981
  24. ^ Alba Palmieri, "Arslantepe Excavations, 1982," Kazi Sonuçlari Toplantisi, vol. 5, pp. 97-101, 1983
  25. ^ Frangipane, M., Di Nocera, G. M. and Palumbi, G., "L'interazione tra Due Universi Socio-Culturali nella Piana di Malatya (Turchia) tra IV e III Millennio: Dati Archeologici e Riconoscimento di Identita'.", Origini, vol. XXVII, pp. 123-170, 2005
  26. ^ [5]Manuellı, Federico, and Giovanni Sıracusano, "Economies in Transformation: A Zooarchaeological Perspective from Early Iron Age Arslantepe (Southeastern Türkiye)", Adalya 25, pp. 1-29, 2022
  27. ^ [6]D’Anna, Maria Bianca, Pamela Fragnoli, and Akiva Sanders, "The Late Chalcolithic Pottery of the Malatya and Altınova Regions: Distinct but Overlapping Communities of Practice", Istanbuler Mieilungen, 72, pp. 27-71, 2023
  28. ^ Fuensanta, Jesús Gil and Crivelli, Eduardo, "Where are the Uruk Necropoles? Regional Innovation or Change in Tradition for Northern Mesopotamia", Tradition and Innovation in the Ancient Near East: Proceedings of the 57th Rencontre Assyriologique International at Rome, 4-8 July 2011, edited by Alfonso Archi, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 81-90, 2015
  29. ^ [7]Palumbi, Giulio, "The “Royal Tomb” at Arslantepe and the 3rd Millennium BC in Upper Mesopotamia", in The Caucasus/Der Kaukasus-Bridge between the urban centres in Mesopotamia and the Pontic steppes in the 4th and 3rd millennium BC/Brücke zwischen den urbanen Zentren Mesopotamiens und der pontischen Steppe im 4. und 3. Jahrtausend v. Chr., pp. 243-257, 2018
  30. ^ [8]Di Nocera, Gian Maria, and Alberto Maria Palmieri, "The metal objects from the "royal" tomb at Arslantepe (Malatya-Turkey) and the metalwork development in the Early Bronze Age", in Landscapes. Territories, Frontiers and Horizons in the Ancient Near East, in Papers presented to the XLIV Rencontre Assyriologique internationale, Venezia, 7-11 July 1997, Monographs III, 3, Sargon, Padova, pp. 179-190, 1999
  31. ^ Frangipane, M. (ed.), "Alle origini del potere: Arslantepe, la collina dei leoni", Catalog of an exhibition, held in Rome, Palazzo Altemps, Oct. 13, 2004-June 9, Milan: Electa, 2004
  32. ^ Balossi Restelli, Francesca, "Hearth and Home. Interpreting Fire Installations at Arslantepe, Eastern Turkey, from the Fourth to the Beginning of the Second Millennium BCE", Paléorient, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 127–51, 2015
  33. ^ Thomas, Homer L., "Archaeology and Indo-European comparative linguistics", Reconstructing Languages and Cultures, edited by Edgar C. Polomé and Werner Winter, Berlin, New York: De Gruyter Mouton, pp. 281-316, 1992
  34. ^ Frangipane, M. et.al. 2010: The collapse of the 4th millennium centralised system at Arslantepe and the far-reaching changes in 3rd millennium societies. ORIGINI XXXIV, 2012: 237-260.
  35. ^ Frangipane, "The 2002 Exploration Campaign at Arslantepe/Malatya" (2004)
  36. ^ "Oldest Swords Found in Turkey". DeviantArt.com. 5 May 2013. Archived from the original on 28 March 2022. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  37. ^ Yener, K. Aslihan (2021). The Domestication of Metals: The Rise of Complex Metal Industries in Anatolia. Culture and History of the Ancient Near East (Vol. 4). BRILL. pp. 52–53. ISBN 978-9004496934. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
  38. ^ Hauptmann, Andreas et al., "Chemical Composition and Lead Isotopy of Metal Objects from the 'Royal' Tomb and Other Related Finds at Arslantepe, Eastern Anatolia", Paléorient, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 43–69, 2002.
  39. ^ a b c d Hauptmann, Andreas; Heil, Nikolas; Di Nocera, Gian Maria; Stöllner, Thomas (2022-12-30). "Making Copper: Processing in Early Bronze Age Arslantepe (VI B2)". Metalla. 26 (2). Universitatsbibliothek der Ruhr-Universitat Bochum: 113–140. doi:10.46586/metalla.v26.2022.i2.113-140. ISSN 2749-6430. S2CID 256133352.
  40. ^ Yahalom-Mack, Naama; Avrutis, Vladimir Wolff; Erel, Yigal (2023-01-02). "New evidence for long-distance trade in arsenical copper during the Early Bronze Age in the southern Levant: analysis of weapons from the Nesher-Ramla cemetery". Levant. 55 (1): 119–131. doi:10.1080/00758914.2023.2184038. ISSN 0075-8914.
  41. ^ Sword from the Royal Tomb of Arslantepe (after Frangipane 2004, cat. 107). in Vittoria Dall'Armellina 2017, Power of Symbols or Symbols of Power? The "long sword" in the Near East and the Aegean in the second millennium BC.
  42. ^ Gian Maria Di Nocera, "Organization of Production and Social Role of Metallurgy in the Prehistoric Sequence of Arslantepe (Turkey)", Origini XXXV, pp.111-142, 2013

Further reading

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  • Manuelli, Federico, and Lucia Mori, "The King at the Gate: Monumental Fortifications and the Rise of Local Elites at Arslantepe at the End of the 2nd Millennium bce", Origini 39, pp. 209–242, 2016
  • Frangipane, Marcella, Gian Maria Di Nocera, and Francesca Balossi Restelli, "Arslantepe: the Sapienza University archaeological project in Eastern Anatolia 60 years on", Asia minor: an international journal of archaeology in Turkey: I, 2021 (2021), pp. 15-36, 2021
  • Frangipane, Marcella, et al. "Arslantepe: new data on the formation of the Neo-Hittite Kingdom of Melid." News from the land of Hittites: Scientific Journal for Anatolian Research: 3/4, 2019/2020, pp. 71-111, 2020
  • Frangipane, Marcella, "Rise and collapse of the Late Uruk centres in Upper Mesopotamia and Eastern Anatolia", Scienze dell'Antichità: 15, 2009, pp. 25-41, 2009
  • Vignola, Cristiano, et al., "Changes in the Near Eastern chronology between the 5th and the 3rd millennium BC: New AMS 14C dates from Arslantepe (Turkey)", Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms 456, pp. 276–282, 2019
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