ARSLANTEPE-MALATYA, Turkey, is a mound with a long sequence from the 6th mill. BCE to the Byzantine period. 59 years of estensive and stratigraphic excavation have allowed the reconstruction of the site's history. The discovery of the first example of palatial complex (3300 BCE) with abundant in situ materials has allowed us to reconstruct the birth of bureaucracy and state systems; it has allowed to better understand the origin of crucial phenomena such as the rise of the State and hierarchical societies. The excellent state of preservation of the more than 4000m2 monument and the effort made by the Sapienza expedition and the Istituto Centrale del Restauro for more than 30 years for its preservation and exhibition, have brought Arslantepe in the UNESCO tentative list of World Heritage sites and we are expecting a definite response to the application by July 2020. More recent research at the site brought to the discovery of a wide monumental elite residential and public quarter, which confirms the importance of the site in the phases of development of social complexity. Other important research at the site is in the NE part where a long sequence of the 2nd and 1st millennia BCE shows that Arslantepe underwent crucial changes in the periods of formation, expansion and collapse of the Hittite Empire and became a capital of its region, strategic border between the main Near Eastern civilisations.
In recognition of the important results obtained, the director Prof. Marcella Frangipane has been elected Foreign Member of the NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES and of the ACCADEMIA DEI LINCEI, and has obtained several international prices. In 2020 the direction has been granted by the Turkish authorities to Francesca Balossi Restelli. Within a wider framework in which Turkey demonstrates its desire to act and work in autonomy, this is an important scientific recognition of the work that the Sapienza team has done and shall continue to carry out at Arslantepe in the future.
As already pointed out above, research at Arslantepe applies several innovative and interdisciplinary methodologies, allowing to obtain innovative historical and anthropological results on some of the most intriguing issues of the development of modern civilisation.
- SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGIES OF COMBINED STRATIGRAPHIC AND EXTENSIVE EXCAVATION have allowed to bring to light and thoroughly investigate large settlement areas with abundant in situ materials, and reconstruct, with meticulous recovery procedures, the function of spaces and identify public and domestic areas. The rigour and modernity of excavation techniques and methodologies have made Arslantepe a reference site for the chronology and cultural history of Anatolia, and beyond (Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia, 2011; 2016).
- MICRO-MORPHOLOGY OF INDIVIDUAL ROOM FLOORS is contributing to the reconstruction of activity areas and the organization of daily life in the successive settlements.
- RECONSTRUCTION OF ACTIVITIES AND FOOD PRACTICES through an INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH and investigation of in situ material culture. This study is greatly contributing to the international debate on the dynamics of Food as an instrument of power and inequality and parts of it have been published in 2019.
- ARCHAEOBOTANICAL STUDIES on woods, seeds and pollens are greatly contributing to the reconstruction of agricultural practices and palaeo-environment in the different periods concerned, whilst ARCHAEOZOOLOGICAL RESEARCH analyses animal breeding patterns in various periods and contributes to the study of ancient pastoralism.
- ARCHAEOMETRIC ANALYSIS ON PLASTERS, MORTARS, PIGMENTS, CLAY-SEALING SAMPLES and POTTERY in order to characterize the provenance and variability of the clay sources and manufacturing techniques of pottery, building materials and sealing practices. These are useful in understanding craftsmanship, cultural relations and networks, and the type of sealing practices. This work will be especially concentrated in 2020 on the analysis of plasters and pigments, to understand the techniques of preparation of both (lime production, presence of binders etc.).
- STABLE ISOTOPE STUDIES CARRIED OUT ON VEGETAL REMAINS from different periods have allowed to reconstruct important aspects of the climatic changes from 4th to 2nd millennium BCE, enlightening in particular the unstable conditions in the transition from 4th to 3rd millennium, the period of the substantial socio-political change manifested by the collapse of the Palace system. These studies have also contributed to the understanding of agricultural practices and the possible intervention of irrigation in various periods and socio-economic contexts.
- STABLE ISOTOPE STUDIES CARRIED OUT ON ANIMAL AND HUMAN BONES is giving crucial information on: a) the original environment and provenience of human and animal populations, consequently suggesting possible migration phenomena, as well as animal breeding practices such as transhumance; b) diets.
- DNA ANALYSES ON ANIMAL and HUMAN BONES are giving results on population movements. The study of the Arslantepe population genetics has been the subject of international workshops (ICAANE 2018 and DAI 2019) and a recent article has appeared on CELL (2020).
- RESIDUE ANALYSES on pottery and grinding utensils aids in understanding food consumption and manipulation, as well as the use of utensils and the practices of artisans.
- 3D MODELING and Virtual reconstruction aimed at a) monitoring the state of conservation of the architectural monuments; b) studying the architecture and the finds in detail; c) increase the understanding for the public and aid the narration of the story represented by Arslantepe; d) virtual exhibition.
- MODELING of BRONZE AGE occupation and LAND USE in the Malatya Plain through a new computer simulation model is allowing to test the effects of human agency on the ancient landscape.
- 3D LASER SCANNING (Sapienza) and drone images (Malatya university) are being used to analyse in detail structural elements of architecture and the landscape.
- GEOMAGNETISM to investigate the immediate outskirts of the site to look for a potential lower town of the Iron Age period.
- INTEGRATED DATA REPOSITORY to support the collection and management of both new and legacy data. It is conceived as a web based data repository (http://arsdb.cnr.it/) and implemented in Python through different open-source technologies (PostgreSQL). It is also enriched with modules for geospatial data management and analysis (PostGIS), full-text search and data clustering, and machine learning functionalities for image classification. To the implementation of this system shall be devoted important energy in 2020.
- BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATABASE to collect all scientific contributions. This bibliographic repository is based on open-source technologies as well, while the individual item definition rests on the Dublin Core ontology.