ARSLANTEPE-MALATYA, Turkey, is a mound with a long sequence from the 6th mill. BCE to the Byzantine period. 58 years of estensive and stratigraphic excavation have brought to light the history of the site and revolutionised our knowledge of the whole Greater Mesopotamia.
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. This find has allowed to better understand the origin of crucial phenomena such as the rise of the State and hierarchical societies and is now renown worldwide for this. 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 hopefully by 2020 Arslantepe will be in the definite UNESCO list of protected sites of the humanity.
More recent research at the site brought to the discovery of a tripartite temple and open area for ritual activities and burials, and a large monumental elite residential quarter, which confirm 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 and interesting 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 civilizations.
In recognition of the important results obtained, the director has been elected Foreign Member (the only Italian woman) of the NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES and of the ACCADEMIA DEI LINCEI (2018), has obtained the DE SICA PRIZE FOR SCIENCE (2015) and ROTONDI PRIZE (2017). A DISCOVERY AWARD has been granted to the project by the Shanghai Archaeology Forum in 2016.
As already pointed out above, research at Arslantepe applies several innovative methodologies in various scientific fields and in a close interdisciplinary relationship, 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).
- SAMPLING AND STUDY OF MICRO-REMAINS AND MICRO-MORPHOLOGY OF INDIVIDUAL ROOM FLOORS started in 2013 and is greatly 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, developed thanks to an ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT Fellowship awarded to Francesca Balossi Restelli. This study is greatly contributing to the international debate on the dynamics of Food as an instrument of power and inequality, has been at the centre of an international workshop held at the Freie Universität of Berlin in 2017.
- ARCHAEOBOTANICAL STUDIES carried out on woods, seeds and pollens are greatly contributing to the reconstruction of agricultural practices and palaeo-environment in the different periods concerned.
- ARCHAEOZOOLOGICAL RESEARCH analyses animal breeding patterns in various periods and contributes to the study of ancient pastoralism.
- 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 and the establishment of a new course in the history of Arslantepe, made of social and political instability and conflicts between different socioeconomic, cultural, and perhaps ethnic components in the region. 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 in cooperation with the University of Parma 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 or nomadic pastoralism; b) diets and eating habits. The results fundamentally support the interpretation of cultural changes and events documented by the analysis of settlements and archaeological data.
- DNA ANALYSES ON ANIMAL and HUMAN BONES are giving results on animal population movements and genetics. These are carried out with Hacettepe University of Ankara, the University of Heidelberg and the Max Planck Institute, Germany. The study of the Arslantepe population genetics in the framework of wider studies on European-Mediterranean and Western Asian contexts has been the subject of international workshops (ICAANE 2018 and DAI 2019).
- AMS C14 DATING in collaboration with the University of Campania provides a solid basis for re-constructing the chronology of Arslantepe and the whole region.
- ANALYSES BY SEM, XRD ED AFM ON CLAY-SEALING SAMPLES, PLASTER and POTTERY started in 2017 by the CNISNANOLAB of SAPIENZA University and by the AUSTRIAN ACCADEMY of SCIENCES, in order to characterize the provenance and variability of the clay sources and manufacturing techniques. These are useful in understanding cultural relations and networks, craftsmanship and the type of sealing practices: local/non local, redistribution/trade, intensity of operations.
- MODELING of BRONZE AGE occupation and LAND USE in the Malatya Plain (Technical University of Istanbul, Arikan) 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, the effects of earthquakes, and settlement layout. At the same time elaborated 3D images are being made for exhibition purposes and shall be exposes on site.