Arslantepe

Arslantepe, 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.

It was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the name Arslantepe Mound in 2021. As of 2025 it is closed for maintenance.

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

Late Chalcolithic

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

Arslantepe (VII; LC 3-4): It 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.

Arslantepe (VIA; LC 5): By the late Uruk period development had grown to include a large temple/palace complex. By the end of the period it was destroyed.

Early Bronze

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.

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. Settlement in this period appears to have

been local in nature but influenced by Kura–Araxes culture.

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.

Middle Bronze Age

Melid is notably absent from the list of major Assyrian administrative hubs (Assyrian Trade Network). The primary Assyrian routes typically crossed the Euphrates further south.

Late Bronze Age

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

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.

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. At the same time, the Cimmerians and Scythians invaded Anatolia and the city declined.

Archaeology

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. 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.

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. 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. In the early 21st century, the archaeological investigation was conducted by a Sapienza University of Rome team led by Marcella Frangipane. Beginning in 2008, excavations focused on the Late Bronze and Iron Age areas

of the site.

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 built nearby. In Level VIA (LC 5, Late Uruk) four monumental buildings, terraced and largely interconnected, were constructed 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.