Lidar Höyük

Lidar Höyük is a mound located in the northwest of Şanlıurfa, 23 km north of the district of Bozova. It was partially under Lidar Village, which lies under the waters of Atatürk Dam Lake, and partially to its southwest. Its name is thought to derive from Ltar Castle mentioned in Byzantine documents.

Before being submerged it was a hill of 200 x 240 meters, with a quite extensive settlement area, spreading onto the hill’s terraces and showing a spread of 650 meters in diameter.

Its position on a crossing over the Euphrates, its proximity to Gritille Höyük and Samsat Höyük placed it on a caravan and trade route. Naturally it has the appearance of an important settlement.

Excavations

The mound was identified in 1979 during the Lower Euphrates Basin Surface Survey Project. Excavations that began the same year were carried out under the chairmanship of Prof. Dr. Harald Hauptmann of the German Archaeological Institute Istanbul Branch and Heidelberg University, and continued until 1987 when the mound would be submerged by Atatürk Dam Lake. According to the excavation results the mound was continuously inhabited from the middle Early Bronze Age to the Middle Ages, up to the 13th century AD. Apart from the fact that even in Turkey’s most important excavations there is no “final publication,” there is not even a paper presented at the Excavation Results Meetings concerning this excavation.

Stratigraphy

It is thought that settlement at the mound began in the Chalcolithic period (5500–3200 BC).

Finds

Among the finds recovered in the excavations are an Assyrian seated goat statue, a Late Iron Age bronze tub, coins, jewelry, and various pottery vessels belonging to different phases. The finds are displayed in the Şanlıurfa Museum.

Evaluation

Lidar Höyük, one of the most important and largest mounds in the region, gained significance in the Early Bronze Age, especially in the 2nd millennium BC. In the Middle Ages it gradually shrank and turned into a village.

Related books

Harald Hauptmann, In Pursuit of Lost Times. German Archaeological Institute Anatolian Excavations (1999) Yapı Kredi Publishing