Ancient site · Settlement
Arslantepe
Also known as Melid
A mound near Malatya in eastern Turkey on a tributary of the Euphrates. Around 3400–3200 BCE it had a mudbrick temple-palace complex with clay sealings for controlling goods, an early example of a state-like administration in contact with Uruk Mesopotamia.
In it archaeologists found some of the oldest known swords, made of arsenic bronze. Much later it was a Neo-Hittite city with lion sculptures. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021.
- Dates
- c. 4000–700 BCE; palace c. 3400–3200 BCE
- Still standing
- Yes
- UNESCO World Heritage
- Yes
- Location
- 38.38° N, 38.36° E
How we know
The early palace had no writing and is dated by radiocarbon; the later city of Melid appears in Hittite and Assyrian texts.
Nearby sites
- Çayönü c. 8630–6800 BCE
- Göbekli Tepe c. 9500–8000 BCE
- Karahan Tepe c. 9750–9400 BCE (dates still being refined)
- Tell Halaf c. 6100–5400 BCE (Halaf village); later the Aramaean city of Guzana
- Tell Abu Hureyra c. 11,300–5800 BCE
- Ebla (Tell Mardikh) c. 3500 BCE – 7th century CE; archives c. 2400–2300 BCE
Related
- Uruk culture archaeological culture