- Tille
Tille Höyük is an archaeological site in southeast
Turkey . It is a small settlement mound on the west bank of theEuphrates , some 60 km east ofAdiyaman .The site was excavated by the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, under the direction of David French, from 1979 to its flooding by the
Ataturk Dam in 1990. Surface pottery suggests the site was first occupied in the fourth millennium B.C., but large-scale excavation was restricted to the Medieval, Classical and Iron Age levels of the site. A small step-trench recovered Iron Age and Bronze Age pottery in 1980; a more substantial trench was cut into the side of the mound in the last season and reached Late Bronze Age levels.The Iron Age levels at Tille have been identified on the basis of the presence of iron objects, and the parallels in pottery with Late Assyrian pottery from
Mesopotamia . More precise evidence for dating the extensive Iron Age burnt level comes from comparison of its architectural features. The pebble mosaic courtyard and surrounding building plan find close parallels in eighth century B.C. Neo-Assyrian buildings atTil Barsip andArslan Tash inSyria . The date of the extensive burnt level can be placed in the eighth-seventh centuries B.C. on archaeological grounds.Finds from the site are in the
Adiyaman Museum .
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