GRITILLE TELL
From the Excavation Reports of 1981 and 1985 by Prof. Richard ELLIS
(Professor of Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology. Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pa 19610 USA)
Map of the area
From the Excavation Reports of 1981 and 1985 by Prof. Richard ELLIS
(Professor of Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology. Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pa 19610 USA)
Map of the area
Gritille lies on the right bank of the Euphrates River, in Samsat District (ancient name Samosata), Adıyaman Province, in the Turkish Lower Euphrates area. After the Euphrates breaks through the Taurus Mountains east of Malatya, in narrow gorges, it flows through a flood-plain 8 to 12 km. (5 to 7.5 M.) wide, for about 150 km. (93 M.), until the hills draw in to the river again, north of the Syrian border. This area lies at the point of contact of different cultural areas: Central Anatolia, Eastern Anatolia, and northern Syria and has clearly been an avenue of contact and exchange.
Gritille is a medium-sized mound, approximately oval in shape. The flat top measures about 80X40 m. (262.5X131 ft.), and the base of the mound proper about 100X150 m. (328X492 ft.). The top of the mound is about 24 m. (79 ft.) above the normal level of the river. The lower half of this height consists of a conglomerate terrace topped by a layer of sandy silt; the upper 12 m. (39 ft.) is the occupational deposit. All of the slopes of the mound are steep, but the eastern one, which falls straight into the river, is especially so. The mound is overgrown with scrubby plants and strewn with potsherds; from the slopes protrude alignments of stone, the foundations of walls of many periods.
The first season of excavation at Gritille took place in the summer of 1981 and it proved that Gritille is an important and productive site, with the promise of providing information that will throw light on the life and history of its own immediate vicinity, of nearby sites, and of the entire Lower Euphrates region. The coins discovered show contact with different political authorities and settlements: Hellenistic, Roman, Early Byzantine, Islamic and Frankish.
The trench was carried down almost 12 m. (39 ft.) to within a meter (3 feet) or so of virgin soil, and it revealed that the site had been occupied for about 8000 years. At the top was mediaeval material similar to that found in the squares on the top of the mound. Below that was a pisé wall of indeterminate age, and a curious round mud-brick structure of unknown purpose, probably dating from the Iron Age (perhaps 8th-7th centuries B.C.). Lower were Bronze Age levels. he periods of occupation best represented in the results of the 1981 season were the Early Neolithic (ca. 7000-6000 B.C.), the Early Bronze (ca. 3000-2000 B.C.), and the mediaeval (ca. 1000-1250 A.D.). These phases also provided most of our material in 1982, but we found indications of occupation in other periods as well. There may have been a settlement at Gritille in the Iron Age (ca. 900-600 B.C.). The mound was certainly occupied to some extent in Hellenistic and Roman times with pottery.
It is of particular interest, in relation to this Early Neolithic occupation, that the vicinity of Gritille is very rich in Palaeolithic sites. Dr. Richard S. Davis surveyed the area within 5 km. (3 M.) of Gritille on foot in 1981, and found 28 sites, primarily of Lower and Middle Palaeolithic ages.
In 1982 two burials were discovered in the Early Bronze levels. One was in the balk amongst operations. A young woman, about 20 years old, had been buried in a small pit covered with stones. No objects were found with her. The other burial was more elaborate; a cist of mud bricks laid on edge was built inside a round pit. More bricks were laid over the burial, but had later collapsed into it. When the bricks and the earth beneath were lifted, the skeletons of an adult man and of a boy or girl 8 to 10 years old were exposed. The skeletons faced each other, and were well preserved; the only objects with them were a small shell pendant near the man's head, and a beautiful quartz arrowhead on the child's jaw.
While the latest deposit that we have attributed to the Bronze Age -a pit excavated in 1981, contained material that may date from the early second millennium B.C., we have so far few recognizable remains from this time, when this area lay between the competing spheres of influence of the Hittites and the Mitannians.
From Assyrian sources we know something of the area in which Gritille lies during the Iron Age--that is, the early first millennium B.C., from about 850 to 600 B.C. Little is known, however, about the pottery of this period in the Lower Euphrates area, so that it has so far been difficult to identify a phase of that period at Gritille. But in a deep sounding in operations at depth of 4.4m. (14 ft.) from the surface, fragments of a large storage jar were found, with an incised design that seems to represent a lightning bolt on a stand- probably the symbol of a storm god. The closest parallels to this design are in northern Syria and Assyria, and date to the period between about 850 and 700 B.C.
It was mentioned above that some remains of Hellenistic and Roman times were found. Hellenistic pottery appeared in a pit sunk into the third millennium deposits of operations. The curious round structure that was discovered in pperations in 1981 was cleared out this year, and proved to have Roman pottery on its lowest floors. It was apparently built inside a pit that had been dug down into third millennium deposits.
On the west side of the mound, a step-trench that it was hoped would reveal the sequence of occupation on that side of the mound reached a depth of about 5.5 m. (18 ft.) below the surface. One of the earliest features discovered in this operation was a wall parallel to the edge of the mound, with a drain running under it. In the drain was a small bronze cross which, when cleaned, proved to have an incised figure of Christ on it, clothed and looking outward at the observer. Informed opinions that have so far been obtained about this cross date it to the 6th or 7th century A.D. This find, together with a coin of Justinian I found in 1981 in a later context, argue for an early Byzantine occupation of the mound. A second and more elaborate bronze cross was found in same test pit that yielded the jar with the lightning emblem mentioned above, but as yet it has not been possible to date it accurately.
Above the wall and drain are a series of fortification walls running along the west side of the mound. The earliest wall had a foundation of large stones, a mud-brick superstructure, and a fill of gravel behind it. A layer of decayed mud-brick shows that this wall had become ruinous before the next one was built. The second wall shows three of four phases of construction. The plans of the earliest phases are not clear, but the next to the last of the wall was about 2 m. thick, with a tower of 5 m. (16 ft.) wide projecting 2.5 m. (8 ft.) from its outer face. In the last phase the wall was widened by filling in the spaces between the towers with mud-bricks resting on a stone foundation. The resulting wall was 4.5-5 m. (15-16 ft.) thick. It was in its turn allowed to decay; the last structures in the area are wall foundations that extend over the eroded top of the fortification wall.
The area cleared on the top of the mound in 1981 was extended to the south, adding 150 sq.m. (1614.5 sq.ft.) to the 100 previously excavated. Close beneath the surface are stone wall foundations contemporary with the post fortification walls found. Within the upper levels several phases of building can be distinguished in any one sector, but the impression that we get from the entire excavated area is one of more or less continuous rebuilding, now in one spot, now in another. Beneath about 2 m. (6.5 ft.) of these confusing walls was, in one area, a deposit of soft ashy material, probably thrown out from a nearby kiln or oven. In another place was a well-preserved mud-brick wall. These deposits produced fragments of glazed pottery, and so are probably still mediaeval in date--Byzantine or Islamic.
A preliminary analysis of the pottery and coins suggests that the occupation of the settlement ended at about the middle of the 13th century A.D. For the earlier levels we can so far only guess that the fortifications belong to the disturbed period of the Turkish and Crusader invasions, about 1000-1150 A.D; that the last, post-fortification phase dates to the time after the fall of the Frankish County of Edessa, when the area was under more or less unified Islamic control; and that the end of the settlement was due to the raids of the Mongols in about 1250 A.D.
Four major chronological periods at Gritille:
1. Early (Aceramic) Neolithic, uncovered in trenches on the eastern slope of the mound
2. Early Bronze, Age, above the Neolithic remains, in the same area.
3. Pre-Hellenistic/Hellenistic, discovered in a large pit cut into Earyl Bronze Age deposits on the eastern edge of the mound, and at several points below the earliest mediaevel deposits.
4. Mediaeval, on the top of mound, to a depth of about 5 m. (16 ft.)
The Neolithic settlement
During 1984 virgin soil was reached at the bottom of the Neolithic deposits, in two small areas about 13 m. (43 ft.) below the top of the mound. The entire thickness of the Neolithic deposit is about 4 m. (13 ft.) Within this deposit an erosion surface indicates a gap in occupation (at least in the excavated area) of unknown length. The work of 1984 uncovered substantial architectural remains in both the earlier and later phases. Throughout the history of the Neolithic settlement walls were constructed of one or two thicknesses of square or rectangular mud bricks. Stone foundations were rarely used and when present usually consisted of scattered chunks of the conglomerate that underlies the site. In the earlier phase traces of white plaster were found on walls and floors, and in one case at least part of a plastered floor had been colored red. A rectangular room, badly cut up by pits dug later in the Neolithic period, was found.
Better preserved architecture belonging to the later phase was found part of which measured about 3X5 m. (10X16 ft.), had a rectangular outline and was divided into several small rooms. Building adjoined the other building on the south, and is simpler in plan; the area in the corner of the two buildings, to the southwest, was probably an open space. A part of another contemporary building to the north, was excavated in 1983. A fragment of an interior wall in this building suggests that is plan may have been similar to that of previous building. To the east of these structures a poorly preserved wall seems to have enclosed an area that might have served as a court for one of the buildings.
The area to the east of this wall was also apparently an open space, either within the settlement or at its edge. The deposits here consisted of thin layers of silt (probably derived from decaying mud-brick buildings) and trash, sloping downward toward the east. Large numbers of Neolithic artifacts were found in these trash layers. Buildings contained few objects, but one of the buildings yielded a large collection of ground stone tools (spheres, oblong pestles, and flat grindstones). Pits had been dug at various points in the settlement, usually outside, but sometimes cutting into earlier walls. They serve numerous purposes; trash disposal, cooking by means of stones that could be pre-heated, and, probably, the heat-treatment of flint to improve its chipping qualities. While only about 350 sq.m. (3,767 sq.ft.) of the Neolithic settlement has been cleared, the excavation includes both inside and outside areas, buildings of various types, and evidence for a variety of activities.
Approximately 80,000 fragments of chipped stone, including tools, cores and core fragments, unused blades and flakes, and waste chips, have been recovered from the Neolithic deposits. Dr. Richard S. Davis of Bryn Mawr College conducted a study of this material; so far he has coded and analyzed about 18,000 pieces. The great majority of the chipped implements are of good-quality brown flint, which is plentiful in the area. Members of the Gritille staff discovered a deposit of nodular flint in a valley about an hour's walk from the site. Obsidian, probably from eastern Anatolia, is fairly common at Gritille. The chipped stone tool-kit includes projectile points, sickle blades, knives, scrapers, piercers, choppers, and burins. The variety of tools suggests that such activities as hunting of animals, harvesting of cereals, skin processing, and the working of wood, bone, and stone were practiced by the Neolithic people of Gritille.
Besides chipped stone tools, a wide variety of ground stone artifacts was found in the Neolithic levels. These ranged from heavy grinders and pestles made of limestone, basalt, and chert to celts of fine ground stone, to beads and ornamental objects of colorful stones, including some that must have come from considerable distances. A small pendant of carnelian was found, and a bead of a stone that resembles turquoise. One material that we were at first surprised to find in a Neolithic context is iron ore, of which several small lumps have been found. This material occurs naturally in the vicinity of Gritille. What the people wanted these reddish lumps for is unknown, but some of them seem to have been exposed to heat, and one or two were partially shaped.
The Neolithic settlement was almost entirely aceramic; only two or three potsherds were found in the latest levels. Nonetheless, the people did use clay for various purposes. A number of lightly fired objects of geometrical shapes, of the kind usually called "tokens", was found in the roasting pits and in trash layers. Fragments of figurines are common; most of them were found in the cooking pits, and almost all were broken. Perhaps they were broken deliberately and thrown into the pits when their use (whatever that was) was finished. The majority of the animal figurines represent horned cattle. Human figures range from very schematic angular forms to relatively realistic examples. The simpler ones can only be identified as sitting humans by comparing the entire range of figurines, including ones from other sites. The most striking figurine found in 1984 was unfortunately headless, but depicted a pregnant woman with her hands placed on her hips. Short incised lines probably indicate some sort of skirt and bands of hair or a headdress appear on the front of the shoulders. Another unusual figurine found this year was carved in chalk and represented a seated woman with fat legs and globular feet; the part above the waist is missing.
In place of pottery vessels, containers of chalk and of the chalky plastic material called "vaisselle blanche" were used, as well as carefully made bowls of veined stone.
Although much analysis of the Neolithic finds remains to be done, it is clear that the site shared the so-called (Pre-Pottery Neolithic B-related" tradition, represented by sites distributes in an arc from Beidha south of the Dead Sea, along the Euphrates in Syria and Turkey, and as far as Maghzaliyah in Iraq. Related sites in Turkey include Çayönü, Cafer Höyük, Hayaz Höyük, and Nevalla Cori. Interestingly, the Neolithic architecture of Gritille is not very similar to that of the nearby Turkish sites, which employ stone foundations and grid-and celle-like plans. The closets similarities in architecture are with the site of Bouqras in Syria.
The mediaeval settlement
The excavation of the mediaeval levels of Gritille in 1984 had three chief aims; to trace the course of the fortification wall, and hence the extent of the settlement, as far as possible; to test unexcavated parts of the mound to see if areas with different functions could be found; and to complete the stratigraphic sequence of the mediaeval strata.
In previous seasons a substantial fortification wall had been discovered at the western edge of the mound in Operations 3 and 7. In 1984 the parts of the wall already traced were cleared and cleaned, and several small soundings were made to follow its continuation to the north and south. The stratigraphy of the wall is complex, since it was repaired several times. The western portion had two major superimposed phases; an earlier phase made chiefly of mud brick, and a later phase with heavy stone foundations and a brick superstructure. Both phases could be traced for about 40 m. toward the south. In Operation 39, 10 meters farther on, the earlier wall turned toward the east to skirt the southern edge of the mound. No trace of the later wall was found there; it either followed a different course or, more likely, had been eroded away at that point. The walls could be followed toward the north as well, but the northwestern corner and the north side of the forticifation has tary others were found, consisted of two small domed firing-chambers side by side. The domes do not appear to have been closed above, and they probably served for heating pots or other utensils placed on top of them, rather than as ovens. The front of each stove was flanked by upright mud-bricks that had been decorated by excising areas to leave geometric patterns in relief. At points in the pattern tiny sherds of glazed pottery has been inserted into the clay, either for decorative or symbolic reasons. The purpose of these "toves" may have been practical, ceremonial, or both.
The objects found in the mediaeval levels include numerous coins, which will be of great value in establishing the chronology of the phases. In the destruction debris of the earlier phase was a small board of European silver coins. While the coins are of types that were used over long spans of time, the hoard probably dates to the second half of the 12th century A.D. Two gold solidi of the Byzantine emperor Michael VII Ducas (A.D. 1071-1078) were found in a context that was clearly later than that of the 11 th century. The majority of the coins from the later phase are Islamic, of the 13th century A.D. Several examples of Byzantine bronze coins with Islamic overstrikes were found.
In addition to excavation on the mound of Gritille itself, investigation of the surrounding area continued in 1484. The survey of archaelogical sites in the vicinity has now identified about 30 sites ranging in date from Pottery Neolithic to mediaeval. The location of a flint source to the north of Gritille was mentioned above. This year it was possible to make brief soundings at two small sites near Gritille, both of which revealed remains of periods not represented at the main mound. Karatut Mevkii is a small site about 2 km. upstream from Gritille. Four days of excavation showed that the deposit was very shallow, and uncovered living surfaces, though no architectural remains. The pottery was Late Chalcolithic in date; both local vegatable-tempered ware and grit-tempered ware of Uruk tradition were represented. The other small site, called by us Okul Mevkii, is immediately adjacent to the school of Biriman/Kovanoluk village, which served as our expedition headquarters. The remains at Okul Mevkii are mediaeval in date, apparently somewhat later than the abandonment of Gritille itself.
Recovery of archaeological materials was carried out in the same way as in earlier seasons. In the Neolithic operations, 20 % of all excavater deposit was put through a 1 mm.-mest wet screen, and the rest through a 5 mm.-mesh dry screen. About 20 % of most mediaeval deposits were dry-screened. These screening techniques yielded very large amounts of chipped stone tools and debris, and of small animal bones and bone fragments. Numerous soil samples were processed in a flotation device to recover carbonized seeds and other vegetable remains.
Since the 1984 season was to be the last season in the field, great emphasis was placed upon the recording and processing of the information necessary for subsequent analysis and publication. A larger laboratory staff than in previous years listed, conserved, drew, and photographed a very large quantity of archaeological material. A team of four specialists coded chipped stone; to date about 18,000 of the 80,000 recovered pieces of flint and obsidian have been coded. Other specialists worked with the pottery, the animal bones, and various classes of artifacts.
Gritille is a medium-sized mound, approximately oval in shape. The flat top measures about 80X40 m. (262.5X131 ft.), and the base of the mound proper about 100X150 m. (328X492 ft.). The top of the mound is about 24 m. (79 ft.) above the normal level of the river. The lower half of this height consists of a conglomerate terrace topped by a layer of sandy silt; the upper 12 m. (39 ft.) is the occupational deposit. All of the slopes of the mound are steep, but the eastern one, which falls straight into the river, is especially so. The mound is overgrown with scrubby plants and strewn with potsherds; from the slopes protrude alignments of stone, the foundations of walls of many periods.
 Plan of Gritille, showing the areas with Neolithic and mediaeval remains |  Plan of Gritille, showing the area excavated in 1984 |
The trench was carried down almost 12 m. (39 ft.) to within a meter (3 feet) or so of virgin soil, and it revealed that the site had been occupied for about 8000 years. At the top was mediaeval material similar to that found in the squares on the top of the mound. Below that was a pisé wall of indeterminate age, and a curious round mud-brick structure of unknown purpose, probably dating from the Iron Age (perhaps 8th-7th centuries B.C.). Lower were Bronze Age levels. he periods of occupation best represented in the results of the 1981 season were the Early Neolithic (ca. 7000-6000 B.C.), the Early Bronze (ca. 3000-2000 B.C.), and the mediaeval (ca. 1000-1250 A.D.). These phases also provided most of our material in 1982, but we found indications of occupation in other periods as well. There may have been a settlement at Gritille in the Iron Age (ca. 900-600 B.C.). The mound was certainly occupied to some extent in Hellenistic and Roman times with pottery.
It is of particular interest, in relation to this Early Neolithic occupation, that the vicinity of Gritille is very rich in Palaeolithic sites. Dr. Richard S. Davis surveyed the area within 5 km. (3 M.) of Gritille on foot in 1981, and found 28 sites, primarily of Lower and Middle Palaeolithic ages.
In 1982 two burials were discovered in the Early Bronze levels. One was in the balk amongst operations. A young woman, about 20 years old, had been buried in a small pit covered with stones. No objects were found with her. The other burial was more elaborate; a cist of mud bricks laid on edge was built inside a round pit. More bricks were laid over the burial, but had later collapsed into it. When the bricks and the earth beneath were lifted, the skeletons of an adult man and of a boy or girl 8 to 10 years old were exposed. The skeletons faced each other, and were well preserved; the only objects with them were a small shell pendant near the man's head, and a beautiful quartz arrowhead on the child's jaw.
While the latest deposit that we have attributed to the Bronze Age -a pit excavated in 1981, contained material that may date from the early second millennium B.C., we have so far few recognizable remains from this time, when this area lay between the competing spheres of influence of the Hittites and the Mitannians.
From Assyrian sources we know something of the area in which Gritille lies during the Iron Age--that is, the early first millennium B.C., from about 850 to 600 B.C. Little is known, however, about the pottery of this period in the Lower Euphrates area, so that it has so far been difficult to identify a phase of that period at Gritille. But in a deep sounding in operations at depth of 4.4m. (14 ft.) from the surface, fragments of a large storage jar were found, with an incised design that seems to represent a lightning bolt on a stand- probably the symbol of a storm god. The closest parallels to this design are in northern Syria and Assyria, and date to the period between about 850 and 700 B.C.
It was mentioned above that some remains of Hellenistic and Roman times were found. Hellenistic pottery appeared in a pit sunk into the third millennium deposits of operations. The curious round structure that was discovered in pperations in 1981 was cleared out this year, and proved to have Roman pottery on its lowest floors. It was apparently built inside a pit that had been dug down into third millennium deposits.
On the west side of the mound, a step-trench that it was hoped would reveal the sequence of occupation on that side of the mound reached a depth of about 5.5 m. (18 ft.) below the surface. One of the earliest features discovered in this operation was a wall parallel to the edge of the mound, with a drain running under it. In the drain was a small bronze cross which, when cleaned, proved to have an incised figure of Christ on it, clothed and looking outward at the observer. Informed opinions that have so far been obtained about this cross date it to the 6th or 7th century A.D. This find, together with a coin of Justinian I found in 1981 in a later context, argue for an early Byzantine occupation of the mound. A second and more elaborate bronze cross was found in same test pit that yielded the jar with the lightning emblem mentioned above, but as yet it has not been possible to date it accurately.
Above the wall and drain are a series of fortification walls running along the west side of the mound. The earliest wall had a foundation of large stones, a mud-brick superstructure, and a fill of gravel behind it. A layer of decayed mud-brick shows that this wall had become ruinous before the next one was built. The second wall shows three of four phases of construction. The plans of the earliest phases are not clear, but the next to the last of the wall was about 2 m. thick, with a tower of 5 m. (16 ft.) wide projecting 2.5 m. (8 ft.) from its outer face. In the last phase the wall was widened by filling in the spaces between the towers with mud-bricks resting on a stone foundation. The resulting wall was 4.5-5 m. (15-16 ft.) thick. It was in its turn allowed to decay; the last structures in the area are wall foundations that extend over the eroded top of the fortification wall.
The area cleared on the top of the mound in 1981 was extended to the south, adding 150 sq.m. (1614.5 sq.ft.) to the 100 previously excavated. Close beneath the surface are stone wall foundations contemporary with the post fortification walls found. Within the upper levels several phases of building can be distinguished in any one sector, but the impression that we get from the entire excavated area is one of more or less continuous rebuilding, now in one spot, now in another. Beneath about 2 m. (6.5 ft.) of these confusing walls was, in one area, a deposit of soft ashy material, probably thrown out from a nearby kiln or oven. In another place was a well-preserved mud-brick wall. These deposits produced fragments of glazed pottery, and so are probably still mediaeval in date--Byzantine or Islamic.
A preliminary analysis of the pottery and coins suggests that the occupation of the settlement ended at about the middle of the 13th century A.D. For the earlier levels we can so far only guess that the fortifications belong to the disturbed period of the Turkish and Crusader invasions, about 1000-1150 A.D; that the last, post-fortification phase dates to the time after the fall of the Frankish County of Edessa, when the area was under more or less unified Islamic control; and that the end of the settlement was due to the raids of the Mongols in about 1250 A.D.
Four major chronological periods at Gritille:
1. Early (Aceramic) Neolithic, uncovered in trenches on the eastern slope of the mound
2. Early Bronze, Age, above the Neolithic remains, in the same area.
3. Pre-Hellenistic/Hellenistic, discovered in a large pit cut into Earyl Bronze Age deposits on the eastern edge of the mound, and at several points below the earliest mediaevel deposits.
4. Mediaeval, on the top of mound, to a depth of about 5 m. (16 ft.)
The Neolithic settlement
During 1984 virgin soil was reached at the bottom of the Neolithic deposits, in two small areas about 13 m. (43 ft.) below the top of the mound. The entire thickness of the Neolithic deposit is about 4 m. (13 ft.) Within this deposit an erosion surface indicates a gap in occupation (at least in the excavated area) of unknown length. The work of 1984 uncovered substantial architectural remains in both the earlier and later phases. Throughout the history of the Neolithic settlement walls were constructed of one or two thicknesses of square or rectangular mud bricks. Stone foundations were rarely used and when present usually consisted of scattered chunks of the conglomerate that underlies the site. In the earlier phase traces of white plaster were found on walls and floors, and in one case at least part of a plastered floor had been colored red. A rectangular room, badly cut up by pits dug later in the Neolithic period, was found.
Better preserved architecture belonging to the later phase was found part of which measured about 3X5 m. (10X16 ft.), had a rectangular outline and was divided into several small rooms. Building adjoined the other building on the south, and is simpler in plan; the area in the corner of the two buildings, to the southwest, was probably an open space. A part of another contemporary building to the north, was excavated in 1983. A fragment of an interior wall in this building suggests that is plan may have been similar to that of previous building. To the east of these structures a poorly preserved wall seems to have enclosed an area that might have served as a court for one of the buildings.
The area to the east of this wall was also apparently an open space, either within the settlement or at its edge. The deposits here consisted of thin layers of silt (probably derived from decaying mud-brick buildings) and trash, sloping downward toward the east. Large numbers of Neolithic artifacts were found in these trash layers. Buildings contained few objects, but one of the buildings yielded a large collection of ground stone tools (spheres, oblong pestles, and flat grindstones). Pits had been dug at various points in the settlement, usually outside, but sometimes cutting into earlier walls. They serve numerous purposes; trash disposal, cooking by means of stones that could be pre-heated, and, probably, the heat-treatment of flint to improve its chipping qualities. While only about 350 sq.m. (3,767 sq.ft.) of the Neolithic settlement has been cleared, the excavation includes both inside and outside areas, buildings of various types, and evidence for a variety of activities.
Approximately 80,000 fragments of chipped stone, including tools, cores and core fragments, unused blades and flakes, and waste chips, have been recovered from the Neolithic deposits. Dr. Richard S. Davis of Bryn Mawr College conducted a study of this material; so far he has coded and analyzed about 18,000 pieces. The great majority of the chipped implements are of good-quality brown flint, which is plentiful in the area. Members of the Gritille staff discovered a deposit of nodular flint in a valley about an hour's walk from the site. Obsidian, probably from eastern Anatolia, is fairly common at Gritille. The chipped stone tool-kit includes projectile points, sickle blades, knives, scrapers, piercers, choppers, and burins. The variety of tools suggests that such activities as hunting of animals, harvesting of cereals, skin processing, and the working of wood, bone, and stone were practiced by the Neolithic people of Gritille.
Besides chipped stone tools, a wide variety of ground stone artifacts was found in the Neolithic levels. These ranged from heavy grinders and pestles made of limestone, basalt, and chert to celts of fine ground stone, to beads and ornamental objects of colorful stones, including some that must have come from considerable distances. A small pendant of carnelian was found, and a bead of a stone that resembles turquoise. One material that we were at first surprised to find in a Neolithic context is iron ore, of which several small lumps have been found. This material occurs naturally in the vicinity of Gritille. What the people wanted these reddish lumps for is unknown, but some of them seem to have been exposed to heat, and one or two were partially shaped.
The Neolithic settlement was almost entirely aceramic; only two or three potsherds were found in the latest levels. Nonetheless, the people did use clay for various purposes. A number of lightly fired objects of geometrical shapes, of the kind usually called "tokens", was found in the roasting pits and in trash layers. Fragments of figurines are common; most of them were found in the cooking pits, and almost all were broken. Perhaps they were broken deliberately and thrown into the pits when their use (whatever that was) was finished. The majority of the animal figurines represent horned cattle. Human figures range from very schematic angular forms to relatively realistic examples. The simpler ones can only be identified as sitting humans by comparing the entire range of figurines, including ones from other sites. The most striking figurine found in 1984 was unfortunately headless, but depicted a pregnant woman with her hands placed on her hips. Short incised lines probably indicate some sort of skirt and bands of hair or a headdress appear on the front of the shoulders. Another unusual figurine found this year was carved in chalk and represented a seated woman with fat legs and globular feet; the part above the waist is missing.
In place of pottery vessels, containers of chalk and of the chalky plastic material called "vaisselle blanche" were used, as well as carefully made bowls of veined stone.
Although much analysis of the Neolithic finds remains to be done, it is clear that the site shared the so-called (Pre-Pottery Neolithic B-related" tradition, represented by sites distributes in an arc from Beidha south of the Dead Sea, along the Euphrates in Syria and Turkey, and as far as Maghzaliyah in Iraq. Related sites in Turkey include Çayönü, Cafer Höyük, Hayaz Höyük, and Nevalla Cori. Interestingly, the Neolithic architecture of Gritille is not very similar to that of the nearby Turkish sites, which employ stone foundations and grid-and celle-like plans. The closets similarities in architecture are with the site of Bouqras in Syria.
The mediaeval settlement
The excavation of the mediaeval levels of Gritille in 1984 had three chief aims; to trace the course of the fortification wall, and hence the extent of the settlement, as far as possible; to test unexcavated parts of the mound to see if areas with different functions could be found; and to complete the stratigraphic sequence of the mediaeval strata.
In previous seasons a substantial fortification wall had been discovered at the western edge of the mound in Operations 3 and 7. In 1984 the parts of the wall already traced were cleared and cleaned, and several small soundings were made to follow its continuation to the north and south. The stratigraphy of the wall is complex, since it was repaired several times. The western portion had two major superimposed phases; an earlier phase made chiefly of mud brick, and a later phase with heavy stone foundations and a brick superstructure. Both phases could be traced for about 40 m. toward the south. In Operation 39, 10 meters farther on, the earlier wall turned toward the east to skirt the southern edge of the mound. No trace of the later wall was found there; it either followed a different course or, more likely, had been eroded away at that point. The walls could be followed toward the north as well, but the northwestern corner and the north side of the forticifation has tary others were found, consisted of two small domed firing-chambers side by side. The domes do not appear to have been closed above, and they probably served for heating pots or other utensils placed on top of them, rather than as ovens. The front of each stove was flanked by upright mud-bricks that had been decorated by excising areas to leave geometric patterns in relief. At points in the pattern tiny sherds of glazed pottery has been inserted into the clay, either for decorative or symbolic reasons. The purpose of these "toves" may have been practical, ceremonial, or both.
The objects found in the mediaeval levels include numerous coins, which will be of great value in establishing the chronology of the phases. In the destruction debris of the earlier phase was a small board of European silver coins. While the coins are of types that were used over long spans of time, the hoard probably dates to the second half of the 12th century A.D. Two gold solidi of the Byzantine emperor Michael VII Ducas (A.D. 1071-1078) were found in a context that was clearly later than that of the 11 th century. The majority of the coins from the later phase are Islamic, of the 13th century A.D. Several examples of Byzantine bronze coins with Islamic overstrikes were found.
In addition to excavation on the mound of Gritille itself, investigation of the surrounding area continued in 1484. The survey of archaelogical sites in the vicinity has now identified about 30 sites ranging in date from Pottery Neolithic to mediaeval. The location of a flint source to the north of Gritille was mentioned above. This year it was possible to make brief soundings at two small sites near Gritille, both of which revealed remains of periods not represented at the main mound. Karatut Mevkii is a small site about 2 km. upstream from Gritille. Four days of excavation showed that the deposit was very shallow, and uncovered living surfaces, though no architectural remains. The pottery was Late Chalcolithic in date; both local vegatable-tempered ware and grit-tempered ware of Uruk tradition were represented. The other small site, called by us Okul Mevkii, is immediately adjacent to the school of Biriman/Kovanoluk village, which served as our expedition headquarters. The remains at Okul Mevkii are mediaeval in date, apparently somewhat later than the abandonment of Gritille itself.
Recovery of archaeological materials was carried out in the same way as in earlier seasons. In the Neolithic operations, 20 % of all excavater deposit was put through a 1 mm.-mest wet screen, and the rest through a 5 mm.-mesh dry screen. About 20 % of most mediaeval deposits were dry-screened. These screening techniques yielded very large amounts of chipped stone tools and debris, and of small animal bones and bone fragments. Numerous soil samples were processed in a flotation device to recover carbonized seeds and other vegetable remains.
Since the 1984 season was to be the last season in the field, great emphasis was placed upon the recording and processing of the information necessary for subsequent analysis and publication. A larger laboratory staff than in previous years listed, conserved, drew, and photographed a very large quantity of archaeological material. A team of four specialists coded chipped stone; to date about 18,000 of the 80,000 recovered pieces of flint and obsidian have been coded. Other specialists worked with the pottery, the animal bones, and various classes of artifacts.
: 04 Jun 2011/10:20 GMT |
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