During the excavations carried out in Gre Fılla Mound in the Kocaköy district of Diyarbakır, 2,687 artifacts were unearthed in 4 years and delivered to the Diyarbakır Museum Directorate.
Excavations have been carried out in the mound since 2018, under the chairmanship of the Diyarbakır Museum Directorate, under the scientific consultancy of Kocaeli University Faculty of Arts and Sciences Archeology Department Head Prof Dr Ayşe Tuba Ökse.
During the excavations, it was determined that the oldest settlement in the mound started in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Period, and to Ambar Höyük and Kendale Hecala, a few hundred meters away, were settled in the Early Neolithic Age.
In addition to artifacts belonging to societies living in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Period, religious and social living areas were also identified in Gre Fılla Mound.
During the excavations that lasted 4 years, 2,687 artifacts were unearthed. The artifacts unearthed and collected were carefully cleaned, documented and delivered to the Diyarbakır Museum Directorate by a team of archaeologists, restorers, anthropologists and art historians.
Prof Dr Ayşe Tuba Ökse told AA, that they came across findings of the oldest settled communities during the excavations they have been carrying out for 4 years in this settlement, which dates back 11,000-12,000 years.
She said that the oldest settlement where they continued to excavate belonged to a period when the first round-shaped shelters were used, and the settlement later became narrow-planned.
Ökse explained that three pit structures with a diameter of almost 10 meters were unearthed.
“One of them has stelae and they are contemporary with Göbeklitepe. There are 4 pillars to support the roof. According to the works, we can say that a ritual was exhibited here. We can define them as common areas where a belief and social life coexist. We do not want to call them temples directly. Because there is not as much data. These are also referred to as special structures. Just like in Göbeklitepe.”
She stated that they have excavated two main periods so far, a Pre-Pottery Neolithic and a Late Antique cemetery. Ökse thinks that the findings that come out of from here and that will be extracted should be introduced to people.
Ökse said, “Grinding stones, whetstones, stone axes, cutting and piercing tools, earth and stone figures, and glass artifacts were mostly found. 1023 of these artifacts were delivered to the museum to be exhibited and 1664 to be used in publications and thesis studies. “
Özlem Ekinbaş Can, a doctoral student in the Department of Archeology at Kocaeli University, who was part of the excavation team, said that Gre Fılla could be a symbol for the Tigris line, just as Göbeklitepe is a symbol for the Euphrates line. And she pointed out that the area is an important settlement in terms of cultural history. “It is our duty to somehow transport 11 thousand-year-old structures that have survived from the past to the future”