Andirons, lamps and portable hearths

The Hirbemerdon Tepe Archaeological Project was initiated in 2003 as part of a broader cultural heritage rescue project associated with the construction of the Ilısu Dam and planned as part of a scientific collaboration between the University of Catania, the Istituto per l’Africa e l’Oriente and the Archaeological Museum of Dıyarbakir. The site is located on the western bank of the Tigris river about 100 km southeast of the modern city of Dıyarbakir. During the 10 years of archaeological work performed at the site 11 archaeological phases were recorded starting from the fourth millennium BC until the XIXth century AD. This volume represents the final report on the studies of the material culture belonging to this long chronological sequence that was unearthed during the excavations and aims at allowing the interested scholars at reconstructing the history of the settlement as well as a broader sociocultural landscape that involved other social groups inhabiting the upper Tigris region as well as other Anatolian and Mesopotamian regions.