Titris Hoyuk Archaeological Project
Overview

Titris Hoyuk is an Early Bronze Age city dating between 2600 and 2100 BC. During the Early Bronze Age, the city and inhabitants of Titris Hoyuk prospered through their far-flung trading connections, linking the Anatolian Plateau and the high Taurus Mountain area of eastern Turkey with the lowland civilization of Mesoptamia in Iraq and northeasten Syria. Although Titris Hoyuk was a village for thousands of years prior to the Early Bronze Age, it was only an important city for about 500 years. After its collapse, the city was never reoccupied and today the site is covered in agricultural fields hiding the rich ancient heritage of Titris Hoyuk.

The Titris Hoyuk Archaeological Project began in 1991 under the direction of Dr. Guillermo Algaze of the University of California, San Diego. In 1994, Dr. Timothy Matney of the University of Akron joined the project as co-director. The Titris Hoyuk team conducted eight seasons of excavation (1991-1996, 1998-1999) and one study season (1997). The results of those nine years of work are published as a series of preliminary reports in the journal Anatolica. The final reports are currently in production.

Titris Hoyuk is located in the Sanliurfa Province of southeastern Turkey, on the Tavuk Cay, a small tributary of the Euphrates River. The site sits at the juncture between the high Taurus Mountains to the north and the extensive Mesopotamian floodplain stretching for thousands of kilometers to the south. This aerial photograph shows the High Mound at Titris Hoyuk and the surrounding countryside.

New! Study of ancient DNA samples from burials at Titriş Höyük is now underway.