Batman Hasankeyf Museum

Batman Hasankeyf Archaeological Site

Within the scope of Prof. Dr. Veysel EROĞLU Ilısu Dam and HEPP Project, the first archaeological excavations in Hasankeyf Archaeological Site started in 1985 with the financial support of the GAP Administration and the General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works. It was carried out for certain periods until 2004, under the presidency of the Mardin Museum Directorate and with the team under the scientific consultancy of Prof. Dr. M. Oluş ARIK. Between 2004 and 2018, scientific archaeological excavations were carried out in Hasankeyf Archaeological Site under the chairmanship of Prof. Dr. Abdüsselam ULUÇAM with the decision of the Council of Ministers, and a significant number of movable and immovable cultural assets were unearthed during this period. Rescue excavations were carried out in Hasankeyf Archaeological Site under the Presidency of Batman Museum Directorate between 2018-2019, and in 2020, rescue excavations were carried out in Hasankeyf Archaeological Site Inner Castle under the Presidency of Hasankeyf Museum Directorate and under the Scientific Advisory of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zekai ERDAL.

It has emerged as a result of the implementation of dam projects, of which the known history of Hasankeyf goes even further. In this direction, rescue excavations were carried out in Hasankeyf Mound between 2008-2019, and based on the important findings, Hasankeyf Höyük has been counted among the oldest and most important neolithic period settlements in Anatolia. In Hasankeyf Mound, the first settlement activities started in the Neolithic (Pre-Pottery Neolithic period) in the second half of the 10th Millennium BC, and the Iron Age and Hellenistic period findings were also found in the excavated areas of the mound. The artifacts unearthed during the excavations are exhibited in Hasankeyf Museum and Batman Museum.

Thousands of rock-cut structures, called "cave dwellings", have survived to the present day in Hasankeyf Archaeological Site, which is home to civilizations that have left their mark on the history of world civilization due to its historical geographical location. In the historical process, it has been determined that these important structures were used by people from the 1st millennium BC to the last quarter of the 20th century. As a result of the recent archaeological data in Hasankeyf Archaeological Site, important structures and structures belonging to the Eastern Roman, Artuqid, Ayyubid, Akkoyunlu and Ottoman Periods have been unearthed. The cleaning and excavation works were carried out in Inner Castle-Upper City; Great Palace, Small Palace, Great Mosque, Old Cemetery; In the Lower City, Artuklu Bridge, Zeynel Bey Complex, Artuklu Bath, Imam Abdullah Zaviye, Outer Wall Surrounding, Koç Mosque-Central Excavation Site, Eyyubi-Kızlar Mosque, Ottoman Direkli Mosque, Slope Complex, Ceramic Kilns Area, structures in the gardens of Salihiye, Kasımiye Mansions, Mardinike Complex and Islamic Period Old Cemetery between 1986-2020. Some of these important structures in archaeological site; Zeynel Bey Tomb, Fountain Gate and Minaret of the Süleyman Han Building, Er-Rızk Mosque Architectural Elements and Minaret, Eyyubi Girls Mosque (Tomb-Gravestones Belonging to the Eyyubi Kings), Artuklu Bath (Coldiness Section of the Ottoman Period Bath), Imam Abdullah Tomb and Zaviye, and the monumental Eyyubid Middle Gate, which provides the entrance to the Inner Castle, was moved to the Kultur Park area between 2017-2019.