Archaeological excavations at the Artuklu Palace within the İçkale complex in the southern province of Diyarbakır have revealed a previously buried section of the city walls.
The newly uncovered wall segment, which had remained underground for nearly a century, measures 1.35 meters in height and 17 meters in length and is believed to date back to the Hurrian period.
Located within the UNESCO-listed historic Sur district, the excavation area lies at Amida Höyük, widely regarded as the site of Diyarbakır’s earlier settlement.
Archaeological findings to date indicate that continuous habitation at the mound began during the Neolithic period, around 8000 B.C. With an uninterrupted settlement history spanning approximately 10,000 years, Amida Höyük stands as the world’s second-oldest continuously inhabited administrative center after Jericho in the West Bank, Palestine.
Throughout its long history, the mound has served as a political and administrative hub for a succession of civilizations, including the Hurrians and the Hurri-Mitanni Bit Zamani Kingdom, Assyrians, Urartians, Medes, Persians, the Hellenistic kingdoms following Alexander the Great, Romans, Byzantines, Sasanians, Umayyads, Abbasids, Seljuks, Artuklids, Ayyubids, Ilkanids, Aq Qoyunlu, Safavids and Ottomans.
Excavations at the Artuklu Palace have been ongoing for the past eight years and are led by Dicle University professor İrfan Yıldız.
The project is conducted under the “12-month excavation” status authorized by presidential decree.
Yıldız said office-based preparations began on Jan. 2, while fieldwork resumed on June 23 and is scheduled to continue until Dec. 31, marking nearly a full year of uninterrupted activity.
“This year, we focused primarily on the northern section of the palace, an area known as the Parade Ground,” Yıldız said. “So far, archaeological excavations have been carried out in 26 trenches, each measuring five by five meters, covering a total area of 650 square meters.”
The Parade Ground historically functioned as an open-air venue for assemblies, ceremonies and official gatherings.
During excavations in this area, researchers exposed what is believed to be the oldest section of the Diyarbakır city walls.
“Because this portion represents the earliest phase of fortifications, it also provides valuable information about the construction techniques and materials of the period,” Yıldız noted, pointing to the use of large cut stone blocks combined with smaller rubble stones at the foundation level.
Excavations have also revealed traces of structures added in front of the walls during the Ottoman period, including the base levels of two arches. In addition, work has reached the bedrock underlying the city at a depth of 4.45 meters.
“The way stones were cut into the bedrock shows that early communities effectively used the technology available to them to shape their built environment,” Yıldız said.
Following the completion of excavations and landscaping, the Parade Ground is expected to once again serve as a public gathering space for Diyarbakır.
