Hasankeyf: 12,000 Years on the Tigris

Hasankeyf sits on a bend of the Tigris in Batman Province, in southeastern Türkiye. Live Science calls it one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the world. Reuters, reporting in 2020, called it a 12,000-year-old town.

Since 2019 the reservoir of the Ilisu Dam has covered much of the old town. This article sets out what archaeologists found, what was moved, and what is happening there now.

Where does the "12,000 years" come from?

It comes from Hasankeyf Höyük, a mound on the north bank of the upper Tigris, about 2 kilometres east of the modern village. Before the dam, rescue excavations ran from 2011 to 2014 under Yutaka Miyake of the University of Tsukuba, within the Hasankeyf Rescue and Conservation Project led by Abdüsselam Uluçam of Batman University.

The published work says settlement began about 12,000 years ago, in the second half of the 10th millennium BC. Analysis of plant and animal remains showed no trace of crop growing or herding. The people were sedentary hunter-gatherers.

What did the earliest settlers leave behind?

Anthropological Science reports nearly 100 human skeletal remains from the excavations. Researchers found traces of orange and black paint on some of the bones. Hürriyet Daily News reported painted burials from about 11,500 years ago.

For the study of early settled life, the site is valuable because it shows a village of hunter-gatherers by the Tigris at around the same time as the first monuments in Şanlıurfa Province.

Who built the later town?

Hasankeyf's layers run from prehistory through the Roman, Artuqid, Ayyubid and Ottoman periods.

In summer 2024, a team led by Zekai Erdal of Mardin Artuklu University found the remains of a fourth-century Roman military structure. It is thought to date to the reign of Constantius II, who built fortresses on the eastern frontier in the 350s. Historical records mentioned the fort, but Live Science says it had not been located until then. Erdal identified the large blocky stones as opus isodomum, a Roman wall technique.

On the citadel stands the Great Palace. Hürriyet Daily News reports its date and builder are uncertain. Mason marks resemble those on the Hasankeyf Bridge, so it may have begun as a Roman garrison and been reused as an Artuqid palace. Digging began in 1986, and by 2021 about half had been uncovered.

Artuqid-era finds include a pottery fragment about 800 years old showing animals in combat. Erdal told Anadolu Agency it may depict an Anatolian leopard, a species once thought extinct in Türkiye until its rediscovery in 2019.

The same dig reported a terracotta horse figurine from the Iron Age, an Artuqid healing bowl for dog bites and scorpion and snake stings, and colourful plaster fragments with plant motifs from the 13th to 14th centuries. Hürriyet Daily News has also reported tombstones with an inverted-triangle ornament that are believed to be unique to Hasankeyf.

What did the Ilisu Dam do?

According to NASA, the Ilisu Dam stands about 135 metres tall, roughly 56 kilometres downstream of Hasankeyf. It is expected to produce 1,200 megawatts, about 1.5 percent of Türkiye's generating capacity, and is part of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP). The reservoir covers about 190 square kilometres.

Filling began in late July 2019. By February 2020, water was rising by about 15 centimetres a day. Reuters reported that the dam, approved in 1997, would displace nearly 80,000 people from 199 villages and had worried authorities in Iraq about Tigris water supplies. NASA gives a figure of more than 70,000 displaced, so the estimates differ.

Which monuments were moved?

Several were lifted and relocated before the water arrived. The 15th-century Zeynel Bey Tomb, weighing about 1,100 tonnes, travelled roughly two kilometres on a wheeled platform in May 2017. In 2018 the 13th-century Artuklu Bath, about 1,500 tonnes, followed. Both went to a Cultural Park set up outside the town.

Residents moved to a new town, New Hasankeyf, on a nearby hill. Reporting on the flooding notes that many historic structures were left beneath the reservoir.

What is Hasankeyf like now?

AFP reported in September 2020 that visitors boarded replica ancient boats at a dock in New Hasankeyf, and that swimming was allowed. Some traders feared the new setting would not draw visitors as the old town had.

Hürriyet Daily News reports that the Hasankeyf Museum in the Cultural Park holds 1,453 works from Batman, Mardin, Siirt, Şırnak and Diyarbakır. Hürriyet Daily News also reported that, under the Ministry's "Heritage for the Future" project, a 30-member team set out to uncover the Great Palace fully.

On 16 May 2026, a regional tourism project, the Ancient Cities Route linking Batman and Şırnak, was launched in Hasankeyf with Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek attending.

Why does Hasankeyf still matter?

It shows how a place can hold prehistoric hunters, a Roman frontier fort and a medieval Artuqid court, and how a society weighs heritage against energy and development. The dam's supporters point to electricity and regional growth, and its critics to lost heritage and displaced people.

The record here is a mix of what was saved, what was moved and what is under water.

Key facts

Hasankeyf is on the Tigris in Batman Province, southeastern Türkiye.
Hasankeyf Höyük was first settled about 12,000 years ago by sedentary hunter-gatherers.
A fourth-century Roman fort was identified in 2024, and a Ministry-backed project aims to uncover the Great Palace fully.
The Ilisu Dam began filling in late July 2019; the reservoir covers about 190 km².
The Zeynel Bey Tomb (2017) and the Artuklu Bath (2018) were moved to a Cultural Park.
Estimates of displaced people differ: more than 70,000 (NASA) and nearly 80,000 (Reuters).
A Batman–Şırnak "Ancient Cities Route" was launched at Hasankeyf on 16 May 2026.

Hasankeyf is a reminder that the objects of a place, from a bath house to a clay jar, are tied to the lives that used them. Our pieces are ethnographic household objects, not archaeological finds, but they belong to the same long Anatolian tradition of making things for daily use.

Where does the "12,000 years" come from?

What did the earliest settlers leave behind?

Who built the later town?

What did the Ilisu Dam do?

Which monuments were moved?

What is Hasankeyf like now?

Why does Hasankeyf still matter?

Key facts

Sources

More from the journal

Taş Tepeler and Karahantepe: The Stone Hills of Şanlıurfa

From Pithos to Küp: Thousands of Years of Storage Jars in Anatolia

Göbeklitepe: The Temple That Rewrote the Story of Civilisation

Tell us about your space — we will suggest the pieces.

Request price & availability