The bituminous mixtures of Kavuşan Höyük (SE Turkey) from the end of the 3rd millennium (2000 BC) to the Medieval period (AD 14th century): Composition and origin

Abstract

Bituminous mixtures were observed on potsherds at Kavuşan Höyük, one of the rescue excavations along the Upper Tigris River in southeastern Turkey. Analysis of 26 samples from six periods spanning from the end of the 3rd millennium BC to the Medieval period (AD 14th century), has shown that bituminous mixtures possess the classical gross composition of most bitumen-bearing mixtures analysed in many archaeological sites of the Near East and the Gulf of Arabia. To search for the geological sources of bitumen, oil seeps, oil stained rocks and crude oils from Turkey and Northern Iraq were analysed as reference using the same geochemical tools: biomarkers and stable isotope composition. The principal conclusion is that the bitumen has been imported from the Eruh outcrop, 120km east of Kavuşan Höyük. Additionally, the bitumen from Eruh was imported to Kavuşan over a long time period, from the end of the 3rd millennium BC to the AD 14th century.