1. Cilt - Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı

epresent the metal survey pins for the Operation G excavations (the gradiometry colleetionutilizes wooded stakes). All other features shown on this map are the result ofsubsurface anomalies. From past experience at Ziyaret Tepe and ground truthing viaexcavation, we know that the long weakly negative features are probably mud-brickwalls and that large very strong bipolar features are kilns. The basic lack of the use ofstone in the Late Assyrian buildings means that the magnetic anomalies are very weak,comprising the distinction between sun-baked mud-brick and mud-brick collapse.The most striking feature of this gradiometry map are the long parallel linear featuresthat run from the northwestern corner of the site down the entire length of thewestern edge of the setllement; these make a sharp jog at the southern edge of the surveyarea, before turning generally to the west. This anomaly probably marks the line ofthe city's ancient fortification wall that we are now able to trace for approximately 200m. in this survey. It is interesting to note that the wall does not appear clearly along thenorthern edge of the survey area. This suggests that the city wall may be cut here, possiblyby the erosion of the western lobe of the lower town that is raised at least 6 m.above the floodplain to the north. If this hypothesis is confirmed by further excavation,it would suggest that the northern part of the lower town has been severely truncatedby post-Assyrian erosional events.Another significant discovery this season was the large magnetic anomaly locatedin the "jog" in the city wall. Our initial interpretation is that there was a large publicbuiIding located at this junction. The anomaly is seen as a series of Iinear features witha negative magnetic gradient. This type of signal is similar to that which marked thepresence of the large mud-brick building with a checkerboard mosaic floor in OperationG (Matney et aL. 2002). In this case, the Iines of most of the excavated walls wereseen as faint negative features. Moderately strong positive features, usually a meter orso across turned out to be complete starage vessels that were stili in situ less than 50cm. below the modern surface. If this interpretation is correct, then there is an apparentlywell preserved monumental building to the south of our current Operation Gtrenches, at or near the city wall.Geomotphoıoqicel Survey: Regiona/ Mapping in the Upper Tigris River Va/leyA new initiative associated with the Ziyaret Tepe archaeological project is ourmultidisciplinary study of the local geomorphological setling of the Upper Tigris Rivervaliey. The long-term goal of the geomorphological project is to decipher the local paleoenvironmentalsetling of human activities from the Paleolithic through the Iron Agein this region of Turkey. The primary objectives in the initial 2002 field season includedthe following: (1) to create a geoarchaeological description of the region; (2) to documentthe local stratigraphy, and sample appropriate locations for further detailed chronometricand paleoenvironmental analyses that will complement the ongoing excavationsat Ziyaret Tepe; and (3) to develop an accurate set of basemaps showlnq larıdforms,resources and human modifications of the environment that can be comprehensivelyrendered into a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) database to serve as thebasis for further research.To facilitate our initial regional survey, we utilized digitally-processed multibandASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) satelliteimages of the area around Ziyaret Tepe and the Upper Tigris River Vaıiey. ASTERdatasets have been effectively used in a variety of landscape studies to map rocktypes, as well as to delineate soils and other surface features (Yamaguchi et aL. 2001).The synoptic view provided by the satellite image oriented our mapping efforts in thefield; the satellite data comprise one layer in our GIS of the region. We used vehicularand pedestrian surveys to identify suitable locations where we could describe andsample stratigraphic sections. After reconnaissance, we employed a hand-held GlobalPositioning System (GPS) unit to georeference specific modern cultural sites and local100