Anatolia is the go to place for early human settlements. The latest addition by the Turks in this area is Arslantepe Mound in 2021. What you will find is a hill with a "palace". It's all based on mud bricks and excavations are still ongoing. Seeing the size of the hill (tell), I would assume more buildings to be unearthed in the next decade or so.

There is a walkway across the public parts of the ruin. It's not huge, but allows you to explore the site. They did put up some signs which helps shed some light on the site.

The single greatest feature of the site are the rock drawings. I had seen them on Clyde's and Stanislaw's reviews. But they were nowhere to be seen when I visited. I was about to give up when Clyde via whatsapp let me know, that they are protected via curtains. You have to ask the guard to remove them. He did and the rock art is stunning, especially as it's displayed in situ rather than a museum.

The site was originally referred. I would argue that there is no overall reason against inscription and that the site belongs on the list. Reason I could see for a referral is that given the ongoing excavations, inscription could have taken place later to get a full picture of the site. I could also see approaching the Malatya area as a whole and documenting the human settlement of the area more generally.

Of the three prehistoric sites in Turkey on the list, I would place Arslantepe Mound in the middle. I found it somewhat more tangible than the muddy hill that is Çatalhöyük, but less spectacular than Göbekli Tepe. Çatalhöyük, though, is five millennia older.

Getting There

Arslantepe Mound is in the suburbs of Malatya. Malatya has connections by bus and plane to all parts of Turkey. I came by bus from Kayseri and continued the next morning by bus to Urfa.

Malatya's bus terminal (otogar) is way outside of town. From there, you could go by local bus (for which you would need a prepaid Malatya card). Or you take a cab as the I did. Entry to the site is free.

After my visit I walked to Battalgazi (the historic Malatya) and took a bus back to Malatya. Due to not having a Malatya card, I had some issues to sort out in order to get on the bus.

While You Are There

Present day Malatya is a relatively young town. The local museum holds some artefacts from Arslantepe, as I understand it. But otherwise I am not aware that there is much to see in town. In late spring/summer, you can join tours to Nemrut Dag. If you come in winter, the roads are closed due to snow as I learnt in my hotel lobby.

More interesting is historic Malatya which was known in antiquity as Melitene (still is known as such in Kurdish) and now goes by the name of Battalgazi. Essentially, the area has been settled continuously for millennia. The Ottomans decided to move the town in the 19th century from old to new.

Battalgazi has some Roman ruin and a 12th century mosque. Given the long history of Malatya, going back 6.000 years, I would assume there is more to be found and unearthed.