Arslantepe: New Data on the Formation of the Neo-Hittite Kingdom of Melid

Excavations of the 2nd and 1st millennia BC remains have characterized the early history of researches at Arslantepe, shedding light on the monumentality and historical importance of the site in the Hittite and especially Neo-Hittite periods. After a long interruption, investigations on the Iron Age levels have been recently resumed, in order to both re-examine the old evidence and obtain new information, with the help of modern methodologies, on these important phases in the long site´s history. The article offers a summarized update of the results of the activities conducted in the northern sectors of the Arslantepe mound from 2007 to 2019, presenting a detailed sequence of levels from the end of the Late Bronze Age to the latest Iron Age phases, showing architecture and materials as well as setting the discoveries in their historical context. The recent investigations have shown that the last Neo-Hittite phase of the 8th century BC, characterized by the erection of the wellknown "Lions´ Gate" and its famous celebrative apparatus, is the result of a long and continuous development process which has its roots in the final Late Bronze Age, thus revealing the uniqueness of Arslantepe as a case study for the reconstruction and understanding of the formation of the Neo- Hittite states.