Zincirli Höyük

Zincirli Höyük, ancient Sam'al, is an archaeological site in the Anti-Taurus foothills of Gaziantep Province, southern Turkey. Occupied from at least the Early Bronze Age, it flourished around 3000–2000 BCE and later became the capital of a Neo-Hittite and Aramaean kingdom in the Iron Age. The site is surrounded by a double circular wall about 720–800 m in diameter, with roughly a hundred towers and three gates. Inside stood a citadel with palaces, temples and monumental gateways decorated with sculpted orthostats; Aramaic and Phoenician inscriptions, including the famous Kilamuwa and Bar-Rakib texts, record its rulers. Sam'al was incorporated into the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the late eighth century BCE. Its long stratigraphy and monumental art make it a key site for the history of the Syro-Anatolian Iron Age. The city was destroyed at the end of the eighth century BCE, and its ruins were later covered by a Hellenistic settlement.