Ergani

Ergani (Ottoman Turkish: عثمانيه‎ Osmaniye,Kurdish: Erxenî‎, Zazaki: Erğeni), formerly known as Arghni or Arghana, is a district of Diyarbakır Province of Turkey. The mayor is Ramazan Kartalmiş (BDP).

Çayönü

Near the village of Sesverenpınar, among the Hilar rocks Çayönü hill was first settled in c. 7500 BC, and was continuously inhabited until 5000 BC (but only occasionally since then). Remains have been found from the earlier habitation, one of the most important archaeological finds of its era. We can see evidence of an early city from the Neolithic period, when nomadic hunter-gatherers began to settle in one place. Excavation of Çayönü, one of the largest and best-preserved sites of its kind was begun in 1963 by Istanbul University and the University of Chicago and continues today.

History

Place names first mentioned as Arkni/Argni in Armenian archives. Trade has flourished between Ergani and Mesopotamia during the third millennium BC. Ergani mines used to ship copper to the early settlements at Uruk of southern Iraq. The Euphrates river connected Ergani and Uruk. Vessels of the day could easily float several tons of copper downstream to Uruk in a few weeks, the transport of hundred of tons of grain back to Anatolia was challenging. Later Mesopotamian civilizations took advantage of the more favorably placed Persian Gulf mineral resources.