Batman Museum: Finds from the Ilısu Excavations

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1. What is the Batman Museum?
2. How do you get to the Batman Museum?
3. When is the best time to visit the Batman Museum?
4. What is the history of the Batman Museum?
5. What is the Batman Museum famous for?
6. What can you see at the Batman Museum?
7. Frequently asked questions about the Batman Museum
8. What do the official records say about the Batman Museum?

What is the Batman Museum?

The Batman Museum is the archaeology museum of Batman province. Its collection comes largely from the rescue excavations carried out before the Ilısu Dam reservoir flooded the Tigris valley, including the area of Hasankeyf. For anyone visiting Hasankeyf today, it is where you see what came out of the ground before the water rose.

According to the provincial culture and tourism directorate, the museum has three exhibition halls, for the Palaeolithic–Neolithic, Ilısu and Hasankeyf, with about 500 objects on display from the Palaeolithic to the Middle Ages. Outside, a Museum Park recreates ancient houses and burials from the excavated mounds.

How do you get to the Batman Museum?

The museum is in Batman city. From Batman Airport (BAL) it is a short taxi ride, and local buses and taxis serve the city. It fits easily into a day with Hasankeyf and the Zeynel Bey Tomb, or a stop on a drive between Diyarbakır and Siirt. Check current opening hours with the provincial directorate before you go.

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When is the best time to visit the Batman Museum?

Any time of year for the galleries; they are a good refuge on hot summer afternoons, when Batman’s temperatures are among the highest in Türkiye. For the open-air Museum Park, spring and autumn mornings are most comfortable. Visit before Hasankeyf if you can, so you know what you are looking at when you reach the reservoir.

What is the history of the Batman Museum?

The museum grew out of the archaeological work done ahead of the Ilısu Dam. The directorate states that it led seven rescue excavations in Batman and Siirt provinces, at mounds that would be submerged by the Ilısu reservoir. The reservoir began filling in 2019 and covered old Hasankeyf by 2020.

The finds from these mounds, among them Başur Höyük, Gusir Höyük, Gre Amer and Kuriki, form the core of the collection. The directorate describes the open-air Museum Park as the first project of its kind in Türkiye.

What is the Batman Museum famous for?

• The gaming stones from Başur Höyük. A set of carved game pieces, considered the most important object in the museum.
• The standing stone from Gusir Höyük. A prehistoric stele from one of the excavated mounds.
• Bronze grave goods from Başur Höyük. Metal objects buried with the dead.
• The figure of Bes from Hasankeyf. A representation of the protective Egyptian household god Bes, found at Hasankeyf.
• The Museum Park. Life-size reconstructions based on the excavations.

What can you see at the Batman Museum?

Palaeolithic–Neolithic hall. Stone tools and finds from the earliest settlements of the upper Tigris.

Ilısu hall. Objects from the mounds excavated in the reservoir area, including the Başur Höyük gaming stones and bronzes.

Hasankeyf hall. Finds from the excavations in Hasankeyf, including the figure of Bes.

The Museum Park. The directorate lists living areas and house models recreated from finds at the Gusir and Gre Amer mounds; displays of burial customs from Başur, Gre Amer and Kuriki; the gaming-stones display; a reconstruction of the Artuqid Gate and a medieval living area from Hasankeyf; village displays of rural life; hands-on excavation areas where schoolchildren work with archaeologists; and simulation areas and short films for children.

Other facilities. A projection room shows documentaries about the excavations, and the museum has a library and a conservation laboratory where excavated objects are restored.

Frequently asked questions about the Batman Museum

What do the official records say about the Batman Museum?

The museum did not exist when the 2002 inventory was written. The inventory’s account of Hasankeyf, the source of much of its collection, reads:

Although the exact founding date of Hasankeyf is not known, the city’s geopolitical structure strengthens the likelihood that it is a very old place of settlement. The many caves, some of which are still used from time to time as dwellings even today, show that people settled here in very ancient times. Information on the city’s founding can only become certain after archaeological work. (Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Batman Provincial Tourism Inventory, 2002)

Main photo: Kaya Elifnur 72, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.