Description : Birecik (Greek and Latin: Birtha, Βίρθα; Arabic: البيرة, romanized: al-Bīrah; Kurdish: Bêrecûk, Ottoman Turkish: بيره جك), also formerly known as Bir, Biré, Biradjik and during the Crusades as Bile, is a town and district of Şanlıurfa Province of Turkey, on the River Euphrates. Built on a limestone cliff 400 ft. high on the left/east bank of the Euphrates, "at the upper part of a reach of that river, which runs nearly north-south, and just below a sharp bend in the stream, where it follows that course after coming from a long reach flowing more from the west". Birecik Dam Cemetery is an Early Bronze Age cemetery near Birecik. It was used extensively for about 500 years at the beginning of the third millennium BC. More than 300 graves were excavated here in 1997 and 1998. The site was discovered during the building of the Birecik Dam as part of the GAP project. The cemetery was used between 3100-2600 BC.
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