The site of Hakemi Use is 70 km east of Diyarbakır, on the south bank of the Tigris River, within the flood zone of the Ilısu Dam. The main site, Hakemi Use I, is a mound about 120 m in diameter and 4 m high, with occupation from the Late Neolithic to Iron Age. Hakemi Use II, a few hundred metres to the east, is medieval in date. Hakemi Use I was used as a cemetery at that time. Salvage excavations have been carried out since 2001 by Halil Tekin of Hacettepe University.
The most important result of the excavations is that Hakemi Use is the only excavated site from the Hassuna/Samarra Period in south-eastern Anatolia. The C14 dates have not reached us yet, but the site can be dated to 6100-5950 BC according to the pottery and small finds. The site shows similarities to Tell Sabi Abyad on the Balikh River and levels 1-5 of Hakemi Use are possibly contemporary with levels 7-4 of Tell Sabi Abyad. Hakemi Use is the northernmost excavated site dating to the Hassuna/Samarra Period.
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