[1][2] The museum houses items uncovered during seven rescue excavations at sites in Batman and Siirt provinces that were due to be inundated by the Ilısu Dam.

Perhaps the museum's most important holding is the set of gaming pieces (Turkish: oyun taşları) discovered at Başur Höyük, in Siirt Province.

The tokens were accompanied by badly preserved wooden pieces or sticks, which the excavator hopes may provide clues to the game's rules.

The site also yielded about 300 well-preserved amorphous bronze artefacts, and a great variety of painted and unpainted pottery, including some examples from the Ninivite 5 culture.

[2] In early 2018, as the Turkish government prepared to fill the lake behind the Ilısu Dam, four of the reliefs from Hasankeyf's Old Bridge were moved to the Batman Museum's garden.