Rescue excavations were undertaken in 1978 under the supervision of Ufuk Esin of Istanbul University and interrupted in 1989 by flooding of the dams.
[1] Four archaeological layers whose dates are determined by techniques such as C14 and traces of fusion have been discovered in this mound: The Chalcolithic Değirmentepe level of Ubaid-4 of the second half of the Vth millennium BCE, of which the sites of Tülintepe, Seyh Hüyük, and Kurban Hüyük are contemporary, contain skeletons of adolescents with skull deformed.
Cranial deformities are not observed on human remains discovered and identified in Iron Age periods and medieval levels from Değrentepe.
We see the appearance of domestic animals such as dogs, sheep, goats, pigs, and Bovinae than at the beginning of the Chalcolithic.
[5] In contrast, the related Norşuntepe site provides a better context of production and demonstrates that some form of arsenic alloying was indeed taking place by the 4th millennium BC.