Zincirli Höyük is an archaeological site located in the Anti-Taurus Mountains of modern Turkey's Gaziantep Province.

The site is situated on the western side of the valley at the base of the Amanus Mountains, and measures approximately 40 ha in area.

[4] Its location was on the overland route that connected Carchemish to the fertile Cilician plain and further on west to Anatolia.

On the citadel of Samal there were several palaces of Bit-hilani type, i.e. with an entrance decorated with wooden columns and a transverse main room.

[7] This event was recently radiocarbon-dated to sometime between 1632 and 1610 BC,[8] during the late Middle Bronze Age II (ca.

[9] Excavations by Chicago-Tubingen Expedition revealed that the bit-hilani palace of Hilani I in Zincirli (believed by the early German excavators to be from Iron Age Sam'al period) was actually a large broadroom temple from Middle Bronze Age II, lasting roughly from 1800 to 1650 BC, destroyed in mid- to late 17th century BC based on 10 radiocarbon dates.

[11] The archaeological site of Zincirli was not abandoned after Hattusili I's sack sometime around 1632 to 1610 BC, as there is recent evidence of Hittite occupation during the Late Bronze Age.

The name of Gabbar suggests that he was an Aramaean chieftain seizing power in the predominantly Luwian area.

It had expanded from being a city state and gained territories from Carchemish, around Adana from Quwê and remained independent.

And soon after, there was also a battle near Alimus (Aliṣir/Alimush), the fortified city of the same Sapalulme the Patinean, where Shalmaneser again fought an anti-Assyrian coalition.

[17] Hayyanu didn't participate in the Battle of Qarqar in 853 BC, and instead paid tribute to Shalmaneser III.

[17] The campaign of Assyria in 825 BC occupied the vital territories of Sam'al, Quwê had been defeated, but it had been reorganised as Denyen.

Other sources from the same period mention Ya'udi as a satellite state of Denyen and Assyria wanted to occupy this territory.

Indeed, the List of Neo-Hittite kings attests Y'adiya/Ya'udi and Sam'al as two separate royal houses, Ya'udi being the older of the two.

This makes clear why Shalmaneser III lists Ya'udi (Bit-Gabbari) but not Sam'al as a satellite state.

Sam’al’s friendly relationship with the Assyrian Empire probably started during Shalmaneser’s reign and continued into the early years of Šamši-Adad V (824-811 BC).

Each of the expeditions was supported by the German Orient Committee, except for the fourth (1894), which was financed with monies from the Rudolf-Virchow-Stiftung and private donors.

The Louvre holds a carved orthostat and two sphinx protomes and some minor sculptures are held at museums in Adana and Gaziantep.

[22] At the foundation of Gate E of the inner citadel five basalt lion statues were found buried in a pit that ranged as deep as 4.2 meters.

[29][30] A destroyed Middle Bronze Age II building was found at Area 2 on the eastern citadel.

[31] With the redating of the bit-hilani structure there is not a complete lack of monumental construction in Iron Age II until the time of Kilamuwa.

The German excavations on the citadel recovered large numbers of relief-carved orthostats, along with inscriptions in Aramaic, Phoenician, and Akkadian.

According to the authors, the most probable conclusion is that PANCARLI inscription represents a ruler or a local king of the tenth or early ninth century BC.

[42] This inscription provides new information about the Early Iron Age of the Islahiye valley, and the history of the Aramaean dynasty of Gabbar.

If the inscription is considered to date to the 10th century BC, it may be the first solid evidence for a Luwian-speaking kingdom in the Islahiye valley, as possibly an offshoot of the Hittite rump-state at Karkemish.