American archaeologist James Breasted of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago inspired the start of work at the site.

[1] Excavations by an Oriental Institute team led by Robert Braidwood beginning in September 1935, and revealed the existence of human settlements in the Amuk valley in the Neolithic period as early as 6,000 BC.

Rich discoveries of pottery helped to establish the sequence of successive ceramic shapes in the areas of the Eastern Mediterranean.

[2][3][4][5] Also found was a cylinder seal, dated between the 13th and 14th centuries BC, showing "two goats leap toward the branches held by a cross-legged god, who is accompanied by genii bearing flowing vases".

[10] The site was visited in 1995 by a team from the Oriental Institute led by K. Aslihan Yener in response to bulldozer damage to the mound.

Examination revealed the remains of a 1.5 meter thick building wall of mud bricks on stone foundations, radiocarbon dated to c. 3000 BC.