Samsat is a small town in the Adıyaman Province

Adiyaman Province

Adıyaman Province is a province in south-central Turkey. The province was created in 1954 out of part of Malatya Province. Area 7,614 km². Population 590,935 , up from 513,131 in 1990. The capital is Adıyaman....

 of Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

, situated on the upper Euphrates

Euphrates

The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...

 river.

Archaeological research on the hill of Şehremuz in Samsat has uncovered relics from the 7000 BC Paleolithic era; the 5000 BC Neolithic, 3000 BC Chalcolithic and 3000 to 1200 BC Bronze Ages. The ancient city of Ḫaḫḫum (Hittite

Hittite language

Hittite is the extinct language once spoken by the Hittites, a people who created an empire centred on Hattusa in north-central Anatolia...

: Ḫaḫḫa) was located nearby; it is recorded as a source of gold for ancient Sumeria

Imports to Ur

Imports to Ur reflect the cultural and trade connections of the Sumerian city of Ur. During the period of the Early Dynastic III royal cemetery , Ur was importing elite goods from geographically distant places. These objects include precious metals such as gold and silver, and semi-precious...

.

Samsat (Samosata) was later the walled capital of the Commagene kingdom founded in 69BC, the civilisation that built the statues on top of nearby Mount Nemrut

Mount Nemrut

Nemrut or Nemrud is a high mountain in southeastern Turkey, notable for the summit where a number of large statues is erected around what is assumed to be a royal tomb from the 1st century BCE.-Location and description:...

. See Samosata

Samosata

Samosata was an ancient city on the right bank of the Euphrates whose ruins existed at the modern city of Samsat, Adıyaman Province, Turkey until the site was flooded by the newly-constructed Atatürk Dam....

 for the ancient history of the town, which remained a regional centre in the Ottoman

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 period.

The old town of Samsat and all its history were flooded behind the Atatürk Dam

Atatürk Dam

The Atatürk Dam , originally the Karababa Dam, is a zoned rock-fill dam with a central core on the Euphrates River on the border of Adıyaman Province and Şanlıurfa Province in Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey...

in 1989. The new town was built beside the new waterline by the government to house the displaced residents.