It has been home to many civilisations and the surrounding area including itself is home to many Mesolithic era stone carvings and artifacts. The province has been ruled by the
Akkadians,
Hurrians,
Mittani,
Medes,
Hittites,
Armenians,
Arameans,
Neo-Babylonians,
Achaemenids,
Greeks,
Romans,
Parthians,
Byzantium,
Sassanids,
Arabs,
Seljuk Empire,
Mongol Empire,
Safavid dynasty,
Marwanids, and
Ayyubids.
Administrative history In June 1927, the Law 1164 was passed allowing the creation of
Inspectorates-General (
Turkish:
Umumi Müffetişlik). The Diyarbakır province was therefore included in the
First Inspectorate General (), which was created on the 1 January 1928 and also included
Hakkâri,
Siirt,
Van,
Mardin,
Bitlis,
Sanlıurfa, and
Elaziğ. The Inspectorate-General was governed by an
Inspector General, who governed with a wide-ranging authority over civilian, juridical and military matters. During the 1930s, several place-names in the province were renamed into names which denoted a Turkish origin as part of the nationalist
Turkification policy of the
Kemalist government. Travel to Diyarbakır province was banned for foreign citizens until 1965. In December 1990 with the Decree No. 430, the supergovernor and the provincial governors in the OHAL region received immunity against any legal prosecution in connections with actions they made due to the powers they received with the Decree No. 430.
Archaeology Archaeologists headed by the vice-rector of
Dicle University, professor
Ahmet Tanyıldız, have claimed to discover the graves of the Seljuk Sultan of Rum
Kilij Arslan I, who defeated the
Crusaders. They also revealed his daughter
Saide Hatun's burial in
Silvan. Researchers dug 2 meters deep across a 35-square-meter area and focused their works on two gravesites in
Orta Çeşme Park. In 2026, archaeologists announced genetic research on skeletal remains from Çayönü Hill in the Ergani district, shedding light on the lives of people who inhabited the site around 12,000 years ago. Çayönü, a major
Neolithic settlement on the
Tigris River with occupation layers dating back to 10,000 BCE, has yielded extensive architectural remains, burials and artefacts that illustrate early transitions from nomadic to settled life and the development of agriculture. Excavations resumed in 2025 under the direction of archaeologists from
Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart and
Hacettepe universities, involving researchers from multiple Turkish institutions. Analysis of bones and
DNA from individuals at the site including skeletal material from Neolithic, Pottery Neolithic and Early
Bronze Age contexts aims to reconstruct population history, health, sociocultural practices and connections with broader regions such as
Mesopotamia and the
Caucasus. Researchers report that skeletal and genetic evidence indicates a heterogeneous community with varied burial traditions, shared subsistence activities and regional interaction networks, and that forthcoming DNA results could clarify how these ancient populations fit into wider prehistoric sociocultural landscapes. ==Districts==