Alaca Höyük
Location | Çorum Province, Turkey |
---|---|
Region | Anatolia |
Coordinates | 40°14′04″N 34°41′44″E / 40.23444°N 34.69556°E |
Type | Settlement |
History | |
Periods | Chalcolithic, Bronze Age |
Cultures | Hittite |
Site notes | |
Excavation dates | 1907, 1910s, 1935–1970 |
Archaeologists | Theodor Makridi Bey, Hamit Koşay |
Condition | In ruins |
Alacahöyük or Alaca Höyük (sometimes also spelled as Alacahüyük, Euyuk, or Evuk) is the site of a
History
The mound (Turkish höyük) at Alacahöyük was a scene of settlement in a continuous sequence of development from the Chalcolithic Age, when earliest copper tools appeared alongside the use of stone tools.
Bronze Age
During the Early Bronze Age, the mound was the center of a flourishing culture. It has been continuously occupied ever since, until today's modern settlement in the form of a small village. The standing and distinguishing remains at Alaca Höyük, however, such as the "Sphinx Gate", date from the Hittite period that followed the Hatti, from the fourteenth century BC.
Fourteen
- Tomb H - (8 meters by 3.4 meters), female. Contents included "a golden diadem, two copper mace heads, a bronze sun standard, the statuette of an animal, small ornaments made of gold and silver, vessels made of gold and clay, metal artefacts, two axes, five pairs of twin idols made of gold, and three female figurines".
- Tombs A - (5 meters by 2.3 meters), adult female. Besides a golden diadem contents included "four sun standards, an animal statuette, several metal ornaments, pieces of an iron object, and two metal anthropomorphic figurines ".
Many of the
Dams
A
Archaeology
The site measures 310 meters by 275 meters with a height of about 14 meters. The mound features cone like rises at the south and northeast ends. It has 14 occupational layers with 9-14 being Chalcolithic, 5-8 being Early Bronze Age (royal tombs), and 2-4 being Hittite. The uppermost layer shows elements of Phrygian, Roman, and Ottoman times. The site was probed by George Perrot and Ernest Chantre in the late 1800s and drawings of the remains published.[6] In 1907, the Ottoman archaeologist Theodor Makridi Bey carried out brief explorations here for two weeks. [7] In the 1910s, German teams discovered royal tombs dating to the third millennium BC, as well as a Hittite town of the second millennium BC. The impressive sphinx gate surrounded by stone reliefs marked its entrance. [8] The town was heavily fortified with walls and towers due to the frequent raids of the Kaska people living in the mountainous region to the north. Excavations by the
In the excavations of 2002, 2003 and 2005, four new hieroglyphic Luwian documents were uncovered, a clay sealing, two vessels with seal impressions, and a stele fragment.[14]
Gold-iron dagger
A gold-handled dagger was found at Alacahöyük, and it is now in the collection of the Ankara's Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. It was excavated from grave K (find No. Al.K.14) and may be dated as early as 2500 BC. Japanese scholars have issued a preliminary report about the composition of the dagger in 2008, and they concluded that the dagger was probably made from meteoritic iron.[15][16]
See also
- Alishar Hüyük
- Cities of the ancient Near East
Notes
- ^ Gorny, Ronald L. "Zippalanda and Ankuwa: The Geography of Central Anatolia in the Second Millennium B. C." Journal of the American Oriental Society. Vol. 117, no. 3, pp. 549-557 (1997).
- ^ Popko, Maciej. "Zippalanda and Ankuwa Once More." Journal of the American Oriental Society. Vol. 120, no. 3, pp. 445-448 (2000).
- ^ Ünsal Yalçın, and H. Gönül Yalçın. “REASSESSING ANTHROPOMORPHIC METAL FIGURINES OF ALACAHÖYÜK, ANATOLIA.” Near Eastern Archaeology, vol. 76, no. 1, 2013, pp. 38–49
- ^ Woolley 1961
- ISBN 0-19-928132-7
- ^ Perrot,Georges,EdmundGuillaume,andJulesDelbet,1872:Exploration archéologique de la Galatieet de la Bithynie, d’une partiede la Mysie, de la Phrygie,de la Cappadoce et duPont(Paris:FirminDidotFrères)
- ^ Theodor Makrid Bey, La porte des sphinx a Euyuk Fouilles du Musee Imperial Ottoman, Mitteilungen der Vorderasiatisch-Agyp-tischen Gesellschaft, vol. 13, 1908
- ^ Robert L. Alexander, A Great Queen on the Sphinx Piers at Alaca Hüyük, Anatolian Studies, vol. 39, pp. 151-158, 1989
- ^ Koşay, H. Z. 1938. Alaca Höyük Hafriyatı: 1936 daki çalişmalara ve keşiflere ait ilk rapor. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu
- ^ Koşay, H. Z. 1951. Alaca Höyük Kazısı: 1937–1939 daki çalişmalara ve keşiflere ait ilk rapor. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu
- ^ H. Z. Kosay, Ausgrabungen von Alaca Höyük: ein Vorbericht über die im Auftrage der Türkischen Geschichts kommission im Sommer 1936 durchgeführten Forschungen und Entdeckungen, TTKY, vol. 2a, 1944
- ^ Hâmit Z Kosay and Mahmut Akok, Alaca Höyük excavations : preliminary report on research and discoveries 1963-1967, Türk tarih Kurumu yayunlarindan. 5. ser, sa. 28, 1973
- ^ Koşay, Hâmit Z. “Alaca Höyük: Campaign of 1968.” Archaeology, vol. 22, no. 4, 1969, pp. 322–322
- ^ DİNÇOL, Ali, and Belkıs Dinçol. "Neue Hieroglyphische Dokumente aus Alaca Höyük." Colloquium Anatolicum. No. 7. 2008
- ^ I. Nakai, Y. Abe, K. Tantrakarin, S. Omura and S. Erkut: "Preliminary Report on the Analysis of an Early Bronze Age Iron Dagger Excavated from Alacahöyük". Anatolian Archeological Studies, Vol. XVII (2008) p. 322
- ^ Early Iron Sites. Alaca Höyük www.tf.uni-kiel.de
References
- Remzi Oguz Arik, Les Fouilles d'Alaca Höyük: Entreprises par la société d'histoire turque. Rapport preliminaire sur les travaux en 1935, Publications de la Société Turque, 1937
- Bachhuber, C. 2011. Negotiating Metal and Metal Form in the Royal Tombs of Alacahöyük in North-Central Anatolia. Pp. 158–74 in Interweaving Worlds: Systematic Interactions in Eurasia, 7th to the 1st Millennia BC, ed. T. C. Wilkinson, S. Sherratt, and J. Bennet. Oxford: Oxbow
- Ayse Gursan-Salzmann, Alaca Hoyuk: A reassessment of the excavation and sequence of the Early Bronze Age settlement, University of Pennsylvania, 1992
- Korfmann, M. 1981. Die “Große Göttin” in Alaca Höyük. Pp. 153–65 and pls. 97–102 in IX. Türk Tarih Kongresi: Ankara, 21-25 Eylül 1981: Kongreye sunulan bildiriler. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu
- Hamit Z. Koşay and Mahmut Akok, The Pottery of Alaca Höyük, American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 51, no. 2, pp. 152–157, 1947
- The Art of The Middle East, including Persia, Mesopotamia and Palestine - Woolley
- M. J. Mellink, Observations on the Sculptures of Alaca Hoyuk, Anatolia, vol. 14, pp. 15–27, 1970
- [1] Ahmet Unal, The Textual Illustration of the Jester Scene on the Sculptures of Alaca Höyük, Anatolian Studies, vol. 44, pp. 207–218, 1994
- O.R Gurney, The Ladder-Men at Alaca Höyük, Anatolia Studies, vol. 44, pp. 219–220, 1994
- Piotr Taracha, The Iconographic Program of the Sculptures of Alacahöyük, Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions, vol. 11, iss. 2, pp. 132–147, 2011