Alacahöyük
Alacahöyük · Alaca Höyük · Alacahüyük · Euyuk
Chalcolithic to Phrygian (c.4500–700 BCE; peak EB III and Hittite Empire)·Hattian → Hittite (Nesite) → Phrygian·🇹🇷 Çorum Province, Central Anatolia, Turkey
About
About Alacahöyük
Great fortified Hattian–Hittite city with massive casemate walls and the famous Sphinx Gate (c.1400 BCE) whose double sphinxes and procession orthostats still stand in situ — the best-preserved Hittite monumental gateway outside Hattusa. The 13 princely shaft tombs (c.2600–2300 BCE) yielded sun-disks, stag standards and gold-bull heads that define Early Bronze Age 'Alaca culture' metallurgy, while later Hittite dam and cult basin speak to storm-god ritual engineering.
Why it mattersType-site of Alaca EB metallurgy; key to Hattian–Hittite transition and hypothesized Arinna sanctuary.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Is Alacahöyük the sacred city Arinna of the Sun Goddess?
- 02Meaning of sun-disk and deer standards in tombs — solar cult or shamanic?
Theories
- 01EB tombs = Hattian dynasts pre-dating Indo-European Hittites
- 02Sphinx Gate consciously archaizing Hattian symbols for Hittite legitimacy
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- Chalcolithic c.4500 BCE; EB royal tombs c.2600–2300 BCE; Hittite city c.1700–1180 BCE
- Period
- Chalcolithic to Phrygian (c.4500–700 BCE; peak EB III and Hittite Empire)
- Culture
- Hattian → Hittite (Nesite) → Phrygian
- Builders
- Hattians (EB tombs); Hittite kings Hattusili–Suppiluliuma era builders
- Purpose
- Hattian princely burial place and later Hittite cult-administrative center (tentatively Arinna, city of Sun Goddess)
- Abandoned
- c.1180 BCE (Sea Peoples / collapse); resettled Phrygian
- Rediscovered
- 1835 Hamilton; 1907 Makridi; 1935– Koşay/Arık TTA excavations
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
c.2500 BCE
EB royal tombs with sun disks and stag standards
c.1400 BCE
Sphinx Gate and orthostat procession built
1935
Turkish Historical Society systematic excavations begin
On the ground
Structures & features
40.2352° N · 34.6979° E · 1020 m · 3 mapped features
Sphinx Gate
gateMonumental Hittite gate with paired sphinxes and festival orthostats
40.2349° N · 34.6975° ERoyal Tomb B (EB sun disks)
tombReconstructed EB shaft tomb showing bronze sun disks and deer standards
40.2354° N · 34.6981° EHittite dam and sacred pool
hydraulicLate Hittite dam 2 km south with carved offering basin
40.2210° N · 34.7030° E
Gallery