Horoztepe — Tokat Buried Elite Cemetery
Horoztepe · Horoztepe Höyük · Tokat Horoztepe
EBA II–III (2600–2000 BCE)·North-Central Anatolian EBA (Alaca-Horoztepe horizon)·🇹🇷 Tokat Province, Erbaa Plain, Yeşilırmak tributary, Turkey
About
About Horoztepe — Tokat Buried Elite Cemetery
Horoztepe is a 0.5 ha Extra-mural EBA II–III elite cemetery on a low mound excavated by Tahsin Özgüç (1957, 1970s). Five undisturbed pithos-cist shaft tombs yielded diadems, gold-silver pins, copper javelins, cast stands with stag and bull figurines, teapots and bull-headed vessels — canonical Early Bronze Black Sea metallurgy. Settlement on adjacent terrace partially buried under alluvium.
Why it mattersAlongside Alaca Höyük defines Pontic EBA metallurgy and Hattian ancestry for Hittite elite symbolism.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Who controlled Erbaa copper plain chiefdom?
Theories
- 01Özgüç: Erbaa plain Hattian chiefs predating Hittites
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.2500 BCE (EBA II)
- Period
- EBA II–III (2600–2000 BCE)
- Culture
- North-Central Anatolian EBA (Alaca-Horoztepe horizon)
- Builders
- EBA elites (Hattian precursors?)
- Purpose
- Elite cemetery of regional metal-producing chiefdom
- Abandoned
- c.2000 BCE
- Rediscovered
- 1957 looters then Özgüç; 1960s illicit pits
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1957
Özgüç first season after farmer finds
c.2400 BCE
Shaft tomb 3 with gold diadem and stag stand interred
On the ground
Structures & features
40.6500° N · 36.5500° E · 260 m · 3 mapped features
Horoztepe Shaft Tomb 3
tombRichest tomb: gold diadem, bull-headed teapot, dagger
40.6506° N · 36.5505° EHoroztepe Copper Stand Workshop
workshopCasting pit with stag figurine stands
40.6493° N · 36.5508° EHoroztepe Terrace Settlement
habitationLow terrace pisé houses beneath alluvium
40.6510° N · 36.5494° E