Seyitömer Höyük
Seyitömer Höyük · Seyitomer Hoyuk
Early Bronze Age I-III to Iron Age; lignite-sealed·Western Anatolian EBA (Yortan-like) → MBA Hittite influence·🇹🇷 Kütahya Province, Seyitömer, Turkey
About
About Seyitömer Höyük
170×185 m Bronze Age tell under 10 m of alluvium beside Seyitömer lignite mine, rescue-excavated by Dumlupınar University (Nejat Bilgen) 2006–2023. Reveals EBA I-III (c.3000–2000 BCE) fortified town with proto-urban street grid, EBA III mass burial, and early tin-bronze metallurgy, then MBA Hittite trading-post levels and later Phrygian/Classical reuse. Famous for 200+ loom weights, Anatolian Trade Network ceramics and a buried EBA cemetery beneath lignite spoil. A type-site for western Anatolian EBA urbanism before the Hittites.
Why it mattersBest-preserved EBA urban plan in western Anatolia; earliest tin-bronze in region and evidence for 3rd-m mill. social stratification.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Source of tin — Afghan vs Anatolian?
- 02Cause of EBA III mass grave — conflict, epidemic or ritual?
Theories
- 01Central Anatolian Trade Network tin import model
- 02Indigenous western Anatolian urbanism vs Kura-Araxes stimulus
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.3000 BCE EBA I foundation; main EBA II-III town c.2700–2000 BCE
- Period
- Early Bronze Age I-III to Iron Age; lignite-sealed
- Culture
- Western Anatolian EBA (Yortan-like) → MBA Hittite influence
- Builders
- Western Anatolian EBA town planners; later Hittite traders
- Purpose
- Fortified mercantile tell on route from Aegean to plateau
- Abandoned
- c.2000 BCE EBA collapse; later Hittite/Phrygian reoccupation
- Rediscovered
- Rescue excavation 1989 initial, 2006–2023 systematics by Nejat Bilgen (Dumlupınar) ahead of Seyitömer coalfield expansion
- Excavation
- Excavated
2006
Dumlupınar rescue begins ahead of Garp Linyitleri mine
2018
EBA III fortification and cemetery fully exposed
On the ground
Structures & features
39.3160° N · 30.0610° E · 1080 m · 3 mapped features
EBA II-III citadel
fortificationBastioned mudbrick wall on stone socle
39.3161° N · 30.0612° EEBA cemetery beneath lignite
necropolisCist graves with tin-bronze daggers
39.3159° N · 30.0608° EMBA Hittite trading level
settlementKarum-like MBA sherd scatter above EBA collapse
39.3162° N · 30.0615° E