Sirkeli Höyük
Sirkeli Höyük · Sirkeli, Sirkeli Hoyuk, Ceyhan
Chalcolithic through Byzantine; Hittite–Syro-Hittite peak·Cilician EBA → Hittite Empire (Kizzuwatna/Que) → Syro-Hittite Que·🇹🇷 Adana Province, Ceyhan District, Sirkeli village, Turkey
About
About Sirkeli Höyük
Ceyhan River bend tell with rock relief of Hittite Great King Muwatalli II (c.1290 BCE) carved opposite mound — sole Hittite imperial rock relief in Cilicia. Excavated Cologne/Bern (Mirko Novak/Eder) since 2006: 4th-millennium Chalcolithic to Medieval sequence with EBA trade town, Hittite Cycle fortress, Late Bronze harbour town, and Syro-Hittite Neo-Que reoccupation. Lower town (large) buried under cotton fields; mound 15 m high and double harbour basin inferred from geoarchaeology.
Why it mattersOnly Hittite Great King relief tied to domestic tell; anchors Ceyhan navigation and Kizzuwatna/Hittite provincial geography.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Is relief guardian of river port or boundary monument?
- 02Extent of buried harbour basin — coring pending
Theories
- 01Ehringhaus Muwatalli vs Muwatalli II attribution debate
- 02Que as direct Hittite continuity vs Aramaean break model
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.4000 BCE Chalcolithic; Hittite imperial use c.1300 BCE; Hieroglyphic relief c.1290 BCE
- Period
- Chalcolithic through Byzantine; Hittite–Syro-Hittite peak
- Culture
- Cilician EBA → Hittite Empire (Kizzuwatna/Que) → Syro-Hittite Que
- Builders
- Hittite Great Kings then Quean Luwian dynasty
- Purpose
- River fortress and harbour controlling Ceyhan crossing
- Abandoned
- c.600 BCE Assyrian sack then Achaemenid reuse
- Rediscovered
- Noted 1934 Garstang; Swiss/Turkish excavations 2006–present (Ahrens/Novak)
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
1290 BCE
Muwatalli II rock relief carved (Luwian hieroglyphs opposite tell)
2006
Bern-Swiss project re-opens Sirkeli lower town
On the ground
Structures & features
37.0080° N · 35.7450° E · 30 m · 3 mapped features
Muwatalli II rock relief
rock relief2 m high Luwian hieroglyphic figure opposite tell
37.0085° N · 35.7440° EHittite harbour bastion
fortificationHittite ashlar river-front wall
37.0081° N · 35.7452° ELower Syro-Hittite town (buried)
settlement18 ha buried Iron Age grid under fields
37.0075° N · 35.7450° E
Gallery