Alaca Höyük (archaeological site)

Alaca Höyük (or Alacahöyük; pronounced uh-latch-uh hoy-yeck) is an archaeological site located in central Turkey. It is situated about 15 miles (25 kilometers) north of the better-known ruins of Hattuša, a former capital of the Hittites. In Turkish, Alaca Höyük means the "mound of Alaca," Alaca being the name of the Turkish district in which the site is located. It has been occupied off and on for almost 6,000 years. Archaeological excavations of the site indicate that it was likely first settled sometime during the Chalcolithic (Copper-Stone) Age in approximately 4000 BCE. It was later the location of important Hattian and Hittite cites before being abandoned. It was again occupied by the Phrygians in approximately 750 BCE and then by various Anatolian cultures for the next 1,500 years.

The importance of Alaca Höyük was rediscovered in the nineteenth century when it became a site of archaeological excavations. Among the most valuable discoveries were a series of tombs, polygonal walls, ornamental gates, a Hittite-era dam, relief carvings, and a vaulted underground tunnel. Thirteen tombs, which contained outstanding examples of gold and silver grave goods that have been dated to the Bronze Age, were found intact and are the best-known finds at Alaca Höyük. The archaeological site is approximately 17 acres (7 hectares) in size. Although it is in ruins, Alaca Höyük is open to the public as part of Turkey's archaeological heritage.

Brief History

Archaeologists have divided the archaeological strata at Alaca Höyük into fifteen building layers, each one corresponding to a different period of settlement. Layers nine through fifteen (the deepest layers) are linked to the Chalcolithic Era between 4000 and 3000 BCE. Layers five through eight correspond to a period of occupation between 3000 and 2000 BCE of the Old Bronze Age. The Hittite Period of settlement encompasses layers two through four, an era that ranges from 1800 to 1200 BCE. The topmost layer includes all settlements from the period of the Phrygian settlement in 750 BCE to the present.

In its original form, the site was situated in a protected forested area in the central high plateaus located in the Black Sea region of present-day Turkey. Freshwater springs and fertile plains contributed to the attractiveness of the area for long-term settlement. The early Chalcolithic peoples who initially occupied the site were a culture who likely specialized in animal husbandry and agriculture. These peoples also had the ability to create metal objects. The oldest known artifacts found at Alaca Höyük are a series of stone and copper tools and pottery fragments. The cultural identity of these peoples is uncertain and their community likely never expanded past being a small village. Archaeological speculation is that a group of Indo-Europeans were the first to settle at Alaca Höyük.

At the start of the Bronze Age, the area was settled by members of the Hattian culture. Due to the similarity of the graves to some found in southern Russia, it has been speculated that Kurgan immigrants may have lived in the region as well. The Hattian village was destroyed during the Bronze Age and not reoccupied until approximately 1850 BCE. In this period, Alaca Höyük was recolonized by the Hittites who ruled the region between 1600 BCE and 1178 BCE. The Hittites transformed the village into a fortified city and an important regional center. The city was destroyed by fire in approximately 1180 BCE during the collapse of the Hittite Empire at the hands of regional rivals. After its collapse, the city was abandoned until being reoccupied by the Phrygians in 750 BCE. It has been almost continually occupied since this period, with the modern incarnation of Alaca Höyük consisting of a small nearby village.

Overview

Alaca Höyük's Hattian graves have revealed a rich array of artifacts. Often called "royal" tombs, the identities of the occupants are unknown. However, the wealth of grave goods and the careful placement of bodies suggest that they were at the very least figures imbued with great respect. Among the most common and important objects found in these graves were religious-oriented objects called standards that were shaped as sun discs or animal figures, all of which may have symbolically represented gods. It has been suggested that these objects were placed atop wagons that transported the deceased figures to their graves or on poles in funeral processions, although no remains of such objects have been found. Archaeologists believe that the items and the tombs that held them are indications of a powerful pre-Hittite political entity that existed in the region.

The tombs themselves are shallow and rectangular. They were cut about 3 feet (1 meter) into the ground and overlaid with a series of logs and wood beams. Several of them feature the remains of cattle sacrifices, including skulls. The bodies were placed into a fetal position alongside one of the walls. Inside these tombs, the Hattians placed a vast collection of grave goods made of gold, silver, copper, bone, iron, and stone. In addition to the standards, these materials included statues of stylized nude females, jewelry, goblets, weapons, diadems, pots, and other decorative objects. Most of these materials have been relocated to the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara.

The town walls of Alaca Höyük have carved orthostats (a type of upright stone slab) and gateways with partitions to enable archers to protect the city. The Hittites built two large gateways. The southern gateway, which is commonly called the Sphinx Gate, was placed between two towers and framed with a pair of 7-foot (2-meter) Egyptian-style sphinxes. Most of this period of construction is believed to have occurred in the fourteenth century BCE. The Hittites were also responsible for a dam that was probably built in approximately 1240 BCE by Hittite king Tudhaliya IV. It held 530,000 cubic feet (15,000 cubic meters) of water, and has been made functional again in the modern era to serve the nearby contemporary village of Alaca Höyük. Another less ornamental gate exists on the western edge of the city.

The Hittites were similarly responsible for a series of bas-reliefs carved into the stonewalls of the site. Among the reliefs on the Sphinx Gate is a depiction of a double-eagle clutching a rabbit. On some of the orthostats and the walls of the gate are a series of religious images, including one that shows a lengthy processional featuring several gods, the king and queen, and a herd of sacrificial animals in the rear. These reliefs date to approximately 1400 BCE and suggest that Alaca Höyük was viewed as a sacred city.

Bibliography

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"Alacahöyük." Hittite Monuments, www.hittitemonuments.com/alacahoyuk/. Accessed 26 June 2017.

"Alacahöyük." Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, www.kultur.gov.tr/EN,114132/alacahoyuk.html. Accessed 26 June 2017.

"Alacahöyük." Turkish Cultural Foundation, www.turkishculture.org/archaeology/alacahoyuk-1085.htm. Accessed 26 June 2017.

Bryce, Trevor. "Alaca Höyük." The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia. Routledge, 2009, pp. 20–22.

Burney, Charles. "Alaca Höyük." Historical Dictionary of the Hittites. Scarecrow P, 2004, pp. 9–12.

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Muscarella, Oscar White. "The Central Anatolian Plateau: The Tombs of Alaca Höyük." Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus, edited by Joan Aruz, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003, pp. 277–87.

Nakai, I., et al. "Preliminary Report on the Analysis of an Early Bronze Age Iron Dagger Excavated from Alacahöyük." Anatolian Archaeological Studies, vol. 17, 2008, pp. 321–24, www.jiaa-kaman.org/pdfs/aas‗17/AAS‗17‗Nakai‗I‗pp‗321‗324.pdf. Accessed 26 June 2017.

Yalçın, Ünsal, and H. Gönül Yalçın. "Reassessing Anthropomorphic Metal Figurines of Alacahöyük, Anatolia." Near Eastern Archaeology (NEA), vol. 76, no. 1, 2013, pp. 38–49.