IHO Toristic Information The oldest settlement in Turkey which was first settled 7.000 BC. It is also called the first city on earth. Remains of civilian buildings, with entrances on the roofs are interesting Alaca township. village is 34 kilometers away from 210 kilometers away from Ankara.

The oldest settlement in Turkey which was first settled 7.000 BC. It is also called the first city on earth. Remains of civilian buildings, with entrances on the roofs are interesting Alacahöyük is located 45 kilometers south of Çorum and 17 kilometers northwest of the Alaca township. The Alacahöyük village is 34 kilometers away from Bogazköy and 210 kilometers away from Ankara.

This tumulus, or mound, was first introduced to the world of science by W.C. Hamilton in 1835 and after that time, it became a place frequented by scientists who visited Central Anatolia. In 1861, G. Perrot stopped by this tumulus and discovered the plan of the square tower on the left and right of the door and one of the orthostats. After this study, Perrot became the first to argue that these reliefs belonged to the Hittite period.

W. Ramsey, who made great contributions Anatolia’s historical geography, studied the tumulus together with Wilson in 1881 and found a few other reliefs. In 1893, E. Chantre came to the tumulus and found the square corridors among the sphinx, the second door at the end and the door frames. Chantre took the moulage of these reliefs and by judging from their themes, Chantre claimed that this could be the door of a temple rather than a palace. Chantre studied the lions on the south of the door with the sphinx and believed that the inscription found on one of these doors was Phrygian writing. Later H. Winckler, who had been working in Bogazköy since 1906, decided to start a search in the tumulus at the invitation of Makridi Bey and Istanbul Archaeology Museum Director Halil Ethem Bey. In 1907, Makridi Bey worked for 15 days at the door with the sphinx and discovered a few new orthostats in front of the door. After drilling a few places in the tumulus, he saw the poterni (entrance) on the northern edge of the tumulus and he compared this to the potern in Bogazköy. The first systematic excavations of the tumulus were started by Atatürk in the Republican era. Hamit Zübeyr Kosay, Remzi Oguz Arik and Mahmut Akok from the Turkish History Institution began excavations in 1935 which lasted until 1983. The excavations were interrupted this year and in 1997, they were started again by Professor Aykut Çinaroglu

Deer Sculpture
Bronze, Old Bronze Age, second half of 3000 B.C.
Height 52.5 cm. Museum of Anatolian Civilizations

There were 13 important kings’ tombs in Alacahöyük in the Old Bronze Age, which was followed by the Chalcolithic Age and which was represented by four layers. The tombs which are believed to belong to layers five and seven are located in a special area of the city. Because of their forms, these are considered to be unique tombs of Anatolia and even the Asian frontier. These tombs belong to adult men and women. No children or babies were buried here. In contrast to the tomb types in Central Anatolia, in Alacahöyük there is a uniformity in the direction of the tombs and the buried people. The gifts buried along with the dead are the richest and most varied that are found in the Aegean and the Asia frontier in the Old Bronze Age. Among these gifts are sun disks, deer and bull sculptures, decorative pieces, fighting tools such as daggers, swords and axes, and other pieces made out of cooked clay, stones, gold, silver, bronze, and copper. The architectural system of Alacahöyük in the Old Bronze Age depended on the authentic building technique of Anatolia. Buildings constructed using this technique have stone foundations, sun-dried bricks, flat ceilings, plastered floor and earth roofs. The Hittite layers that form the visible part of Alacahöyük are formed by three layers. In this age, a defense system was formed in the form of a circle with a diameter of 250 meters, and on this circle are found two main gates that were the entrances to the city. One of these entrances was the eastern door with a sphinx and the door on the western side of the tumulus.

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