Alacahöyük is important as first a Neolithic site, and center...

By: vivian on segunda-feira, setembro 26, 2016

Alacahöyük is important as first a Neolithic site, and center of the Hattian culture during the Bronze Age, then later as the first capital of the Hittites. The mound itself dates back to the Chalcolithic period, around 4500 BCE. The most important and impressive finds are from the early Bronze Age. Thirteen royal Hattian tombs, dating to the 2000s BCE, have been found at Alacahöyük. Thirteen tombs, not ordinary ones but royal ones, means lots and lots of rich and symbolic burial goods to examine. The first person to find one must have wet themself. Finally, the majority of the ruins left standing at Alacahöyük date to the Hittite period, from 1460-1200 BCE. By then Alacahöyük was a city, not just a settlement. It had a mud brick wall on top of a stone foundation surrounding and protecting it.  The “Sphinx Gate,” fortified with towers and shown above, was the main gate of the city.

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