Hattusa Archaeological Site
Türkiye
Located to the southwest of Çorum, within the district boundaries of Boğazkale, Hattuša, the capital of the Hittite state, was established on a rugged and rocky terrain covering approximately 180 hectares. Archaeological excavations have demonstrated that the earliest settlement at the site dates back well before the Hittite period, to the Chalcolithic Age in the 6th millennium BCE. During the 3rd millennium BCE, in the Early Bronze Age, the inhabitants of Hattuša—contemporary with the richly furnished royal tombs at Alacahöyük—were the indigenous Anatolian people known as the Hattians. In comparison to the preceding period, the settlement expanded over a broader area. In the 19th/18th centuries BCE, an Assyrian Trade Colony was established immediately adjacent to the Hattian settlement at Hattuša, as was the case in many parts of Central Anatolia. This settlement, known as Hattuš, was destroyed around 1700 BCE by King Anitta of Kuššara. Subsequently, around 1650/1600 BCE, King Hattusili I re-founded Hattuša as the capital of the Hittite Kingdom. With only brief interruptions, the city served as the capital from approximately 1650 BCE until 1200 BCE. Following the collapse of the Hittite Empire around 1200 BCE, Hattuša lost its status as the imperial capital. The historical process outlined above is presented chronologically below.
Chalcolithic Period: In the region where Hattuşa, the capital of the Hittite Empire that emerged in Central Anatolia in the 2nd millennium BCE, is located, the earliest evidence of sedentary agricultural communities dates to between the 6th and 4th millennia BCE. As in many areas north of the Anatolian steppes, small and relatively short-lived settlements have been identified in the Budaközü Valley—where Boğazkale is situated—as the earliest loci of human occupation.
Early Bronze Age: Although the cultural development of Boğazköy and its immediate surroundings during the first half of the 3rd millennium BCE is not yet fully understood, a new chapter in the region’s history began toward the end of the millennium with the establishment of a new settlement at Boğazköy. This settlement was not only considerably larger than its predecessors, but it also stands out for the emergence of architectural forms that appear here for the first time within a single settlement context. This continuously developing settlement constituted the nucleus of the city that would become the Hittite capital approximately five centuries later. In the last quarter of the 3rd millennium BCE, a trade network encompassing Anatolia and connected to neighbouring regions was established. Evidence for this system is derived particularly from the rich royal tombs of Alaca Höyük, as well as from numerous comparable finds.
Karum Period: During the early centuries of the 2nd millennium BCE, Assyrian merchants established a commercial network linking Anatolia with Northern Mesopotamia by bringing tin and fine textiles into Anatolia and exporting Anatolian metals to southern cultures. The city known at the time as Hattuš was, together with its western karum neighbourhood, a complex settlement that was nearly comparable in size to that of the later Old Hittite period. Excavations have revealed the neighbourhoods of the karum merchants, who resided in a separate area of the Lower City, as well as numerous written documents. The settlement, known by the name Hattuš, was destroyed in the 17th century BCE by King Anitta of Kuššara.
Hittite Period: From the end of the Early Bronze Age to the Hittite Period—that is, between the late 3rd millennium BCE and the 17th century BCE—the cultural sequence in Anatolia can be traced without interruption only at Boğazköy. The Hittites are considered the earliest historically attested Indo-European people identified to date and are linguistically related to many present-day European populations. Although their precise homeland and migration route into Anatolia remain uncertain, it can be stated that around 1650 BCE they established the first centralized political authority in Anatolia. The first ruler traditionally recognized as a Hittite king, Hattušili I, originally bore the name Labarna but adopted the throne name Hattušili, meaning “the man of Hattuša.” The position of Hattuša within the cultural history of Anatolia is directly connected to its status as the capital and thus parallels the political development and significance of the Empire. By founding a centralized monarchy in Anatolia, Hattušili I succeeded in creating a state capable of exerting political and cultural influence over extensive geographical regions. During the reign of Šuppiluliuma I (ca. 1350-1322 BCE), the Hittite state entered a period of remarkable expansion and prosperity. Šuppiluliuma considerably enlarged the kingdom’s territory and subordinated his powerful southeastern rival, the kingdom of Mittani. His successor, Muršili II (ca. 1321-1295 BCE), further extended Hittite control toward both the west and the east/southeast. After Muršili II, his son Muwatalli II (ca. 1295–1272 BCE) ascended the throne. Muwatalli transferred the Hittite capital to Tarhuntašša, a city whose exact location has not yet been conclusively identified. However, his successor, Muršili III (ca. 1272–1265 BCE), also known as Urhi-Teššup, restored the capital to Hattusa. One of Muwatalli II’s most significant undertakings was the renowned Battle of Kadesh, fought between Muwatalli II and the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II near the city of Kadesh in what is today southern Syria. The subsequent peace treaty concluded between Hattušili III (ca. 1265–1237 BCE) and Ramesses II is recognized as one of the earliest known international peace agreements. The last ruler of the Hittite state was Šuppiluliuma II (1200 BCE). Although the precise causes and mechanisms of the empire’s collapse remain uncertain, it is generally assumed that a combination of internal conflicts and external pressures—such as drought, epidemics, and enemy incursions—played a decisive role, ultimately leading to the abandonment of the capital.
Iron Age: The Iron Age in Central Anatolia extends from approximately 1200 BCE, marking the end of the Hittite Empire, to 330 BCE, when Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire. This period is generally examined in three successive phases. The Early Iron Age spans from the 12th to the 10th centuries BCE; the Middle Iron Age covers the 9th century to the end of the 8th century BCE; and the Late Iron Age extends from the 7th century BCE until approximately 330 BCE, corresponding to the end of the Persian Period. At Hattuša, Iron Age occupation has been identified through excavations conducted at Büyükkale and the South Citadel.
Galatian Period: Following the apparent termination of the Iron Age cultural horizon in the first half of the 5th century BCE for reasons that remain unclear, Boğazköy exhibits a hiatus in occupation lasting more than two centuries, during which no clear evidence of settlement has thus far been identified. By the third century BCE, however, a new phase began in the ruins of the former Hittite capital with the arrival of the Galatians, who had originally migrated from Southeastern Europe into Western Anatolia and were subsequently driven into Central Anatolia through a series of military conflicts. Archaeological traces of the Galatian period at Boğazköy have been identified at Kesikkaya and on the northwestern slope of Büyükkale.
Roman Period: Only limited remains dating to the Roman period have been identified at Boğazköy. Although the necropolis in the Lower City continued to be used until the 4th century CE, encompassing a wide variety of burial types, evidence for settlement activity is confined to scattered traces of a small fortified occupation at Büyükkale. The pool at Mihraplıkaya, together with the Roman-period military camp and the Roman bath complex in the Lower City, constitute the principal archaeological indicators of Roman-period presence at Boğazköy.
Byzantine Period: The Byzantine village uncovered in its entirety in the Upper City represents this phase of occupation and is dated to the Middle Byzantine period (10th-11th centuries CE). This settlement is characterized by a substantial assemblage of material culture reflecting aspects of daily life.
Apart from a certain cultural continuity in the Iron Age in the so-called Neo-Hittite states of southern Anatolia and northern Syria, the collapse of the Hittite state led to the complete disappearance of its culture and language from human memory until their rediscovery by archaeologists and philologists in the early 20th century. In 1834, the French traveller Charles Texier was the first Westerner to observe the extensive ruins near Boğazköy. When he published his account a few years later, it became evident that the site had once been the capital of an empire that rivaled Egypt during the 2nd millennium BCE. Excavations initiated in 1906 under the auspices of the Istanbul Archaeological Museums, with the participation of Theodor Makridi Bey and the German orientalist Hugo Winckler, led to the discovery of cuneiform tablets that confirmed the identification of this great city as Hattusa, the capital of a powerful empire. The German Archaeological Institute, which initially joined the excavations in 1907 due to its technical expertise, conducted research between 1931 and 1939 and has continued its work from 1952 to the present on behalf of the Republic of Türkiye’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
