Alishar Hüyük
History
Alishar Hüyük was occupied beginning in the Neolithic Period, through the Chalcolithic, Bronze Age and the Hittites, and into Phrygian times. The remnants of a Late Roman or Byzantine church were also found. During the Neolithic times (found at 26 meters below the mound surface and about 11 meters above virgin soil) the site was in the middle of a lake and occupation was restricted to the mound. As the area dried in the Chalcolithic Age occupation slowly spread off the mound and outer defenses were built. Eventually in the Early Bronze Age a large defensive fortification wall, with gates, was built.
Fifty three (allowing for copies) cuneiform tablets in Old Assyrian of the Cappadocia type were found there. The tablets appear to be typical of an Assyrian trading outpost typical of that time in Anatolia. In two cases the writer mentions having returned from Zalpuwa (Zalpa) and in another Kanesh and Hattusa are referred to. One tablet mentions a trader Amur-Assur, also mentioned in tablets at the karum in Kultepe. Two of the tablets carry the seal of an "Anitta the Prince" which has led to speculation that this was Anitta who was king of Kuššara in the late 1700s BC. Finally, one tablet carried the eponym Adad-bāni which has been dated to the final years of Shamshi-Adad I. Mention in those tablets of the town Ankuwa has caused speculation that the site is the Ankuwa mentioned in other Hittite texts.
Archaeology
The top of the mound is surmounted by a truncated cone (designated A) with three lobes extending from it (B, C, and D). A lower town area extents from the mound to the east and south. An excavation system of 10 by 10 meter oriented squares was used. The end of Hittite Empire occupation (Stratum IV) at about 1200 BC was marked by widespread destruction including and the site was largely unoccupied until Phryangian times.
The site was excavated between 1927 and 1932 by a team from the Oriental Institute of Chicago. The work was led by Erich Schmidt. Excavation resumed in 1992, led by Ronald Gorny as part of the Alisar Regional Project. Work at the site appears to have been limited to a topographic survey and aerial photography using camera ballons with little or no actual excavation. Most of the project's work has been at nearby Çadır Höyük.
| Stratum | Period | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| I | Neolithic Age to Chalolithic Age | |
| II | Middle Bronze Age II | Cappadocian Tablets |
| III | Late Bronze Age I | Early Hittite |
| IV | Late Bronze Age II | Hittite |
| V | Iron Age | Phryangian to Medo-Persian |
| VI | Classical Age | Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine |
| VII | Modern | Seljuk and Osmanli |
Çadır Höyük
About 12 km northwest of Alishar Huyuk, there's another important archaeological site named Cadir Hoyuk (Çadır Höyük in Turkish alphabet). Recent excavators of Cadir Hoyuk have identified this site tentatively with the Hittite city of Zippalanda.