Ortaköy is a town and district of

Çorum Province Çorum ( tr, ) is a province in the Black Sea Region of Turkey, but lying inland and having more characteristics of Central Anatolia than the Black Sea coast. Its provincial capital is the city of Çorum, the traffic code is 19. History Excav ...

in the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

region of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

, located at 57 km from the city of Çorum. The mayor is Taner İsbir ( AKP).

Archaeological sites

The oldest settlement in the area of Ortaköy is found on top of a mound, whereas the later Hittite city of

Sapinuwa Sapinuwa (sometimes Shapinuwa; Hittite: ''Šapinuwa'') was a Bronze Age Hittite city at the location of modern Ortaköy in the province Çorum in Turkey. It was one of the major Hittite religious and administrative centres, a military base an ...

was laid out on the plain. This city dates to the second millennium BC. Sapinuwa overlooks a fertile plain and was a key point on the road to

Hattusa Hattusa (also Ḫattuša or Hattusas ; Hittite: URU''Ḫa-at-tu-ša'', Turkish: Hattuşaş , Hattic: Hattush) was the capital of the Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age. Its ruins lie near modern Boğazkale, Turkey, within the great loop of ...

from the west. The city was an important administrative, political, military and religious center in the Hittite kingdom. The site was later used as a cemetery during the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

period. Excavations started in 1990 by Turkish archaeologists from

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

university. The most important finds discovered so far are an official building with an archive of cuneiform tablets dating to the Hittite empire, and a large store house.

References

External links

Ortaköy - Shapinuwa (A Hittite City)
Populated places in Çorum Province Archaeological sites in the Black Sea Region Districts of Çorum Province {{Çorum-geo-stub