Alişar is a village in the Sorgun District of the

Yozgat Province Yozgat Province () is a province in central Turkey. Its area is 13,690 km2, and its population is 418,442 (2022). Its adjacent provinces are Çorum to the northwest, Kırıkkale to the west, Kırşehir to the southwest, Nevşehir to the s ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Its population is 71 (2022). Near the village is the archaeological site of Alişar Hüyük.

Alişar Hüyük

The site was settled from the

Chalcolithic The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in di ...

period in the fourth millennium BCE until the

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; , ''Phrygía'') was a kingdom in the west-central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. Stories of the heroic age of Greek mythology tell of several legendary Ph ...

n period in the first millennium BCE. During the Early and Middle Bronze Age in the third millennium BCE Alişar developed into a walled town. Eventually, it became the most significant city in the region. Like Kanesh ( Kültepe) to the south, it was a center for trade attracting merchants from

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

at the beginning of the second millennium BCE. The city was then destroyed, and this may have been the conquest by the semi-legendary Hittite king Anitta. He is told to have conquered the city of Kussara which can be identified with Alişar Hüyük. The Hittites later made

Hattusa Hattusa, also Hattuşa, Ḫattuša, Hattusas, or Hattusha, was the capital of the Hittites, Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age during two distinct periods. Its ruins lie near modern Boğazkale, Turkey (originally Boğazköy) within the great ...

to the north their capital. By the Hittite empire period 1400-1200 BCE Alişar was nothing but a small provincial town probably known as Ankuwa. Like most Hittite settlements it was burnt and destroyed at the end of the Late Bronze Age in the twelfth century BC. The Phrygians later occupied the site. In the vicinity of Alişar laid a large Phrygian Iron Age city at Kerkenes. The site was first excavated 1927–1932 by the Oriental Institute,

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, headed by Hans Henning von der Osten. Artefacts from the site were brought to the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

. Excavations restarted in 1992 by Turkish archaeologists through the TAY project.

References

External links

The Turkish TAY project at Alişar Hüyuk.
Archaeological sites in Central Anatolia Former populated places in Turkey Villages in Sorgun District History of Yozgat Province {{Yozgat-geo-stub