Alacahöyük

Alacahöyük is a multi-layered Bronze Age settlement mound in the Çorum province of central Anatolia and one of Turkey's most important archaeological sites. Inhabited since the Chalcolithic period, the site reached its greatest cultural prominence during the Hittite era, roughly 2000 to 1200 BCE. Scholars identify it with Arinna or Zippalanda, the sacred cultic city of the Hittite sun goddess — an association that gives the mound a religious significance far beyond its remote location. Its sphinx gate, flanked by two imposing carved sphinx figures, represents one of the best-preserved examples of Hittite monumental gateway architecture. Excavations beginning in the late 19th century uncovered royal shaft graves containing bronze figurines, ceremonial standards, and gold objects, most of which are now displayed in Ankara's Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. An open-air museum on site allows visitors to view exposed foundation walls and carved relief panels in their original context.