New finds at Hittite bronze 'factory' at Alacahöyük

Excavations at Turkey's Central Anatolian province of Çorum’s Alacahöyük site, one of the significant centers of the ancient Hittite civilization and Turkey’s first national excavation field, have unearthed various artefacts in a 3,700 year-old bronze workshop.

View of the excavation site at Alacahöyük [Credit: AA]

Professor Aykut Çınaroğlu, the head of the excavations that are carried out by Ankara University, said work had been continuing since 2009 and this year they discovered two copper ingots, proving the existence of the workshop.

Çınaroğlu said the ingots were used for the production of various artefacts, adding that the remains dated back to 3,700 years ago.

Excavations at Alacahöyük [Credit: AA]

“At this factory, we work in new rooms and new sections every year. This year we have been working for some 20 days and found the walls of the factory. Although this place is a third-degree earthquake area, we were surprised at the smoothness and durabilty of these walls. We will keep them as they are without doing any restoration,” he said, adding that excavations at the site are ongoing.

The ingots are under protection and will be sent to the General Directorate of Mineral Research and exploration (MTA) to find out the origin of the copper, according to Çınaroğlu.

Two copper ingots were among the finds during this
years excavations [Credit: AA]

He said the sheer size of the workshop indicated that it did not only serve Çatalhöyük.

“Because it is so big, we can understand that it also served other neighbouring places. The granaries around the factory show that it has a capacity for 4,000 people,” he added.

A water channel has also been discovered during the new excavations around the workshop.

“We found it this year in the factory. This surprised me because it shows that they attached importance to hygiene,” Çınaroğlu said, adding that his team believed the workshop would continue to reveal new artefacts that would surprise the archaeology world.

Source: Hurriyet Daily News [August 18, 2015]