Alaca Höyük
Hattian and Hittite site in central Anatolia, centered on the Spring of Arinna (still flowing). The Sphinx Gate (30 ft wide) is flanked by 3D relief carvings of sphinxes, bulls, the storm god, and a king and queen. Behind the gate stand gigantic polygonal walls with puffy bent-corner stones directly comparable to Cusco and Sacsayhuamán. The site preserves 13 royal graves of the Hattian culture (~2000-2500 BCE) with elaborate bronze, gold, and electrum grave goods, including bronze deer and sun-disc rosettes. A postern tunnel with cyclopean vaulted construction runs to the west, with mortise-and-tenon joints comparable to Stonehenge lintels and multiple portal stones reminiscent of Göbekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe. Conventional reading : Hattian then Hittite Bronze Age (3rd-2nd millennium BCE). Independent reading : the polygonal masonry and the portal stones suggest a much earlier construction phase that the Hatti inherited and the Hittites reused. Recent dating is being pushed into the early Neolithic, with possible cultural continuity from Göbekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe.
Walkthrough videos (1)
This Is Not Peru! | Massive Polygonal Walls in Turkey | MegalithomaniaHugh Newman / Megalithomania
Nearby sites
- Hattusa25 km
- Dulkadirli Underground City132 km
- Mucur Underground City132 km