Hattusa, also Hattuşa, Ḫattuša, Hattusas, or Hattusha, was the capital of the Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age during two distinct periods. Its ruins lie near to modern Boğazkale, Turkey (originally Boğazköy), within the great loop of the Kızılırmak River (Hittite: Marashantiya; Greek: Halys).
French archeologist Charles Texier brought attention to the ruins after his visit in 1834. Over the following century, sporadic exploration occurred, involving different archaeologists. The German Oriental Society and the German Archaeological Institute began systematic excavations in the early 20th century, which continue to this day. Hattusa was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 1986.
History
The earliest traces of settlement on the site are from the 6th millennium BC during the Chalcolithic period. Toward the end of the 3rd millennium BC the Hattian people established a settlement on locations that had been occupied even earlier and referred to the site as Hattush.Bittel, Kurt, Hattusha. The Capital of the Hittites, NewYork: Oxford University Press, 1970 In the 19th and 18th centuries BC, merchants from Assyria, centered at Kanesh (Neša) (modern Kültepe) established a trading post there, setting up in their own separate quarter of the lower city.Hawkins, David, "Writing in Anatolia: Imported and Indigenous Systems", World Archaeology, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 363–76, 1986
A carbonized layer apparent in excavations attests to the burning and ruin of the city of Hattusa around 1700 BC. The responsible party appears to have been King Anitta from Kussara, who took credit for the act and erected an inscribed curse for good measure:
Nevertheless the city was rebuilt, possibly by a son of Anitta.Hopkins, David C., "Across the Anatolian Plateau: Readings in the Archaeology of Ancient Turkey", The Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research, vol. 57, pp. v–209, 2000de Martino, Stefano, "Hatti: From Regional Polity to Empire", in Stefano de Martino, ed., Handbook Hittite Empire: Power Structures, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, pp. 205–270, 2022
Around 1650 BC, the Hittite king Labarna moved the capital from Neša to Hattusa and took the name of Hattusili, the "one/man from Hattusa".Bryce, Trevor R., "The Annals and Lost Golden Statue of the Hittite King Hattusili I", in Gephyra 16, pp. 1-12, November 2018 After the Kaskians arrived to the kingdom's north, they twice attacked the city and under king Tudhaliya I, the Hittites moved the capital north to Sapinuwa. Under Muwatalli II, they moved south to Tarhuntassa but the king assigned his younger brother, the future Hattusili III as governor over Hattusa.Glatz, Claudia, and Roger Matthews, "Anthropology of a Frontier Zone: Hittite-Kaska Relations in Late Bronze Age North-Central Anatolia", Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, no. 339, pp. 47–65, 2005 In the mid-13th century BC Hittite ruler Mursili III returned the seat to Hattusa, where the capital remained until the end of the Hittite kingdom in the 12th century BC (KBo 21.15 i 11–12).Otten, Heinrich, Keilschrifttexte aus Boghazköi 21 (insbesondere Texte aus Gebäude A), Berlin 1973
At its peak, the city covered and comprised an inner and outer portion, both surrounded by a massive and still visible course of walls erected during the reign of Suppiluliuma I c. 1344–1322 BC. The inner city covered an area of some and was occupied by a citadel with large administrative buildings and temples. The royal residence, or acropolis, was built on a high ridge now known as Büyükkale (Great Fortress).Güterbock, Hans G., "New Excavations at Boghazköy, Capital of the Hittites", Archaeology, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 211–16, 1953 The city displayed over of walls, with inner and outer layers around thick and of space between, totalling .Lewis, Leo Rich; Tenney, Charles R. (2010). The Compendium of Weapons, Armor & Castles. Nabu Press. p. 142. .
To the south lay an outer city of about , with elaborate gateways decorated with reliefs showing warriors, lions, and sphinxes. Four temples were located here, each set around a porticoed courtyard, together with secular buildings and residential structures. Outside the walls are cemeteries, most of which contain cremation burials. Modern estimates put the population of the city around 10,000; in the early period, the inner city housed a third of that number. The dwelling houses that were built with timber and mud bricks have vanished from the site, leaving only the stone-built walls of temples and palaces.
The city was destroyed, together with the Hittite state itself, around 1200 BC, as part of the Late Bronze Age collapse. Excavations suggest that Hattusa was gradually abandoned over a period of several decades as the Hittite empire disintegrated. It has been suggested that a regional drought occurred at that time.Manning, S. W.; Kocik, C.; Lorentzen, B.; et al, "Severe multi-year drought coincident with Hittite collapse around 1198–1196 BC", Nature 614, pp. 719–724, 2023 Signs of final destruction by fire have been noted,Bryce, Trevor (2019). Warriors of Anatolia: A Concise History of the Hittites. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 264. . but this destruction probably occurred after the city had already been abandoned by the Hittite royal family, elites, and state apparatus. Agricultural communities with a material culture distinct from the Hittites settled in the remains of Hattusa as early as the 12th Century BC.
Archaeology
In 1833, the French archaeologist Félix Marie Charles Texier (1802–1871) was sent on an exploratory mission to Turkey, where in 1834 he discovered monumental ruins near the town of Boğazköy.Texier, Charles, "Description de l’ Asie Mineure, faite par ordre du Gouvernement Français de 1833 à 1837, et publiée parle ministre de l’ Instruction publique", Volumes I-III, Paris:Firmin-Didot, 1839-1849 Texier made topographical measurements, produced illustrations, and composed a preliminary site plan.Texier, Charles, "Rapport lu, le 15 mai 1835, à l'Académie royale des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres de l'Institut, sur un envoi fait par M. Texier, et contenant les dessins de bas-reliefs découverts par lui près du village de Bogaz-Keui, dans l'Asie mineure" [Report read on 15 May 1835 to the Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Belle-lettres of the Institute, on a dispatch made by Mr. Texier and containing drawings of bas-reliefs discovered by him near the village of Bogaz-Keui in Asia Minor]. Journal des Savants (in French), pp. 368–376, 1835 The site was subsequently visited by a number of European travelers and explorers, most notably the German geographer Heinrich Barth in 1858.Barth, Heinrich, "Reise von Trapezunt durch die nördliche Hälfte Klein-Asiens nach Scutariim Herbst 1858", Ergänzungsheft zu Petermann's geograph, Mittheilungen 3, Gotha:Justus Perthes, 1860 Georges Perrot excavated at the site in 1861 and at the nearby site of Yazılıkaya.Perrot, Georges, Edmond Guillaume, and Jules Delbet 1872, "Exploration archéologique de la Galatie et de la Bithynie, d’ une partiede la Mysie, de la Phrigie, de la Cappadoce et duPontexécutéeen 1861", Volumes I-II, Paris:Firmin Didot, 1872 Perrot was the first to suggest, in 1886, that Boğazköy was the Hittite capital of Hattusa.Perrot, Georges, "Une civilisation retrouvée: les Hétéens, leur écriture et leur art", Revuedes Deux-Mondes74 (15 July), pp. 303‒342, 1886 In 1882 German engineer Carl Humann completed a full plan of the site.
Ernest Chantre opened some trial trenches at the village then called Boğazköy, in 1893–94, with excavations being cut short by a cholera outbreak. Significantly Chantre discovered some fragments of clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform. The fragments contain text in both the Akkadian language and what later was determined to be the Hittite language.Alaura, Silvia, "Rediscovery and Reception of the Hittites: An Overview", Handbook Hittite Empire: Power Structures, edited by Stefano de Martino, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, pp. 693-780, 2022Boissier, Alfred, "Fragments de tablettes couvertes de caractères cunéiformes, recueillies par M. Chantre et communiqués par M. Menant", Comptes rendus des séances de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 39 (4), pp. 348‒360, 1895 Between 1901 and 1905 Waldemar Belck visited the site several times, finding a number of tablets.
In 1905 Hugo Winckler conducted some soundings at Boğazköy on behalf of the German Oriental Society (DOG), finding 35 more cuneiform tablet fragments at the site of the royal fortress, Büyükkale.Crüsemann, Nicola, "Vom Zweistromlandzum Kupfergraben.Vorgeschichte und Entstehungsjahre (1899–1918) der Vorderasiatischen Abteilung der Berliner Museen vorfach-und kulturpolitischen Hintergründen, Jahrbuchder, Berliner Museen 42, Beiheft(Berlin:Gebr.MannVerlag), 2001 Winckler began actual excavations in 1906, focusing mainly on the royal fortress area. Thousands of tablets were recovered, most in the then unreadable Hittite language. The few Akkadian texts firmly identified the site as Hattusa.Winckler, Hugo, "Nach Boghasköi! Ein nachgelassenes Fragment", Der Alte Orient XIV/3, Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1913 Winckler returned in 1907 (with Otto Puchstein, Heinrich Kohl, Ludwig Curtius and Daniel Krencker), and briefly in 1911 and 1912 (with Theodore Makridi). Work stopped with the outbreak of WWI.Seeher, J, "Die Adresse ist: poste restante Yozgat Asie Mineure", Momentaufnahmen der Grabungskampagne 1907 in Boğazköy. In: J. Klinger, E. Rieken, C. Rüster (eds.), Investigationes Anatolicae: Gedenkschrift für Erich Neu, Wiesbaden, pp. 253-270, 2010Alaura, Silvia, "NachBoghasköy!” Zur Vorgeschichte der Ausgrabungen in Boghazköy-Hattušaund zu denarchäologischen Forschungenbis zum Ersten Weltkrieg Darstellung und Dokumente, 13. SendschriftDOG, Berlin:Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft, 2006 Tablets from these excavations were published in two series Keilschrifttexte aus Boghazkoi (KB0) and Keilschrift urkunden aus Boghazköi (KUB). Work resumed in 1931 under prehistorian Kurt Bittel with establishing stratigraphy as the major focus. The work was under the auspices of the DOG and German Archaeological Institute (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut) and lasted 9 seasons until being suspended due to the outbreak of WWII in 1939.Bittel, Kurt, "Reisen und Ausgrabungen in Ägypten, Kleinasien, Bulgarien und Griechenland 1930–1934", Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften und Literatur Mainz, Jg. 1998, Nr.5, Stuttgart:Franz Steiner Verlag, 1998