Sarıkale in Hattusa

GPS coordinates: 40.012901, 34.615002

Archaeological site: 

Sarıkale in Hattusa
Sarıkale in Hattusa

Description: 

The great rock, known as Sarıkale, i.e. the Yellow Fortress, is hard to miss in Hattusa. It is a 60-meter-high rock with a characteristic shape where a fortress guarding the capital city was standing in the Hittite times. The was erected, most likely, at the turn of the 14th and the 13th centuries BCE. Some theories claim that Sarıkale served as a religious location, and more precisely - as a place of worship of the dead.

Description

According to recent research, a settlement already existed in the depression to the west of Sarıkale in the Assyrian (Karum) period. In the early 2000s, the floor plans of several houses were excavated there, which were erected in the middle of the 16th century BCE. They show that the Upper Town was built very soon after the city was founded.

In the erosion layers under the oldest houses, finds were even found that had clearly been washed away from the upper town and dated from a time directly before Hattusili I, the founder of the city. The regular and uniform modular construction of the so-called square houses shows that there, unlike in the Lower Town, the existing buildings did not have to be taken into account, but that the construction was already systematically planned. This is also evidenced by the right-angled alleys between the individual houses. The floor plans visible today are modern reconstructions, the original walls are 2–3 meters lower.

On the summit of Sarıkale, the remains of a larger Hittite complex with fortifications and a cistern have been preserved. Such rock summit buildings are mentioned several times in cuneiform texts. These structures can be found on almost all elevations in the urban area of Hattusa. These are public buildings, probably of a religious nature.

A few meters to the south of Sarıkale there was a path that led east from the Lion Gate past the Temple Quarter to the eastern ponds. Another house was excavated along this path, which, based on its floor plan, was a typical Hittite house with a central room. It is particularly significant because of a text that was found there in 2009 and which is a letter addressed to the commander of the Meschedi. The building is therefore referred to as the house of the Meschedi commander, Meschedi being the name of the soldiers of the palace guard who served at the royal residence Büyükkale.

This is the first evidence of the residence of a high-ranking royal official, which also allows conclusions to be drawn about the function of other houses in the Lower Town with similar floor plans. A number of ceramic vessels for entertaining numerous guests were also found in the house, which indicates possible - perhaps cultic/religious - celebrations in the commander's private house.

The building on Sarıkale was built over in the Eastern Roman Empire times with a fortified complex, which probably belonged to the settlement that existed on the eastern slope of the rock ridge at that time. Possibly, a local dignitary used the castle for administrative purposes. There was a sizable settlement, located to the southeast of the fortress, in the same period.

Currently, only fragments of walls and cisterns for drinking water remained from the mighty fortress. However, the building was not destroyed by fire or acts of war, but it crumbled down because of natural erosion.

On the western side of the street, a distorted rectangular rock called Taanıkkaya can be seen, which was framed by the city wall. On its plateau-like surface, geomagnetic investigations have probably identified two large buildings in the middle of an open space. Nothing can be said about their function without excavations.

Getting there: 

The paved road leading through the area of Hattusa splits about 300 meters after the stopover at the Lower Town, in the south of Kızlarkayası. The designated tourist trail follows the right, western path, which eventually leads back to this fork in an arc along the southern city wall. On the eastern side of the road lies the Sarıkale rock massif, which, with a height of 60 meters above the valley in front of it, plays a dominant role in the cityscape of the Lower Town.

Sarıkale is visible from the modern tourist track, looking to the south, between the first designated stop at the Grand Temple and the House on the Slope, and the second stop - at the Lion Gate. It marks the transition between the Lower Town and the Upper Town of Hattusa.

The northern wall of Sarıkale rock is too steep for unprepared tourists to climb. It is better to walk along the winding path leading steeply uphill from the southeast. Along the way, you can see the remains of the gate and fortifications with bastions.

Bibliography: 

Image gallery: 

Sarıkale in Hattusa
Sarıkale in Hattusa
Sarıkale in Hattusa
Sarıkale in Hattusa