Alacahöyük

Last update September 24, 2026

Few people visit Alacahöyük, and it is precisely this that makes the detour worthwhile. The site is located in Çorum Province, which is a short distance from Hattusa, the former capital of the Hittites and the place where the majority of the tour buses stop in this area of central Turkey. Tourists will usually spend a morning at Hattusa and then pass over this smaller mound without stopping on their way back to the highway. If you are driving yourself or have a driver for the day, do not make that mistake. Although the site is small and can be walked through in about an hour, the features found here are unlike anything you’ll see at the larger ruins in the vicinity.

The main reason for visiting is the Sphinx Gate. Two sphinxes, carved from andesite in the 14th century BC, remain at the entrance at their original height of approximately two metres, and, in contrast to the replicas that guard the version of the gate at Hattusa, these are the genuine stone ones. If you examine the inner side of the right sphinx you can still see a relief of a double-headed eagle, although it has been worn by the elements it is still legible after more than three thousand years. Along the walls’ base the original orthostats, which feature decorative panels depicting bull sacrifices and processions of priests, are still in place where the Hittites originally positioned them. This is rare since at most Hittite sites the carved stone work had already been lost to museums, the weather or looting many years earlier.

Beyond the gate, dirt tracks wind around the mound, passing by the old grain silos and the remnants of a metal workshop, with small signs in English telling you what you’re looking at. While it doesn’t have the dramatic effect of Hattusa’s city walls, it is rewarding if you take your time to walk around. The most valuable discoveries, including gold cups, jewellery, and the sun disc standards from the royal Bronze Age tombs on the site, are no longer here; they were given to the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara many years ago, so if the small museum on site leaves you wanting more information, then you should go to that museum to see it.

Atatürk himself became directly involved in the excavations during the 1930s and the old light rail trucks which were used to remove the soil from the site can still be seen near the entrance, having been left there instead of being taken apart for reuse. This is a minor and unusual detail that remains with you longer than most of the informative signs. Take along some water and wear good shoes, limit your time to at most ninety minutes and combine the visit with a trip to Hattusa and the rock reliefs at Yazılıkaya nearby. Together these sites form a complete day which most itineraries through Cappadocia or Ankara never include.