Hittite neighborhood undergoing restoration

ÇORUM

Restoration work is being carried out this season in the Lower City, where excavations were completed in 2022.

Restoration is underway on 3,500-year-old Hittite structures unearthed in the ancient city of Hattusa in the Central Anatolian province of Çorum, alongside ongoing excavations across the UNESCO World Heritage site.

Archaeologists are restoring structures uncovered in the Lower City using stones recovered from the excavations and rebuilding walls on their original foundations to help visitors better understand the layout of a Hittite settlement.

Andreas Schachner, head of the Hattusa excavations, said restoration work is being carried out this season in the Lower City, where extensive excavations were completed in 2022.

“We are restoring the architectural elements uncovered during the excavations and carrying out repairs that visitors can understand,” Schachner told Anadolu Agency. “We have to do this; otherwise, visitors would be faced with nothing more than a pile of stones.”

“Once the work is completed, visitors will be able to see a Hittite neighborhood. It is not only our duty to conduct research and excavations, but also to carry out restoration and show what we have found to future generations,” he said.

Hattusa, located in Boğazkale district, served as the capital of the Hittite civilization for around 450 years. The ancient city, which is on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, contains traces of settlements dating back to the 6th millennium B.C., as well as remains from the Chalcolithic, pre-Hittite, Hittite, Iron Age, Galatian, Roman and Byzantine periods.

Surrounded by roughly 7 kilometers of fortification walls, the ancient settlement covers an area of about 2 square kilometers.

Excavations have been conducted by the German Archaeological Institute under Schachner’s leadership since 2006. Alongside excavations in new areas, teams have been working to preserve and restore structures uncovered in previous years.

Local stone masons are also involved in the restoration. Walls are rebuilt on their existing foundations using stones recovered from the site.

Schachner said around 30 percent of the work at Hattusa is devoted to restoration, emphasizing the importance of preserving the structures in a way that allows the large number of visitors to understand them.

He noted that Hattusa has followed a restoration system since the 1960s, explaining that excavation trenches cannot simply be left as they are because the mortarless walls would gradually collapse.

“We sort the stones recovered during the excavations and rebuild the stone walls on the foundations that have been found. We fill the edges with soil, creating a system that people can see and understand,” Schachner said.

Earthquake traces found in Lower City

The Lower City contains buildings believed to have belonged to members of the Hittite king’s inner circle, as well as structures with administrative and economic functions.

Schachner said archaeologists have identified traces of an earthquake in the structures in the area.

“This part of the city came to an end with an earthquake,” he said.

A city gate excavated earlier in the area, along with the large square in front of it and roads leading into the city, provides important information about urban planning during the Hittite period, he added.

“We have a city here that gives us a good picture of what the landscape and urbanization looked like here until the 14th century B.C.,” Schachner said.

The Hittite city walls made of mudbrick, reconstructed in 2005 by the Culture and Tourism Ministry in line with the original construction technique, are also repaired every few years as part of ongoing restoration efforts.