Alişar Regional Project/Excavations at Çadir Höyük

UB Faculty Involvement:

Sponsoring Institutions:

  • Oriental Institute, University of Chicago; The University at Buffalo, SUNY; State University College at Cortland; The University of New Hampshire; Hood College.

Funding:

  • National Geographic Society; National Science Foundation; Loeb Foundation; Dumbarton Oaks; private donations.

Nature of Project:

Çadir Höyük is located in Central Anatolia in the province of Yozgat in central Turkey, about 3 and a half hours drive eastwards from Ankara. This project (excavation and Survey) began in 1993. The project director is Dr. Ronald L. Gorny, research associate in the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. The main site, Cadir Hoyuk, is a multi-level site with remains dating from the Middle Chalcolithic (4th Millennium BC) to the end of the Byzantine period in Central Anatolia (A.D. 11th Century). Dr. Gorny has come to the conclusion that the site is actually the Hittite city of Zippalanda, and the adjacent site across the valley on a mountain top, called Caltepe, is Mt. Daha, the location of the temple complex of the Storm God of Zippalanda. There are significant Chalcolithic and Early Bronze period, Assyrian Merchant Colony and Old Hittite, Hittite, and Iron Age remains. There are also Hellenistic and Roman levels: they have been located but not extensively investigated as yet. The Byzantine period settlement includes both a citadel area on the Hoyuk’s summit and architecture on a terrace. Annual reports are to be found in Anatolica and in the Kazi Sonuclari Toplantisi volumes that are published by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Status:

  • The current seasons of excavation are 4-6 weeks in length in July and August. 2006 is the 11th season.

Student participation:

  • There is a field school. Undergraduate students and graduate students from Buffalo, Cortland, UNH, Brown and Yale have participated.

More information:

http://www.lightmillennium.org/events/2006_cadirhoyuk.html