The Hittite holy city of Zippalanda finally identified

24 April 2023

Historians who decipher cuneiform texts regularly come across the names of ancient cities that they are unable to locate on a map. They likewise have difficulty identifying the ancient names of many Near and Middle Eastern sites excavated by archaeologists. Discovering the name by which an archaeological site was known in Antiquity provides a better understanding of its history, its evolution and even its abandonment.

For example, the recent identification of Uşaklı höyük (Turkey) as the Hittite holy city of Zippalanda has been a real scientific breakthrough.

In the first half of the 2nd millennium, Zippalanda was the cult centre of the Storm god, son of the Hatti Storm god and the Sun and Earth goddess. The archives of Hattusha, the Hittite capital, describe the festivals organised in honour of this god. The king took part in these festivals and had a residence at Zippalanda for this purpose.

Despite the importance of this city in the religion of the Hittites, there was some hesitation as to its location until the very end of 2022. Several sites had been proposed, all located in the heart of Anatolia. At Alaca höyük, in the province of Çorum, archaeologists had unearthed orthostats showing a religious ritual involving the royal couple, which suggests the cultic importance of the site. Another candidate was Çadır höyük, in the province of Yozgat, not far from the Kerkenes mountain, which in Hittite sources corresponds to Mount Taha, the sacred mountain of the Zippalanda Storm god.

Recent discoveries seem to confirm a third hypothesis put forward in the 1990s, which located Zippalanda at Uşaklı höyük. The site lies 20km east of Yozgat, in a narrow valley north of Mount Kerkenes. It has been excavated for the past ten years by an Italo-Turkish mission led by archaeologists from Pisa. Occupied since the end of the 3rd millennium, it reached its peak during the Hittite period, in the middle of the 2nd millennium.

In recent excavation campaigns, archaeologists have unearthed the remains of several monumental buildings, including a palace and the city's main temple probably dedicated to the god of Storms, as well as six fragments of cuneiform tablets in Hittite, dated to the 14th and 13th centuries BCE.

In 2018, a Late Bronze public building with a plan typical of Hittite temples was excavated on the lower terrace. To the east of this building is a courtyard whose floor is covered with a mosaic made of pebbles arranged in a chequered pattern; this is one of the oldest mosaics known.

During the 2022 season, a circular stone structure built on a slope was uncovered to the north of the city's main temple, close to the river that runs along the ramparts.

This unique structure undoubtedly had a ritual function. Its centre was filled with animal remains and fragments of pottery, suggesting offerings to a deity. A Hittite ritual that mentioned the Storm god of Zippalanda and was intended to protect the lives of the royal couple involved sacrificing animals in a pit called a hattessar, located on the banks of a river.

In addition to the location of the site close to the sacred mountain of the Storm god of Zippalanda, the linking of the circular structure and its contents with this Hittite ritual confirms the identification of Uşaklı höyük with the Hittite Zippalanda.

We wish the Italian and Turkish archaeologists many more discoveries at this promising site.

During the 2022 season, a circular stone structure built on a slope was uncovered to the north of the city's main temple, close to the river that runs along the ramparts.

This unique structure undoubtedly had a ritual function. Its centre was filled with animal remains and fragments of pottery, suggesting offerings to a deity. A Hittite ritual that mentioned the Storm god of Zippalanda and was intended to protect the lives of the royal couple involved sacrificing animals in a pit called a hattessar, located on the banks of a river.

In addition to the location of the site close to the sacred mountain of the Storm god of Zippalanda, the linking of the circular structure and its contents with this Hittite ritual confirms the identification of Uşaklı höyük with the Hittite Zippalanda.

We wish the Italian and Turkish archaeologists many more discoveries at this promising site.