Acemhöyük
Türkiye · Aksaray
In brief
Acemhöyük in Yeşilova is a large Bronze Age settlement consisting of a mound and a lower town. Seal impressions and vessels made from valuable materials found in the palaces demonstrate the settlement's connections with distant regions.
What was found?
- 1Sarıkaya Palace
Storage spaces occupy the preserved lower floor of the two-storey palace. The building and the valuable objects inside it show the scale of the palace economy.
- 2Hatipler Palace
A second monumental building resembling Sarıkaya Palace. The presence of more than one large palace in the same city reveals that the settlement was one of the powerful administrative centres.
- 3Clay lumps bearing seal impressions
The bullae found in the palaces bring together different sealing traditions. Their impressions allow us to investigate Acemhöyük's political and commercial relationships.
- 4Rock crystal vessels
Fragments of goblets and vases made from transparent quartz were found. The delicate working of a hard material demonstrates the skill of the stoneworkers.
- 5Obsidian vessels
Vases and fragments of plates and rhyta made from volcanic glass were recovered from Sarıkaya Palace. According to researchers, craftspeople using local material successfully reproduced the vessel forms of the period in stone.
What does it point to?
The palaces, sealings, and valuable vessels indicate powerful administration connected with trade and specialised crafts. The combination of storage and the use of valuable objects within the same palace organisation suggests that resources were concentrated around the palace.
What did it teach us?
- The existence of large palace complexes in Anatolia during the Assyrian Trading Colonies Period was documented.
- Seal impressions provided tangible evidence of the city's relationships with the Anatolian and Mesopotamian worlds.
- The use of rock crystal and obsidian in vessel production was demonstrated through examples of advanced stoneworking.
Images


Record
- Culture
- Anatolian Bronze Age communities; Assyrian trade network
- First modern dig
- 1962
- Team / historical
- Aliye Öztan / Ankara University
- Coordinates
- 38.4116°, 33.8355°
Sources
- aksaray.ktb.gov.tr
- belleten.gov.tr
- en.wikipedia.org
- Türk Tarih Kurumu, Belleten — Acemhöyük Taş Kapları
- Türk Tarih Kurumu, Belleten — Sarıkaya Sarayı'ndan iki taş tabak
Nearby excavations
- Aşıklı Höyük 35 km
- Kaman-Kalehöyük 106 km
- Boncuklu Höyük 112 km
- Çatalhöyük 121 km
- Can Hasan I 135 km
- Kültepe-Kanesh 164 km
- —
- —
- 12.000
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