Hattusa: Hittite Capital

Next morning, we drove and walked around Hattusa, the remains of the Hittite capital. Their construction consisted of large stone foundations and timber and mud/mud brick structures above. A small section of the outer wall, originally 6km in length, has been reconstructed to show what it might have looked like. Unexplained is the location of the place, still out in the middle of nowhere, not by the sea nor any trade routes. Maybe it was the views. Or defense.

Reconstructed wall

Vicki at the entrance to the lower city

Me by the green stone, said to be a gift of the pharoah on the occasion of the Kadesh 
Treaty; why this was not carted away, I don't know

Portion of the lower city

Huge earthen jars

Archaeology still going on: a German team

Some restoration/replacement of items taken to museums in 
Ankara, Berlin, and Istanbul

Remains of original on other side of arch

70m tunnel under the western wall, Yerkapi



Sort of pyramid at Yerkapi

Rugged countryside in which all this is located

King's gate, reconstruction of what is now in Ankara

Vicki by the king's gate

Wall inscription near the royal citadel

Part of citadel

Reconstructed inscriptions chamber; not sure how I feel about all this 
reconstruction; atonement for sins of previous archaeologists/museums, 
I guess; a means of preservation, in the museums, while still enlightening 
the field tourist

We had the place nearly to ourselves for a couple hours--a young woman from Australia was the only other visitor. But then the tour buses started arriving, and we headed on to Cappadocia.

Into Hittite Country: Yazilikaya

We drove east, out of Ankara's rugged landscape and onto the high plains, some rolling, some flatter than Kansas, with much agriculture, mostly corn and grains, and then, after Kirikkale, beets, huge fields of beets, now in harvest, just like in eastern Montana, being trucked off to the refineries. Before Bogazkale, we crossed a pass well over 5,000 feet, back into more mountainous, rugged country, where the Hittites made their capital. The Hittites were an "Indo-European" people who migrated into Anatolia around 2000 BCE and gradually took over everything from Europe to Babylon (which they conquered) to Egypt (with whom they did the Kadesh treaty). Their realm lasted until the 1200s, BCE, when for reasons not well understood, it collapsed. Probably the invasions of the "Sea Peoples," of whom we'll hear more later. Until 19th century archaeology got underway, little was known of them apart from the Bible. Anyhow, the Hittite capital was at Hattusa, and an apparently religious rock sanctuary is a few miles away at Yazilikaya.

Yazilikaya entrance

The Hittites mostly did great reliefs

Offerings to gods

Deities

Soldiers, armies; obviously they were pretty formidable,

having bested both Babylon and Egypt

Making nice with the gods

All this is hewn in clefts in the rocks; there's

Vicki in one of the passage-ways

Foundations of a temple adjoining the site

Over-night parking is often an adventure; the Hittite sites

are national monuments, carefully locked-up at 5PM; it's a

long story, but this night, after a close encounter with

rug merchants, we parked (at their invitation) outside their

alleged rug "co-op"

There we are; at least, apart from the free over-night
parking, we are getting more practiced in dealing with this
ilk

Otopark of Sorrows

Finding places in cities to park a 7 meter rig--just a standard Sprinter, really--is not always easy. Particularly when one can not read the language, know where he/she is, exactly, nor where he/she wants to go, exactly. Thus, after wandering Ankara's usual medieval warren of small streets, markets, etc., for half an hour, knowing we were close to the citadel and thus close to the museum, we finally parked, probably illegally, on a busy street, and I reconned on foot. ("Probably illegally" along with a dozen or so others). A couple blocks past the bus station, I found an otopark, a carpark as they say in the UK of GB, and upon inquiring, and some rudimentary sign language, ascertained that, yes, we could park there; not only that but that we could stay overnight, for a mere 10YTL (7 bucks). Right under the citadel. Ground zero again. Fenced and guarded, and not particularly noisy. As it turned out, the otopark adjoined the city's auto/truck impoundment place, where you go to redeem your car when it has been towed. Thus, the Otopark of Sorrows. OK, I have been reading too much Louis Bernieres.

Right under the citadel; but right next to the police station,

which is always good if you can't find a monastery

Turkish tow trucks are scary; they place four

straps on your tires, then lift your entire

vehicle up in the air and carry it to the pound,

depositing it back on the ground there; I hope

they would balk at a 4 ton vehicle

The citadel, from the Otopark of Sorrows

Across the road from the otopark, up the canyon; can you

count all 47 satellite dishes?

Citadel Wall Recycling

The most interesting thing about the high wall of the Ankora citadel was the use of stones from other walls, other cultures and civilizations, a few examples of which follow.

OK, well, I find these things interesting!

Ankara Citadel

The museum is just below Ankara's citadel, at the top of the hill, so we decided to check out the citadel.

We thought the citadel might be upscale

restaurants and cafes, but it was only a

few trinket and rug stores, and a rather

impoverished residential area



It was a rainy/cloudy day; in the distance is Ankara's big

mosque

So we decided to walk back down the hill, through the

market area

Through the bridal shoppe district,

including this new sleeveless/armless/
minimalist model that caught my attention

The spoon shop district

The pashmina district; and a huge gold district, not pictured

And finally to the bottom, with a view back up to the citadel

Ankara's Museum of Anatolean Civilizations

After another but more restful evening at a rest area, we drove straight on in to Ankara, Turkey's capital (since the 1920s), and one of the least likely locations for a major city I have seen. It's all hills and gorges and cliffs. But 2 million people live there, and it is the nation's administrative center. Most visitors come to Ankara to see its great museum of Anatolean civilizations. It is not a huge museum, but it has a wonderful collection, in many cases the best specimens from all the great sites, beginning with the paleolithic through to the Romans. It is especially strong in its Hittite collection, then Phrygians and Lydians.

Neolithic hand in positive with possible digital issues

Bronze age sun worship

Mother and child

Make mine a double

The usual quotidien tablets

Ceramics from every age

Roman bronze found in someone's garden...

Roman glass

Cybele, mother goddess

Gilgamesh

Early Hittite, 2nd millennium BCE

The Lydians were the first to use coins--here is a 7th century

BCE gold piece

The museum buildings are nearly as

interesting as the collection--the old city

bazaar--Ataturk himself "suggested"

converting the bazaar to a museum

I have left out much, including some very important stuff...we're still just learning this stuff as we go!