A Monumental Building at Şapinuva Dated to the 1380s BC
According to excavation director Önder İpek, speaking to the Anadolu Agency, a large building detected by geophysical survey in 2024 at the Şapinuva archaeological site has been dated, through archaeological work and radiocarbon tests, to the 1380s BC. Its function has not yet been established. The report is dated 23 August 2026.
The discovery
According to İpek, the building lies northeast of the monumental buildings constructed when the Hittite king Tuthaliya II came to the city with his wife. A geophysical survey in 2024 detected a large structure underground; excavation began with a 5x5 metre trench, and in the first year about 20 percent of the building was exposed. In the 2025 and 2026 seasons the outer walls were traced and most of the plan was revealed, and this season the team entered the rooms. The building has long “L”-shaped rooms and is described as showing several construction phases.
Its function
İpek says: “So far we cannot yet say whether this building is a public building, a temple or an administrative building,” and expects the work in the inner rooms to settle this. The report says the team includes archaeologists, philologists working on Hittite, restoration and conservation specialists, geologists, and archaeobotany and zooarchaeology specialists.
Animal remains
In 2025, on a stone pavement near the floor of one L-shaped room, the skeleton of a headless lamb or kid was found; work to identify the animal continues. In 2026 a cattle skull was found, again placed on a stone pavement, in the other L-shaped room. İpek says that written sources tell them sacrifices were made when such buildings were renovated, and that the finds may point to sacrifices made during the building’s phases.
The Şapinuva excavations
The report describes Şapinuva as one of the important Hittite cities after Hattusa, says the excavations begun in 1990 continue under Hitit University with support from Çorum Municipality, and says about 4,000 tablets have been found so far. For the current tablet figure see Şapinuva excavations and the Ortaköy archive.
Sources
- HititTV (AA), “Çorum Şapinuva’da 3.400 Yıllık Anıtsal Yapının Gizemi Çözülüyor” (The mystery of the 3,400-year-old monumental building at Şapinuva is being solved), 23 August 2026. https://www.hitittv.net/corum-sapinuva-da-3-400-yillik-anitsal-yapinin-gizemi-cozuluyor-151970.html
- Çorum Hakimiyet, “Çorum’daki 3400 yıllık anıtsal yapının gizemi çözülüyor”. https://www.corumhakimiyet.net/corumdaki-3400-yillik-anitsal-yapinin-gizemi-cozuluyor